Category: စကားပြောဘာသာစကား

Chinese Vocabulary: Restaurant Dining

Chinese food is popular world-wide, but nothing beats the real deal. If you travel to China or Taiwan, you will undoubtedly want to sample the fabulous cuisine. There is a range of Michelin star restaurants like Ryugin Taipei in Taipei or T'ang Court in Shanghai. Of course, there are also more affordable but equally as delicious restaurants, eating halls, and food stalls that are scattered throughout.

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Chinese province cartoon 可爱的中国省市拟人卡通

安徽(ān huī)Anhui province 安徽(ān huī)Anhui province
安徽(皖)— —文房四宝,徽笔妙绝
地跨长江、淮河。境内天柱山古称皖山,西周时为皖伯地。春秋战国时分属吴、楚等国,秦置九江、泗水等郡,汉属扬州、豫州,直至清康熙六年始设安徽布政使司,以巡抚驻地安庆府(今安庆市)和徽州府(今歙县)两地首字为省名。
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny section in the north. The capital of the province is Hefei.The name "Anhui" derives from the names of two cities in south Anhui, Anqing and Huizhou (now Huangshan City). The abbreviation for Anhui is "皖" (Wǎn), because there were historically a State of Wan, a Mount Wan, and a Wan river in the province.
 

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Chinese Hard Reason 8:tonal languages are weird

Because tonal languages are weird.因为音调系统很古怪。
Okay, that's very Anglo-centric, I know it. But I have to mention this problem because it's one of the most common complaints about learning Chinese, and it's one of the aspects of the language that westerners are notoriously bad at. Every person who tackles Chinese at first has a little trouble believing this aspect of the language. How is it possible that shùxué means "mathematics" while shūxuě means "blood transfusion", or that guòjiǎng means "you flatter me" while guǒjiàng means "fruit paste"?OK,这种说法很白人中心主义,我知道。但我得提一下这一点,因为它是最常见的抱怨之一,也是西方人最恶名昭著的弱项之一。每个学中文的人一开始都无法相信中文有音调系统的一面存在。怎么可能Shuxue既可以是“数学”同时还能是“输血”呢?或者guojiang可以是“过奖”或者是“果酱”?
By itself, this property of Chinese would be hard enough; it means that, for us non-native speakers, there is this extra, seemingly irrelevant aspect of the sound of a word that you must memorize along with the vowels and consonants. But where the real difficulty comes in is when you start to really use Chinese to express yourself. You suddenly find yourself straitjacketed — when you say the sentence with the intonation that feels natural, the tones come out all wrong. For example, if you wish say something like "Hey, that's my water glass you're drinking out of!", and you follow your intonational instincts — that is, to put a distinct falling tone on the first character of the word for "my" — you will have said a kind of gibberish that may or may not be understood.它本身就是中文一个大难点了,因为这意味着我们非母语人士在记忆元音辅音之外,还得记住这些看起来不重要的发音部分。更大的真正的困难出现在你实际使用中文表达自己的时候:你发现自己束手束脚的,你可能语调都挺自然,结果音调都搞错了。比如,你可能想说“嗨你在喝我的杯子里的水!”,然后你想当然地把重音放在“我的”身上(结果声调变成了四声)(相当于中文四声的声调),那你说的多半是些胡言乱语,可能被理解也可能不被。
Intonation and stress habits are incredibly ingrained and second-nature. With non-tonal languages you can basically import, mutatis mutandis, your habitual ways of emphasizing, negating, stressing, and questioning. The results may be somewhat non-native but usually understandable. Not so with Chinese, where your intonational contours must always obey the tonal constraints of the specific words you've chosen. Chinese speakers, of course, can express all of the intonational subtleties available in non-tonal languages — it's just that they do it in a way that is somewhat alien to us speakers of non-tonal languages. When you first begin using your Chinese to talk about subjects that actually matter to you, you find that it feels somewhat like trying to have a passionate argument with your hands tied behind your back — you are suddenly robbed of some vital expressive tools you hadn't even been aware of having.语调和重音习惯具有非常大的追加和自由性质。在无音调的语言中,你基本上可以随心所欲地(加上必要的修改)按你的习惯来强调,否定,重视,和质疑。说出来的可能不太自然,但绝对能被理解。中文则不然,你的语调习惯必须遵守每个你用的词汇音调的限制。中国人当然能自由地表达所有微妙的语调,和使用那些无音调的语言的人一样。只是他们的方式对我们说无音调语言的人来说有点陌生。当你真正开始用中文说些你在意的话题时,你就发现好像你不得不双手被捆着,同时试图表达一个激情四射的观点。你突然被剥夺了一些重要的表达手段,以前你可能还没意识到自己拥有它们。

