User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Country Standings
April 17, 2008 at 11:41 AMHi rjberki, I learned judo at junior high school and high school, just like most other Japanese boys. Unfortunately, it was more a pain than pleasure for me. I am NOT good at sports, so consequently I naturally always played a get-thrown role at judo class. Some people say the most important thing in practicing judo is ukemi (or a defensive falling), and I am sure this idea is “painfully” right.
Posted on: Country Standings
April 17, 2008 at 6:20 AMHi xuchen, The meaning of “洗胶卷” is “to develop a film and print”, therefore some Chinese people might mistakingly say “please wash my film” in English. My boss, a Chinese who is basically an excellent Japanese speaker, sometimes say “フィルムを洗う(wash a film)” in Japanese. This is typical mother-tongue interference. 胶卷 (jiao1 juan3) a film 冲洗 (chong1 xi3) develop and print
Posted on: Country Standings
April 17, 2008 at 4:04 AMI am happy to be a Japanese. I don’t have to worry about this kind of issue, i.e. whether or not my country can get the most gold medals at the Olympic games. My modest expectation is that Japanese judoists will win a few gold medals, hopefully. 金牌 (jin1 pai2) gold medal 银牌 (yin2 pai2) silver medal 铜牌 (tong2 pai2) bronze medal 名牌 (ming2 pai2) famous brand 王牌 (wang2 pai2) trump, ace 招牌 (zhao1 pai2) signboard, placard 纸牌 (zhi3 pai2) playing cards 洗牌 (xi3 pai2) shuffle cards 桥牌 (qiao2 pai2) bridge (a card game)
Posted on: What is a Chengyu?
April 17, 2008 at 12:39 AMHi goulniky, How did you sort out those four-character words? Are there any magical functions?
Posted on: 钻石
April 16, 2008 at 11:10 PMHi auntie68, p/s I've found another Chinese translation of "renovate". It is more conversational than 翻新改制.....perhaps. 改款式 (gai3 kuan3 shi4)
Posted on: What is a Chengyu?
April 16, 2008 at 12:44 PMHi henning, If educated Chinese people talk to you using a lot of 成语, 俗语, and 歇后语, like conversations full of 四个字 in historical dramas and movies, we foreign learners would be completely at a loss. It’s just like listening to conversations in English that contain many quotations from Shakespeare and the Bible.
Posted on: What is a Chengyu?
April 16, 2008 at 12:44 PMHi goulniky, I like 俗语 better than 成语 because the former is usually more humorous and worldly than the latter. 成语 implies profound meanings often based on a historical fact or legendary story. On the other hand, 俗语 commonly shows you the essence and nature of human beings through humorous expressions. As far as I’m concerned, 俗语 are not particularly easier to understand than 成语 are. They are sometimes very figurative and metaphoric, and you often come across somewhat “earthy (粗俗的)” Chinese characters and expressions in 俗语 that you scarcely find in textbooks, magazines and newspapers. One of my favorites is “天要下雨，娘要嫁人.”
Posted on: What is a Chengyu?
April 16, 2008 at 7:16 AMHi henning, I sometimes feel a sudden compulsion to buy such a large 成语 dictionary at a bookstore, and I always manage to keep me from buying it, saying to myself that it is very expensive, the letters are so small that I can hardly see them, and more importantly, I know that I will almost never use it anyway.
Posted on: Ordering Noodles
April 16, 2008 at 3:52 AMHi sophie20461, I think the translation “be overwhelmed by an unexpected favor (be careful, not flavour)” offered by bazza would be more precise and appropriate for “受宠若惊” than “feel extremely flattered” you mentioned. As to “长袖善舞”, I don’t recommend you try to translate it literally, though my free translations were somewhat over the top. As bazza wrote above, “resourceful (socially and financially)” might get to the point.
Posted on: Country Standings
April 17, 2008 at 1:45 PMHi auntie68, Let me throw you to the END of the WORLD!!! If not enough, to the end of the universe!!