User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Hiking
June 9, 2008 at 11:45 PMHi pinkjeans,
我只知道这个。I only know this.
我才知道这个。I’ve just known (or noticed) this.
只有钱才能享受生活。
Only when you have money, you can enjoy your life.
Hi oolung,
我学了三年汉语。I learned Chinese for three years (in the past).
我学了三年汉语了。I’ve learned Chinese for three years. (and still learning)
Hi tucsonmichael
You can 锻炼 your body by doing 运动。One of the most famous political slogans in China is 锻炼身体，保卫祖国！(Train your body, and defend your country!)
Posted on: Hiking
June 9, 2008 at 11:10 PMHi tucsonmichael,
Wow, 远足! Japanese also has the same word, and it conveys a special meaning for Japanese children. In Japan, 远足usually means “school picnic”. I think this word is much more commonly used in Japan than in China.
Some children hang a hand-made “照る照る坊主” (teru-teru-bouzu), a kind of charm, outside the window, hoping that the weather will clear up the next day. Of course, I also did the same thing many times several decades ago.
Teru teru bouzu (照る照る坊主）http://images.google.co.jp/images?um=1&hl=ja&lr=&newwindow=1&q=%E7%85%A7%E3%82%8B%E7%85%A7%E3%82%8B%E5%9D%8A%E4%B8%BB&btnG=%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8%E6%A4%9C%E7%B4%A2
The song of “teru teru bouzu”, very short (only 9 seconds!)
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=iYDEt3rRBrc
Posted on: Hiking
June 9, 2008 at 10:53 PMHi sushan,
Sorry for nitpicking, but 野餐 literally means “field meal” or “meal in the field”, but not “wild meal”, although I myself feel that your translation sounds much more attractive (or tasty)! For example, roasting a whole pig is really worth being called “wild meal. ” My chubby dog definitely loves it.
Posted on: Hiking
June 9, 2008 at 10:24 AMHi guys,
Fortunately, Japanese people don’t worry about how to translate “hiking”, just because there is a borrowed word ハイキング (haikingu) for it.
Anyway, if 徒步旅行 (or 徒步旅游) is an only translation for hiking, maybe I won’t have an opportunity to do 徒步旅行 for the rest of life. It seems to me that 徒步旅行 is, in a sense, more “trekking” than “hiking.” I would say “去郊游” (qu4 jiao1 you2) or “去野游” (ye3 you2) in the sense of “hiking”, instead of 徒步旅行.
I think that the connotation of words “旅行，旅游” seems to be still too “serious” for hiking. As for 爬山 and 登山，I often go 爬山 with my chubby dog for a walk. There is a small hill near my apartment. But I’m afraid that 登山 is not my thing. I have no plan to climb Mt. Everest (珠穆朗玛峰) as of today. Join the discussion, native speakers!
Posted on: Seoul
June 9, 2008 at 9:21 AMHu sushan,
Education is one of the critical values in Confucianism, and Korea is the country which has been most influenced by Confucianism in the world. Korean people are more Confucian-minded than Chinese people, and consequently they are very active in children’s education (sometimes education-obsessed). That’s why there’re a lot of Korean students all over the world.
In my opinion, sending small children overseas for learning English (or Chinese) is NOT necessarily good for them. They might be able to obtain good skills in English, but instead it is highly possible that they can’t develop linguistic ability good enough to be called a native Korean. FYI, Korean people spend the most money (per head) in the world for English education.
Posted on: Hiking
June 9, 2008 at 6:49 AMThere are some interesting Chinese words
related to picnic and camp.
春游 (chun1 you2) spring outing
秋游 (qiu1 you2) autom outing
夏令营 (xia4 ling4 ying2) summer camp
冬天怎么办？(dong1 tian1 zen3 me ban4)
What would you do in winter?
Posted on: Preparing to give an Interview
June 8, 2008 at 8:22 AM大家好好看一看，
图片里的那个男士就像前美国总统克林顿！
今天对话里的女秘书是不是莫妮卡莱温斯基？
Posted on: Airplane Arrival
June 8, 2008 at 8:08 AMHi John,
The reason is simple, "energy-saving"!!
Actually "cheng2 wu4 yuan2" is not easy to say.
Posted on: 理想女人
June 8, 2008 at 6:29 AMHi sirup,
Thank you very much for the comment. The Chinese word 意中人 is used for 男女老少, that is, both a male and a female, old and young, and is sometimes used even in a more figurative sense, or a candidate?, such as “姚明 (yao2 ming2) is our basketball team’s 意中人”. And therefore, as you said above, a proper translation should be carefully selected on a case-by-case basis.
I suppose “在我意愿中的人” is not so bad, at least I believe people (natives included) manage to get what you’d like to say, even if the phrase might not be natural. Anyway, the most critical connotation of 意中人 is, in a sense, “I want it, but not get it yet”, therefore “one’s beloved” also need to be used in an appropriate context to properly convey the meaning of “意中人”.
As for “信达雅” you mentioned, I think that they are actually somewhat difficult-to-achieve and slightly mutually contradicting principles. If you put more importance on 信 (fidelity), especially in translating science theses or manuals, you have to sacrifice some 雅 (elegance), and vice versa. The point is to keep a good balance between those three principles “信达雅”.
Even when translating literary works, 雅 is not always the first priority. For example, 信 and 达 might be more important in translating entries of Charlie’s diary in “Flowers for Algernon”, and I don’t know which principle is most critical when you translate a novel just like “Finnegans Wake”. 信达雅-wise, translating poetry, such as 唐诗 and 宋词, is very difficult and challenging.
The notion (or slogan?) “信达雅” seems to be a relatively prevailing mindset in the translation world here in China, but I sometime feel those three principles have already become a kind of 空话 (an empty talk), like 三个代表 by 江泽民 (just a joke!), in modern translation, as you cleverly hinted in your posting. Thanks for a good opportunity to think over 信达雅！
Posted on: Hiking
June 9, 2008 at 11:54 PMI don't like red color, and I don't know why, but my previous comment has been posted in red font automatically.