English for Chinese

"Ni Hao Ma" (你好吗） is not a native Chinese greeting

2011-12-29T18:35:00.000-08:00

I keep hearing non-native Chinese speakers greet a native Chinese with a friendly "Ni Hao Ma?" (你好吗?）. It's time to set this straight: "Ni Hao Ma" is not native Chinese. It sounds so artificial that a native speaker immediately envisions a foreigner speaking with a big smile but drifting tones. I'm not certain as to why this 3-character greeting is not used by the Chinese but mostly used by foreigners. I think it has to do with a direct translation of "How are you?" What else could be a better translation of this 3-word English phrase?

So what's the native Chinese greeting? It's a simple "Ni Hao!" (你好!）. Why do the Chinese people not like to append a "Ma" (吗)? I don't know. Whoever invented "Ni Hao", perhaps during the Vernacular Chinese Movement 100 years ago, probably didn't like to make this frequent greeting phrase any longer than necessary.

If you do need to ask the question as if saying How's your situation?, "Ni Hao Ma?" certainly makes sense. But "Ni Hai Hao Ma?" (你还好吗？) or "Ni Zuijin Zenme Yang?" (你最近怎么样？) may be just as or even more common. Similarly, you ask the plural "you" with "Ni Men Hai Hao Ma?" (你们还好吗？) or "Ni Men Dou Hai Hao Ma?" (你们都还好吗？).

Chinese Dance "Flower Kidney"

2011-12-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

My kids were reading the English version of the program for an end-of-year show in the Chinese community. They had doubt about the last one in the list, supposed to be the most exciting among all, "Flower Kidney". That doesn't sound right to them, or to me. If you have some knowledge of Chinese folk dance and also enjoy Chinese cuisine (a really Chinese one), you may guess what the Chinese title for the dance is: 花腰花.

What the hell is this? And Why is it linked to kidney? Here's my guess (and I can pretty much guarantee the accuracy). Go to Google Translate:
http://translate.google.com/#zh-CN|en|%E8%8A%B1%E8%85%B0%E8%8A%B1
and see what it is. That's right. The first 花 is "flower" and the two characters "腰花" is kidney, as in "炒腰花" or stir-fry (pig) kidney.

So, what is exactly this dance? Ignorant of Chinese folk dance, I have to hazard a guess. "腰花" is likely some dance stressing the waist (pun intended) of the dancer, not sure how the name came about. The first "花" is unlikely related to Flowers, but instead suggests variations of a standard pattern, as is often the case in traditional Chinese folk music. Therefore, the most appropriate literal translation is probably "Waist Dance With Variations". Prepend "Chinese" and add translator's note, as you wish.

(On the other hand, I bet the waist dance indeed can be related to kidneys, in the sense that it improves your health if practiced moderately, or degrades it or harms the kidneys if otherwise.）

Why the Chinese language should not adopt phonetic writing?

2011-10-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

This is part of a comment posted to Xujun Eberline's blog Will Chinese Go Alphabetic? Re-posted here as a standalone piece. "Phonetic" and "alphabetic" are used interchangeably when referring to a writing system.

There's an often-forgotten aspect of the resistance against Chinese romanization: unification of China. A number of scholars have expounded this idea since about one hundred years ago. The earliest I read is from Sun Yat-sen in his "Three Principles of the People". If China were to use an alphabetic writing system, people in different regions of China would soon find it impossible to communicate with each other due to great differences in pronunciation of the dialects, and China would disintegrate into many small countries as Europe. Sun's voice might appear weak against the few prominent figures in the 1920's and 1930's advocating romanization, because Sun's major concern was something bigger. In fact, that idea is largely unknown to most people, in spite of reiteration by a few scholars mostly in Taiwan. Generally, in the past 100 years, when the Chinese woke up to the fact that China is weak in power, romanization of the Chinese writing system would gain momentum, and subside in other times. I think the latest wave was in the 1980's, on a much smaller scale than its predecessors. With economic boom in recent decades, romanization is only a wishful thinking of the foreign students interested in something about China except the language itself.

