User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 23, 2008 at 6:14 AMHi auntie68, Please let me stick to “咱们”. Google has shown the following interesting results. The percentage in parentheses shows the ratio of (a) to (b). When Chinese people use “一块”, an informal word, it is very often accompanied by “咱们”, considering its frequency of use, only 2%, on the Internet. (a) 咱们 9,450,000 (2%) (b) 我们 558.000,000 (a) 咱们一起 1,280,000 (6%) (b) 我们一起 21,400,000 (a) 咱们一块 785,000 (48%) (b) 我们一块 1,650,000 As can be expected from the foregoing, 咱们 is a rather colloquial word that are usually used among friends, family, and perhaps comrades. And that is why you do not find the word 咱们 in both Singapore and Chinese national anthems. Sorry, I am just reiterating what you already know. Strangely, on the Internet, I have found a lot of questions, asked mainly by southern Chinese, as to how to use 咱们 properly, despite the fact that apparently they learned about that in 普通话 class at school. Probably their native tongues, southern dialects, should have influenced them. In a sense, foreign learners of Chinese, just like us, might be more familiar with the usage, because distinction between 咱们 and 我们 is definitely one of highlights in Chinese conversation textbooks, although some authors only inadequately explain like this, “咱们 is inclusive, and 我们 exclusive.”
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 23, 2008 at 4:21 AMHi auntie68, 咱们一起学汉语吧！ Let's study Chinese together! Mari kita bersama-sama belajar bahasa Cina!
Posted on: Time for Class
February 23, 2008 at 3:26 AMYou can see the similar scenes at elementary, junior high and high schools in Japan. The students inevitably say, “起立 (ki-ritsu)、礼 (rei)、着席 (chaku-seki)”, i.e. “stand up, bow, sit down” at the beginning of class. Guys, please do not take it as a remnant of Japanese Imperialism!
Posted on: 查理·卓别林
February 23, 2008 at 2:24 AMHi xiaohu, "喳谱琳" is really nice! I cannot agree with you more!
Posted on: Hot Soup
February 23, 2008 at 12:27 AMHi nicolas, I do not have much to add beyond what auntie68 has already nicely stated, but I would like to remind you of one thing. As already pointed out in other thread the other day, Chinese popcorn is usually much sweeter than Western one, which is supposed to be salty. I think that the same goes for yogurt. Hi auntie68, Good job, as always!
Posted on: Registering with the Police Station
February 22, 2008 at 12:20 PM随着经济快速发展在华外国人也越来越多， 由此简化居留手续就是个不可避免的趋势。 与十年前相比办理中国签证确实更加简单， 但是据说办绿卡仍然相当费事且需要时间。 我每次申请居留证时我公司老板都开玩笑 说我们地方小企业的老外根本不必办绿卡， 每年请外事科长喝酒后办手续却省事省钱。 当然我并不是个伪造身份潜入的外国特工。
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 22, 2008 at 10:21 AMHi aert, auntie68, and bababoo, “咱” (inclusive) seems to have been used for a long time in northern China. You can find the word in the earliest edition of Chinese conversation textbooks edited in medieval Korea about six hundred years ago. It means “咱”, which had the same meaning then as today’s, was already being used in spoken northern Chinese dialect in the fourteenth century. As auntie68 wrote above, Indonesian also has inclusive “we” and exclusive one, i.e. “kita” and “kami”, but as far as I know, the inclusive “kita” seems to have no clear “make it friendly” function. At least there is no such description in any of my Indonesian textbooks. I am interested in the situations in other languages that have the similar distinction.
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 22, 2008 at 7:27 AMHi aert, auntie68, and bababoo, I did not know that 咱们 (inclusive) was being used only in Mandarin, the Beijing dialect. Some of my Chinese friends (东北人) say that the primary purpose to use 咱们 is to create a friendly atmosphere, as aert said. In other words, it would sound over familiar and embarrassing if you utter 咱们 in front of people you have just met for the first time. I think that the word symbolically reflects two contrasting concepts, “内人” and “外人”. Interestingly enough, I hear that some Chinese people use 咱们 intentionally when they buy something at a shop. It is obvious that its purpose is to bargain friendly, and of course successfully, by doing so.
Posted on: 查理·卓别林
February 22, 2008 at 3:55 AMHi xiaohu, I do not have enough ability to correctly evaluate your Chinese, but I have always felt that your writings are very good. Now, let me join your Chaplin discussion and post a comment from a different perspective. As you already know, some transliterated foreign words in Chinese are as disastrous as those in Korean and Japanese. I think that “卓别林” (zhuo2 bie2 lin2) should be one of the worst transcriptions I have ever seen. Mandarin 卓别林 (zhuo2 bie2 lin2) Cantonese 卓别林 (cheuk3 bit6 lam4) The Cantonese transliteration sounds slightly better than the Mandarin counterpart to my ears, as is often the case with borrowed words in Chinese, and of course, 卓别林 in Mandarin needs considerable improvement. And, what a shame, I have just realized that there is another transliterated word “查普林” (cha2 pu3 lin2) for “Chaplin” in Chinese. It seems that 查普林 is being used for other “Chaplins”, for example, Geraldine Chaplin. Conversely, the word 卓别林 was invented only for that famous filmmaker, Charles Chaplin, probably to specially distinguish him from other Chaplins. 卓 means being outstanding or eminent, and 别 means distinction. And, what a shame again, I have just discovered 杰拉尔丁 卓别林 (Geraldine Chaplin) on the Internet. Is it a typo? As far as I know, there seems to be no “查理 查普林” or “查尔斯 查普林” for Charles Chaplin. In my opinion, 喳朴琳 (cha1 pu3 lin2) might be more appropriate for Charles Chaplin, who made a number of classic silent movies, since 喳, 朴, and 琳 mean whispering, simplicity, and gem (jade) respectively.
Posted on: 马丁· 路德 · 金
February 23, 2008 at 8:26 AMHi owen, 其实我也曾有过与你大体相同的想法。 外国人何必偏偏通过西洋文化学中文？ 以前我遭遇这种话题就有吃亏的感觉。 但人岁数越大对事情的态度也越宽容， 最近我对这类题目的看法也有所变化。 诗经里是不是有一句话叫做君子豹变？ 总之外国人还是有较多的机会用汉语 来把自己母国文化情况介绍给中国人。 偶尔接触有关国外的课文也没有罪吧!