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Mandarin Numbers

Mandarin Chinese numbers are one of the first things a student should learn. Besides being used for counting and money they are also used for time expressions such as weekdays and months.

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Square calligraphy: a new type of calligraphy 地书

地书是一类全新的书法形式,它很经济也很环保,也是结交朋友的一种很好的方式。 Square clligraphy is a new type of calligraphy. It is a very economic way to exercise and does not pollute the environment. It is also a good way to help people make new friends.每天清晨,当朝阳映着绚丽的彩霞,懒散地浮出地平线,整个世界慢慢地从睡梦中醒来的时候,北京的各个公园里已经有很多人了,人们有的跑步,有的散步,有的唱歌,有的跳舞,有的舞剑,有的打太极拳,……,人们以自己最为喜爱的方式放松着身心,迎接美好的一天。
Every morning, when sun rises from the horizon with its brilliant color, Beijing slowly wakes up from its slumber. In various parks in Beijing, there are a lot of people, some running, some walking, some singing, some dancing, some practicing their swords and other practicing Taiji … People come here to relax and welcome the new day.
在公园里一条石板路上,有一位老人,双手各拿一根一米多长的木杆,在地面上画着什么,动作舒缓有致、抑扬顿挫,和周围运动的人群相比,显得安静、平和许多,构成了一道独有的风景。我充满好奇地走到近前,才发现,木杆的末端缠着一些海绵样的东西,形状酷似毛笔的笔头。老人用它沾些水然后在地面上写字,字体潇洒飘逸。更令人叫奇的是老人竟然能用双手同时书写,还能挥洒自如,不得不叫人叹服。老人一边写,原来那些漂亮的字迹随着水气的慢慢蒸发也渐渐消失了踪影,老人则又在上面开始书写新的诗句。On a stone path in the park, there was an old man, who was holding a wood stick about one meter long and painting something on the ground. His movements were quieter and less noticeable but nevertheless constituted a unique scene. I was so curious that I came near to him and found out that a sponge tip was attached at the end of the stick, making it a brush. That man dipped his giant brush in water and started writing on the ground. The characters he wrote had a very elegant style. What was more surprising was that he could write with both hands at the same time, which really impressed me. The characters of a poem written on the ground slowly disappeared as water evaporated, while the old man continued to write a new one.
后来发现,公园里像这样的老人还不少呢。一打听才知道,原来这个活动还有一个名字叫“地书”,兴起于上个世纪90年代。人们以水代墨,以地为纸,既练习了书法,又经济,还环保。写“地书”的多半是老年人,因为写地书需要全身运动,他们用这种方式来锻炼身体;同时也以练习书法来修身养性;另外,老人们还可以 “以笔会友”,通过切磋技艺而结识新的朋友,可谓一举多得。Later, I found that there were many people who practice calligraphy on the ground in parks. After inquiring, I got to know that this way of writing is called "square calligraphy" (the Chinese pronunciation is "dishu"), meaning calligraphy on the ground. Square calligraphy started in the 1990s. People take the ground as paper and the clear water as ink; it is a very economic way to exercise and does not pollute the environment. Many senior citizens tried to write themselves and gained a lot of fun in doing so. Square calligraphy is not only a relaxing exercise for movements by the entire body, but also a good way to cultivate nature and improve health. Another advantage is that it can help people make new friends through practicing square calligraphy.