To be fair, I think it's proven that children spend more time studying Chinese to a literacy level than studying an alphabetic language. But in view of the benefit of national unity, and to a lesser extent, artistic and literary beauty, let the kids, or foreign students, suffer! (By the way, I'm not sure if there's proof that simplified Chinese takes less time to learn than the non-simplified, but all anecdotal evidence suggests so.)

Technical document needs literal translation

2011-09-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

A question recently asked on a Chinese database forum is about the translation of the Oracle database term "recursive call" to "递归调用". That's a perfect literal translation. But the problem is that the word "recursive" or "递归" in computer programming refers to the fact that a function calls itself, as in this pseudo code:

function f()
{ call f();
}
// Of course there must be some means to stop this otherwise infinite recursive call, but that's a different topic.

In case of Oracle, a recursive call has nothing to do with calling the function or routine from within itself. Instead, it refers to a background, lower-level, normally database kernel-level, function call, not issued by the user. (In case of PL/SQL, it's a user-written SQL modified by the PL/SQL engine behind the scenes.)

This is an interesting topic to translation in that I believe, all technical translation should be literal, using the word, in the target language, that has long been established as a proper translation. In this case, "recursive" has only one translation "递归" in Chinese, with no other choice. As to whether the original document used the correct word, it's the original author's responsibility. A translator can add a translator's note to his translation, but should not choose a word that he thinks more closely matches the original meaning.

Similarly, "object-oriented programming" should indeed be translated as "面向对象的编程", even though I think "object-central", "object-centered", or "object-focus" would be better in the original language. And Oracle's "recursive call" may simply be called "lower-level call", so as to not raise the eye-brow of a seasoned programmer unnecessarily, not to mention the fact that an Oracle PL/SQL programmer may someday write code that has a real recursive call.

Having said that, I won't go further to say Christopher Columbus' "Indian" should be translated as "印度人" instead of "印第安人", which is a perfect translation. Columbus made a big mistake to equate American Indians to Indian Indians (so to speak). An obvious mistake is better corrected in translation if incorrect in the original language. But a word only questionable in the source is better left alone in the target language. After all, a translator may do more wrong in trying to outsmart the original author, causing endless confusion among the readers of the translation.

Chinese Accent in English Pronunciation

2011-08-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

One could write a dissertation on foreign language accent. But here's a little observation I made after my recent reading on phonology. Some Chinese have a hard time to pronounce [ʌ] as in 'but' correctly, substituting [a] as in Chinese "阿" for it. But those living in an English-speaking country long enough can easily make a distinction not only in listening, but in pronouncing it as well. Now comes the more difficult one, the difference between [a] ("阿") and [ɑ] (as in "palm"). I knew the difference and subconsciously made the distinction in pronouncing "阿" and "palm" in its own context and language. But I had not realized the International Phonetic Alphabet actually used two different symbols to represent them until recently I did some casual reading of Wang Li's Chinese Phonology (汉语音韵) and Bernhard Karlgren's book on the same subject. So what's the difference between these two vowels? A good explanation is in the vowel chart of the IPA. For native Chinese, all [ɑ] needs is to move the tongue slightly toward the back from where it is needed to pronounce the Chinese [a] ("阿").

Chinese accent, or foreign language accent in general, in speaking English, is actually easier to overcome when English has a syllable [note] completely non-existing in Chinese (or that foreign language). When there's a syllable that sounds like one in Chinese but does not exactly match it, the native Chinese student learning English will conveniently substitute the Chinese syllable for the English counterpart without being corrected. Short of an incentive to make this correction in his future career or life, the substitution becomes permanent.

_____________
[note] It would be better to talk about the more "atomic" element, phoneme. But that may be slightly too technical to people that stumble across this blog.

