User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Upset
March 23, 2008 at 3:42 AMHere are some possible Chinese translations of “upset.” 着急 (zhao2 ji2) in a hurry, worry about 烦恼 (fan2 nao3) annoyed, vexed 懊恼 (ao4 nao3) annoyed, vexed 生气 (sheng1 qi4) get angry 伤心 (shang1 xin1) grieve
Posted on: The Pickup Artist
March 23, 2008 at 3:10 AMHi henning, I have found the Chinese song called “拿出你的爱” on the Net. Looks like Chinese people can “take out” a lot of things, regardless of whether they are concrete or abstract, just like the magic pocket of Doraemon (机器猫，小叮当，or 哆啦A梦). 我们拿出力气来学习汉语吧！
Posted on: The Pickup Artist
March 23, 2008 at 2:40 AMHi fusbfu, Thanks a lot for your advice. It is very interesting to know that 虎头蛇尾 is much more commonly used in China than 龙头蛇尾 is. A Google (China) search result clearly shows the contrast between them, 1,980,000 vs 72,500. In Japan, only 龙头蛇尾 is generally known, and that is just why I thought it would be also commonly used in China! Intriguingly, the source of 龙头蛇尾 seems to date back to Sung (宋) dynasty, and 虎头蛇尾 Yuan (元) dynasty. This perhaps might mean that the “龙” version came to Japan from the 12th to the 13th centuries and became widely used there, but in China it had been later gradually replaced by the “虎” version. It is just a groundless guess. I did not know that 塞翁失马 also had its partner phrase to make a combination of two chengyu. Actually, memorizing 成语 is not an easy job for me because of both my poor memory and idleness, let alone 连用成语！
Posted on: Cheering
March 22, 2008 at 11:23 AMSorry, as is always the case with my comments, CORRECTION!!! wrong) 悬壶济民， 中文子 revised) 悬壶济世， 文中子
Posted on: The Pickup Artist
March 22, 2008 at 11:06 AMHi henning, 让我告诉你， 我另外一个座右铭。 君子不近险地。 君子危うきに近寄らず。 A wise man never courts danger.
Posted on: Cheering
March 22, 2008 at 10:59 AMHi henning, Thanks for an interesting saying. 瞎猫碰上死耗子 犬も歩けば棒にあたる。 A flying crow always catches something.
Posted on: Cheering
March 22, 2008 at 7:06 AMHi henning, How did you find such a big word? Of course, I did not know it. The word 悬壶济民 reminds me of the etymology of 经济 (jing1 ji4, economy), which is an abbreviation for 经世济民 (govern and help people) seen in a Chinese classical literary work, 中文子, in the Sui dynasty. “经济” was adopted as the translation of “economy” by Japanese scholars at the end of 19th century and later exported back to China and Korea. You can easily find a great number of those kinds of words, especially in academic vocabulary, both in Chinese and in Korean.
Posted on: The Pickup Artist
March 22, 2008 at 6:33 AM大概十年前左右我在大连一家饭店的酒吧 被一位很年轻漂亮的卖淫小姐主动诱惑过。 可惜那时我汉语水平还远不足以跟她沟通， 我们俩只好通过结结巴巴的英语互相交流。 在我旁边坐的中国朋友微笑着默默注视我， 好像他旁观外国人如何处理这种情况似的。 那临时日中友好活动的结尾就是龙头蛇尾， 因为我相当拙劣的玩笑而让她非常生气了。 她走了以后我的伙伴高兴地对我说辛苦了。 然后我们俩无可奈何地回到客房继续喝酒。 那天的深刻教训使我下决心认真学习汉语。 转祸为福和塞翁失马就是我喜爱的座右铭。
Posted on: Cheering
March 22, 2008 at 2:23 AMHi chiafangt, Let me supplement your comment. You can often hear local people call a doctor “大夫” (dai4 fu) at least here in 中国东北 (Northeast China) or in TV dramas. Probably the address is somewhat old fashioned as you said, however the word might carry more friendly implication than 医生 does. Some dictionaries say that Chinese medicine doctors are sometimes called or referred to as “郎中” (lang2 zhong1) in southern China, which was the officiary title of a government post in ancient times, as well as “大夫”, although I myself have never heard it before even in Chinese TV dramas. As for 小孩儿, the word would be more appropriate than 孩子 and 小孩子, for example, when you call to a small child on the street, just like “小孩儿，过马路，小心点儿吧!” In this case, you can also say “小朋友，小心点儿吧!” Personally I like to address children using 小朋友, because it sounds cute.
Posted on: Upset
March 23, 2008 at 9:38 AMHi glacchia, The character “别” mainly has two usages. 别来. (bie2 lai2) Don’t come. 他不来. (ta1 bu4 lai2) He doesn’t come. 他没来. (ta1 mei2 lai2) He didn’t come. 别人 (bie2 ren2) other people 别的地方 (bie2 de di4 fang) other place