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Huizhou Group

The Anhui-Hangzhou Ancient Road, which extends 25 kilometers from Fuling Town in Jixi County, Anhui Province to Zhechuan Village in Lin'an City, Zhejiang Province, was a famous ancient road in China. It was built during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and served as an important passage for merchants traveling between Anhui and Zhejiang.

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Chinese Hard Reason 9: cultural conflict

Because east is east and west is west, and the twain have only recently met.因为东西方泾渭分明,而两者才刚刚相遇。
Language and culture cannot be separated, of course, and one of the main reasons Chinese is so difficult for Americans is that our two cultures have been isolated for so long. The reason reading French sentences like "Le président Bush assure le peuple koweitien que le gouvernement américain va continuer à défendre le Koweit contre la menace irakienne," is about as hard as deciphering pig Latin is not just because of the deep Indo-European family resemblance, but also because the core concepts and cultural assumptions in such utterances stem from the same source. We share the same art history, the same music history, the same history history — which means that in the head of a French person there is basically the same set of archetypes and the same cultural cast of characters that's in an American's head. We are as familiar with Rimbaud as they are with Rambo. In fact, compared to the difference between China and the U.S., American culture and and French culture seem about as different as Peter Pan and Skippy peanut butter.语言和文化当然无法分割,这也是中文对美国人如此难的主要原因之一。中美文化隔绝太久了。读法语句子“Le président Bush assure le peuple koweitien que le gouvernement américain va continuer à défendre le Koweit contre la menace irakienne”的难度仅仅如同于看懂一些行话而已。其原因不但在于印欧语系之间的相似性,还因为这些表达方式中的核心概念和文化背景是同源的。我们有一样的绘画史,音乐史,乃至历史的历史,后者的意思是一个法国人脑中的各种典型例子以及文化角色的集合和一个美国人一样的。我们熟悉阿蒂尔•兰波,就好象法国人熟悉兰博。事实上,与中美文化的差异比起来,美国和法国文化的区别就类似于Peter Pan花生酱和Skippy花生酱。(译者:好吧,换个例子,就好象可口可乐和百事可乐,两者内容几乎一样……)
Speaking with a Chinese person is usually a different matter. You just can't drop Dickens, Tarzan, Jack the Ripper, Goethe, or the Beatles into a conversation and always expect to be understood. I once had a Chinese friend who had read the first translations of Kafka into Chinese, yet didn't know who Santa Claus was. China has had extensive contact with the West in the last few decades, but there is still a vast sea of knowledge and ideas that is not shared by both cultures.和中国人说话往往不一样。你没法谈话中随口提到狄更斯,人猿泰山,开膛手杰克,歌德,或者披头士,同时期望对方总是能明白。我有个中国朋友,他都读过卡夫卡著作最早的中文译文,却仍然不知道Santa Claus是什么。最近几十年来中国和西方接触甚多,然而两者之间仍然有大量的知识和思想差异。
Similarly, how many Americans other than sinophiles have even a rough idea of the chronology of China's dynasties? Has the average history major here ever heard of Qin Shi Huangdi and his contribution to Chinese culture? How many American music majors have ever heard a note of Peking Opera, or would recognize a pipa if they tripped over one? How many otherwise literate Americans have heard of Lu Xun, Ba Jin, or even Mozi?同样地,除了一些哈中的,有多少美国人对中国朝代有个大致概念呢?一个普通的历史系学生听说过秦始皇和他对中国的贡献么?有多少美国音乐系学生听过一丁点京剧,或是能认出来琵琶?多少其他方面博学的美国人听说过鲁迅,巴金?更别提墨子了。
What this means is that when Americans and Chinese get together, there is often not just a language barrier, but an immense cultural barrier as well. Of course, this is one of the reasons the study of Chinese is so interesting. It is also one of the reasons it is so damn hard.这些意味着当两国人在一起时,不但有语言障碍,还有一个巨大的文化障碍。当然这是学习中文如此有趣的原因之一。这也是中文为啥这么TM难的原因之一。

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