Levels of translation quality proposed by Yan Fu: A small example

2011-06-26T16:35:00.000-07:00

Yan Fu (严复, 1854-1921), a thinker, translator and educator, proposed three levels of translation quality, i.e., progressively, 信, 达, 雅, roughly, fidelity to the original, sentence fluency, and elegance of the translation, respectively. Numerous books and articles talk about these standards. I just want to give a simple case to illustrate the point. At my first job after graduation in China, I worked with a coworker that recently graduated just like me, except she had an English major. One day she suggested we translate a short paragraph in an English novel, separately. I don't remember any part of it, except this sentence, "He put his hands on her waist". Naturally, my translation goes, "他把手放在她的腰上". Then I looked at hers, which is "他搂着她的腰". I almost gasped at the perfect choice of the word (or character) "搂" (hug or embrace). I don't know why she picked that paragraph to test my translating skills, perhaps because she or her teacher or schoolmates tested it before and found it interesting.

Back to the 信-达-雅 standard. No doubt my translation has fidelity (I got the meaning right), and fluency (the Chinese sentence is natural and understandable), but definitely lacks elegance. If the material were from a technical book instead of a novel, my rendering of "put hands on" would be good, or even better without elegance. But it's a novel, a literary piece of art. Mr. Yan's highest standard 雅 is not just desired, but really demanded!

On the other hand, the original sentence, "He put his hands on her waist", begs the question whether it's elegant in itself. I think not. Should the translator inject a bit of literary element in translation? Well, I guess it depends. In this case, it looks appropriate. It's not uncommon a translated piece of work is more beautiful than the original, although the opposite is more common.

Translation of "technical"

2011-05-12T05:39:00.000-07:00

The dictionary translation of "technical" is "技术的", as in "technical skill", "technical innovations". But the word is often used in a more general, "non-technical", context, particularly as an adverb, "technically", e.g., "Technically, driving at 31 mph at a speed limit of 30 is speeding." In this case, instead of "技术的", a very natural Chinese equivalent may be "严格说来" (strictly speaking).

Another example, from a blog posting,

--- begin quote ---
the problems are technical, not systemic. Afterward, when Xujun told her sister they had named the problems as "technical," her sister responded “What does that mean?” Indeed that was the question I had, because the discussion was not about technical issues at all
--- end quote ---

The word "technical" literally translated to "技术的" in this context indeed causes confusion to people not speaking English at all, but might make some sense if the Chinese knows a little English. A more meaningful translation, I think, would be "具体操作的", as "这些问题是有关具体操作的，而不是整体上的（或体制上的）". But if the reader or listener is moderately proficient in English, the translation "这些问题是有关技术性细节的" works, too.

Proper name translation (2): standardization

2011-03-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

This is a sequel to Proper name translation: semantic or phonetic. Proper names pose a challenge to translation not because of the language, but because of their unique features. Selection of semantic or phonetic translation is only one of them. A more common problem may be standardization. This is not obvious to English-speaking people, who are used to translated names in English provided on the source side by the translators of the originating language. But occasionally, there're no source side translators. Shortly after 9-11 of 2001, bin Laden's name was spelled differently in various writings. I contacted pbs.org regarding their spelling in a 3(?)-part long article. They explained the name was being standardized, if I remember right.

I used to work at an organization in China officially designated as the agency translating the United Nations documents into Chinese. Choosing correct Chinese characters for proper names is a big deal. We follow certain sources in sequence: check the People's Daily first, check xyz (some other official news media), check less authoratative newspaper, etc. If the name in Chinese is still not found, use a standard proper name translation dictionary. Yes, such a dictionary does exist. Nevertheless, proper names are still translated differently across different regions where the Chinese language is spoken, such as mainland vs. Taiwan.

Incidentally, exactly 19 years ago, I quit that translation agency and left for a whole new world.

Off-topic: What language is popular?

2011-03-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

There're many ways to gauge what foreign language is popular. One way is to check how many books are at a bookstore. I went to a local Borders Bookstore and noted down the following. The numbers are the numbers of book shelves holding books for that language (self-study books, dictionaries, easy readers, etc):

Arabic: 1
Chinese: 1
French: 4
German:: 2
(ancient) Greek: ?
Italian: 3
Japanese: 2
Korean: less than 0.5
Latin: 1.5
Portugese: 1
Russian: less than 1
Spanish: too many
Even if this were not in south Texas, I bet Spanish would still beat any other language. I'm surprised at the high number for French and relatively low number for Chinese, considering the fact that more high schools or junior high have both as foreign languages. But that's what the market is, or at least what the bookstore follows.

"有情人终成眷属" and "Money talks" on Google Translate

2011-02-24T05:59:00.000-08:00

Google Translate is increasingly popular. But more mistakes are also being found, especially when idioms are translated. One salient example is the Chinese-to-English translation of "有情人终成眷属" [People in love are eventually married], which is translated to "Money talks" [有钱能使鬼推磨]. I checked a few other languages I know, such as French and Spanish, where the translation is "L'argent parle" and "El dinero habla", respectively. They both literally mean "Money talks".

How does this or this kind of errors occur? According to Inside Google Translate, Google Translate "looks for patterns in hundreds of millions of documents to help decide on the best translation for you". Let's check those "millions of documents" for this particular idiom. Search for
"有情人终成眷属" "money talks"
quotation marks included, and the result is 31300 hits as of this writing. Most indeed bear titles associating the Chinese idiom with "money talks". But some are apparently talking about Google Translate's mistake. So to be fair, we need to filter them out. Try this search
"有情人终成眷属" "money talks" -google -"谷歌"
Again, quotation marks included. The result is 26400 hits. The first hit

Album : Money talks
Chinese : 有情人终成眷属 (You Qing Ren Zhong Cheng Juan Zhu)
Artist : Zheng Yuan (郑源 Zheng Yuan)
Release Date : 1/18/2006

clearly made this mistake, at least partially contributing to Google's blind pattern-looking.

Proper name translation: semantic or phonetic

2011-02-06T11:19:00.000-08:00

In researching a subject in history of Chongqing, I came across various English translations of the name of a building, "白公馆" in Chinese, e.g. "Bai Mansion", "Baigong Guan", "Baigongguan", "White Residence", "White House".[note] The interesting part is the translation of "白". Should it be phonetically "Bai" or semantically "White"? The answer is, It depends on the origin of the name. According to
http://baike.baidu.com/view/138862.htm
this building was named after its owner Bai Ju (surname Bai). So the correct translation must be phonetic. "Bai Mansion" may be the best, although "Baigongguan" serves well as the name of a place. I don't suppose Mr. Bai, the owner, called it "白公馆" with intention of using a pun. But if he had done so, our translation would be impossible, or you pick one you like.

This reminds me of the translation of "Rice University", a reputable college in Texas. In the late 1980's, people in China referred to it as either "莱斯大学" or "稻米大学". But since the school was named after a person, as was known to all later, only the translation "莱斯大学" survived.

________________
[note] If you need to see who uses which term, use these keywords to search on Google (quotation marks matter; example for "Bai Mansion"):
"白公馆" "重庆" "bai mansion"
chongqing "bai mansion"
chungking "bai mansion"

"最近" is not always "recently"

2011-02-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

I've seen too many Chinese use the word "recently" to translate "最近" incorrectly. Dict.org explains "recently" as "in the recent past" or "not long since". It clearly indicates the past tense, as in "I bought a car recently", "我最近买了一辆车". But "我最近准备买一辆车" should be "I'm going to/I'm planning to buy a car soon", not "...recently". This mistake is made presumably because the English textbooks in Chinese equate "最近" with "recently" without pointing out the tense it should be used in. Interestingly, the Chinese having immigrated to English-speaking countries subconsciously avoid using the word "最近" in future tense *in Chinese conversations*; they tend to use the word "很快" [literally "very quickly" but more appropriately "soon"], as in "我很快要买一辆车", which reflects the influence of language on thought.

Translation of a sentence in Classical Chinese

2011-01-16T14:35:00.000-08:00

> 一句文言，大家看怎么翻译合适？
> “民困于贪残之政，故托言大鼠害己而去之也。”

This is a classical or literary Chinese sentence from "Interpretation of The Book of Songs"(《诗集传》) by Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi, 朱熹), who lived in the Song Dynasty more than 800 years ago. I hope the following translation is close:

The people suffer under the government of greed and cruelty. So the author allegorically talks about rats that cause harm to him and his attempts to get rid of them.

Requested to translate a poem

2010-12-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

> Hi there, a friend of mine gave me your email as a way to
> translate Chinese to English. I have attached a picture.
> Can you help?

This is a poem. So my translation will be crude by the literary standard. It goes like this:

The eagle flies, the tiger roars, resonating in the river and mountains
Deep valley, sound of tide, a whole night's wind
High flying eagle, ferocious tiger, have great ambitions

by Zhang Baiyun
in early winter of year XX (maybe 1963?)

I'm not quite sure of the first of the two letters representing the year. If it's 癸, the year may be 1963 or any year matching the formula: 1963-60*n (i.e. 1963 minus 60 times n), where n is an integer. (Ref)

The three seals all bear the name of the calligrapher (possibly author too)

Normally, a poem should have four lines. I don't know why this Mr/Ms Zhang only had three.

Off-topic: Travel to Chongqing

2010-10-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

http://yong321.freeshell.org/misc/TravelToChongqing.html

"an amateur historian's cultural trip"

Some interesting comments extracted below:

While Confucianism brings family members extremely close to each other, and also friends to some extent, this religion or philosophy alienates strangers, i.e. people of no family or friend relationship, beyond indifference and sometimes to the extent of hostility.
...
What puzzles me and people I ask everywhere is that these stunningly beautiful mountains and thousand-feet high cliffs never went into ancient painters' vision, even though famous poets in the Tang dynasty wrote about them. This can't be explained in the same way that Jiuzhaigou or Guilin of natural beauty no less than that of the three gorges was also not in ancient paintings, because the latter were either physically inaccessible in ancient times, or rarely stepped on due to occupation of a non-Han civilization.

...
Not all feuds are created equal. Forty years after the Korean war, Chinese and American then pilots could meet and chat about their air fights as if they were playing a game. During the 1979 China-Vietnam war, soldiers reportedly exchanged canned food during the intermission of a battle or perhaps lunch time. But the two belligerents of the Sino-Japanese war would never come to terms in this life or the next, as if a threshold of human indignation was surpassed.
...
unlike Christianity or Islam, Buddhism does not exclude other religions, and the Chinese religions or doctrines care even less whether you worship another god or God privately or publicly

Learning Foreign Languages 学外语

2010-05-07T08:40:00.000-07:00

http://yong321.freeshell.org/misc/LearningForeignLanguages.html

"好像有人说没有目的的学习是没有动力的。但要是我有了目的就坏了，不管是我自己还是别人给定个计划或目标什么的，我一定会失去动力的，因为我不想为了没用的东西而给自己增加生活中已经有的压力。"

" 我学外语没有目的，但不妨碍我想一个目的。...... 或者用学外语来防老年痴呆，据说比玩拼字游戏有效。想象我老了躺在床上，嘴里一会儿蹦出几个西语词，一会儿几句法语，旁边的人一定会又惊讶又佩服。或者只是以学外语来保持良好的心态。我想一个人要在生活中保持好的心态需要做两件事，一是完全出于自愿的、没有一点peer pressure（同伴压力）的慈善或义工，二是在毫无压力的情况下学某种没有任何功利目的的屠龙之技，比如工作和生活都不需要的外语。"

"user group" or "users group"?

2010-04-16T07:19:00.001-07:00

I'm organizing a database user group (formerly Oracle user group) at my work place. One trivial question comes up. Should it be "Database User Group" or "Database Users Group" with plural "Users"? While people are making comments with respect to English grammar, I thought it would be helpful to check how most people say on the Internet. So here it is my email to them:

"users group" or "user group"? Here's Google exact word search hit count (when you search, enclose the words in double quotes):

user group: 7,950,000
users group: 3,580,000
oracle user group: 80,400
oracle users group: 70,100
unix user group: 32,100
unix users group: 50,600
linux user group: 566,000
linux users group: 2,800,000
mac user group: 53,400
mac users group: 43,300
java user group: 82,700
java users group: 36,800

Although how people say on the Internet doesn't mean it's grammatical, it's at least statistically more popular. So we can use that as a reference. It looks like more people prefer the singular "user group". When it's broken down to a specific type of user group, all that I checked except Linux and UNIX people prefer singular. (No wonder UNIX and especially Linux people are the most likely associated with geeks in this society.) My conclusion of this search: the geekier and less coherent the members are, the more likely they prefer plural, "users group".

Chinese translation of "Insight"

2010-03-05T06:06:00.000-08:00

According to http://www.dict.org, "insight" primarily means "A sight or view of the interior of anything", as in "He had an insight into almost all the secrets of state." According to http://translate.google.com/#en|zh-CN|insight, however, the Chinese translation is "洞察", or "慧眼", "内省力", "眼光". But it does not sound natural when you substitute 洞察" for "insight" in the Chinese translation of the above sentence ("他对国家的几乎所有秘密都有洞察"). In fact, a far better choice for this word is "真知灼见", i.e., valuable views about something ordinary people cannot have thought of. The words "慧眼", "内省力" and, "眼光" are even more remote from the true meaning, because they mean the capability to gain the insight, not insight itself.

What is 聪明？

2010-01-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

> 中學時候常常聽到的一句話“xx學生不是不聰明，就是不好好學”。
> 後來我就有想到，什麽是聰明？什麽是不聰明？不知道時間的寶貴、
> 學生時代學習機會的難得而只是貪玩，這是最大的不聰明

The Chinese sentence is playing with the multiple meanings of the word "聪明". In “xx學生不是不聰明，就是不好好學” (It's not that the student XX is not 聪明, only that he didn't take time to study.), "聪明" means having high IQ (intelligence quotient), as that could be determined by the rigorous psychological test. In the sentence "不知道時間的寶貴、學生時代學習機會的難得而只是貪玩，這是最大的不聰明" (It's the biggest non-聪明 to not know the value of time and the opportunity of study as a student, and to play all the time.), "聪明" means wise or 明智. In both cases, you could use the English word "smart" just like "聪明" in Chinese. But if you think about it, the exact meaning of the word in either English or Chinese is different.

Playing tricks with words sometimes can impress people and give others thought-provoking ideas that sound clever, smart or 聪明. But those words should be taken as nothing more than clever talk.

Off-topic: Quote of a message about atheism

2009-10-15T05:57:00.000-07:00

Very interesting remark by a guy named Russianbear at
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=17338&PN=2&TPN=4

Atheism is not the same as religious intolerance. I am an atheist, and I think religions are stupid, but I am quite tolerant of people's stupidity and ignorance in general, and of religion-related stupidity and ignorance in particular.

Most atheists don't prejudge. (Some, like me) judge. And that happens AFTER the fact, so PREjudice is not the right word.
...
In my experience, atheists are relatively quiet; it is religious people who tend to try to ram their beliefs down other people's throats. It is also a fact that atheists tend to be better educated than religious people. And atheists tend to be more tolerant. I am yet to see atheists fly planes into skyscrapers or blow themselves (and many other people) up for their atheist beliefs. Those things are done by folks who believe in god(s).

And of course, "fundamentalism" kinda implies religiousness :)

Grammatical error: "Even if ... but"

2009-09-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

> even if today is sunday,but we have to work.

That's a common mistake Chinese make in learning English. If you have "even if", you don't need "but". Drop one of the two. The same is true for "although".

As always, capitalize the first letter of the sentence. It makes people feel you're not writing English too casual.

Attitude thing

2009-09-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Educative comments from an online forum. Not just for Japanese.

Are Japanese natives generally exclusive?

"but I've met the people (some from Japan, some from China, although I'm sure it's global) that strike up a conversation with you in English but totally lose interest when you transition to their native language. That attitute would be language rape."

Off-topic: Message to My Neighbors

2009-09-15T04:58:00.000-07:00

We're going to have a neighborhood night-out gathering and emails are sent to everybody. Neighbor's dogs used to bother me at night. So I took this opportunity to post the following message to the email list:

"I want to borrow this thread to send a friendly reminder to this wonderful neighborhood, that dog owners need to keep their best friends quiet late at night. While I need to train myself to tune out, the dogs need to be trained to only bark outdoors perhaps before 10pm or after 7am, or indoors to their happy owners' hearts' content at any time. This is a friendly neighborhood so I hope this message is taken with a friendly smile!"

As a result of this, I haven't heard any dog barking at night since then. One neighbor's email to me said "we don't have a dog...your lovely message would have been taken with all due respect and kindness. It's almost as if you were writing poetry!"

How could some old time Chinese scholars learn foreign languages?

2009-09-09T05:58:00.000-07:00

> 一开始就学中等或高级学习者的教材或看适合他们的难度的文章。这样欲速则不达。

I agree. But one thing that has always bugged me is that some well known scholars in the 民国 times (about 100 years ago) learned foreign languages by directly reading classic literary works. For example,

http://baike.baidu.com/view/57482.htm
金克木
他曾仅靠一部词典，一本凯撒的《高卢战纪》，就学会了非常复杂的拉丁文。

http://baike.baidu.com/view/1998.htm
辜鸿铭
到了英国，在布朗的指导下,辜鸿铭从西方最经典的文学名著入手，以最朴拙的死记硬背办法很快掌握了英文、德文、法文、拉丁文、希腊文

Off-topic: 罗家伦"新人生观"

2009-08-23T06:51:00.000-07:00

Luo Jialun's "A New Point of View of Human Life" is full of interesting little stories and quotes of historical figures. Other than that, his own words are sometimes thought-provoking, such as the following, when he talked about the role of Belgium in World War One and the recognition of its contribution:

"所以一旦战争结束，在巴黎和会上，比利时不但获得和列强分庭抗礼的光荣，并且各大国都很尊重他‘赞助他，就是因为它已尽了他国家的责任，所以能得战后应得的权利。当时中国也是参战国，但为什么得不到这种权利？就是因为中国在名义上虽曾参战，其实是参而不战，并未尽参战的责任，哪有资格去享受权利？"

pp.116-7, "从完成责任到实现权利"，"新人生观"

That's new to me because nobody, either from the mainland side or from Taiwan, talked about lack of participation or involvement of the then Chinese government or army when talking about the humiliation of China at the Paris Peace Conference.

Other points in the book are also worth reading. He said Japan became so aggressive and atrocious because China spoiled Japan, not limiting their mischief at the early stage.

Off-topic: 读章太炎“国学概论“有感

2009-08-23T06:48:00.000-07:00

近读章太炎“国学概论“，感字字珠玑，隽语良多。然章谓“历观中国古代，在太平安宁之时,治哲学的极少,等到乱世,才有人研究。”颇出人意料。盖哲学思辨之学，本当衣暖食饱然后静坐而治之，何以至乱世才有人研究？或许中国哲学皆入世之学，或以入世为最终目的，非泰西哲学之纯思辨。

想练习英语口语总是感到没有话说怎么办？

2009-07-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Others have excellent suggestions. Let me add that for now, you can imagine you're giving a presentation in your native language, Chinese, and on the fly, translating that into English. Many language teachers oppose this way of learning (you do translation in your brain). But I disagree. Once you're fluent in English, the explicit translation in your brain silently yields to "natively" thinking in English.

Off-topic: Language education to solve Chinese ethnic conflict

2009-07-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

The ethnic conflict, or riot, in Xinjiang, caused more than 150 deaths. To be politically correct, the central government will not reveal the ratio of Uygur to Han ethnic death tolls, and I won't comment on that, even though pretty much every Chinese having lived there or having friends or relatives living there have a very well educated guess. But even mention of that guess causes sadness, if not indignation. A more interesting and constructive discussion, though, should be about the way the Chinese government improves its strategy to ease the ethnic tension. We all agree that so far the preferential treatment of, or affirmative action toward, the ethnic minority in China causes grief to the Han ethnicity yet at the same time does not please the minority. This lose-lose situation will not go anywhere in the future. While the Han shows their unrequited love with financial and other support, the Uygur think their culture is violated, even though the government encourages them and spends money for them to promote their own language.

Human language is the key to human gathering. Why is there natural, spontaneous separation between Han and Uyguy, or between any two ethnic groups for that matter? Because they have difficulty communicating. No doubt the Uyguy people are forced to learn the Chinese language, not by law, not at all, but by the economic opportunities. But there's not much assimilation in the other direction, i.e., the Han learning Uyguy. If the Han has no basic skills in the language of the previously dominating residents in this region, they don't feel their culture is respected (enough). The government should have a mandate that all the Han Chinese living in that area, perhaps younger than say 50 years old, learn the Uyguy language for 3 months, and review once every 3 years for 10 or so years. Once this done, the Han and Uyguy will mingle much more easily, in the neighborhood as neighbors, in the work place as coworkers, and in public areas as citizens. Separation is rooted in lack of communication, which starts from nowhere else than everyday life.

Interesting Reference:
王力雄, 我的西域，你的东土, p.187, "一九五六年新疆的汉族有十五万... 他们在这里学会了维语。毛泽东让他们首先要学维语，要学当地的语言... 一九五三年他从上海到新疆来的时候，库尔勒有汉族学校，可是讲维语，让那些汉族孩子必须学维语，民族学校却不要求学汉语。那时毛泽东说没有大汉族主义就不会有民族分裂主义，所以有很多尊重少数民族生活习惯的政策。那个年代的干部和汉族人比较尊重少数民族。"

"ever" for 曾经?

2009-04-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

Many Chinese say "ever" when they mean to say 曾经 (ceng2jing1). But that word can be translated to 曾经 only when it's in a question, e.g. "Have you ever been to Shanghai?", or in a negative sentence where it changes to "never", e.g. "I've never said that". Otherwise, it means "always", e.g. "Finding the cure for cancer seems to be an ever-lasting process without an end."

If you really want to say 曾经, say "once" instead, e.g. "Once I had a car accident."

Learn English from native speakers

2009-03-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

No doubt there's great benefit in learning English by talking with a native speaker. But most people don't realize that talking to native speakers may not be the fastest way to study English for everybody. Here's some discussion posted to a language study forum six months ago.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't completely agree with you on "当然是和母语英语的老外或外教学口语效果最好". It's not true in all cases. My friend is the president (or school master) of 若亚语言学校 (www.eduroyal.com). She told me many of the students in her school started to change their preference a few years ago from preferring foreign teachers to Chinese teachers, because they slowly realized that in Chinese teachers' classes, they actually improve their English faster.

(I have no connection with that school. I mention it only because the president was my school mate.)

> interesting point, is that a general case, or specific to that school only?

I don't have statistics. But I believe it's a general case in most language schools in China. It should not be a rule that applies to English study in general. Suppose you do have a long-term close relationship with somebody fluent in English and that person is e.g. your spouse (so he or she is infinitely patient!!), then almost definitely it's better if he or she is a native speaker.

Judy, creator of 若亚语言学校:

关于跟老外练习口语

好议题！
我接触过不少学生，为练习口语花费不少精力，效果却不尽相同。关于是否需要和母语的老外练口语，我个人觉得不能绝对。如果有大把时间，而且又遇到文化和教育程度都不错的母语老外，那么，恭喜你！不过，真实的语言环境中，比如雅思考试、BEC考试或者对外贸易的交流等，经常会遇到不同口音的英语，让听者一头雾水。所以，我建议练习口语还可以考虑多听不同的录音，然后跟着相对专业的人士练习－－－无论他是否是母语的老外．经常的情况是：如果一个非母语的人员说一口漂亮的英语，他／她一定有独到的体验，这种陪练者会更加的可遇而不可求．

"Last January" vs "January last year"

2009-02-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

> He arrived in New York last January.其中的last January
> 书上解释为今年一月，而不是去年一月~困惑~
> 如果按这样翻译那last该怎么分辨是今年还是去年？

This is a commonly confused word for Chinese. "Last" means the latest past. So if it's any month after January now, "last January" means January this year. If it's February now, "last May" means May last year. If a Chinese textbook says "last" in "last [month name]" always means "last year", or "last" in "last [day of week]" means "last week", it is wrong!

"no more than" vs "not more than"

2009-02-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

> Any difference in meaning between these two sentences?
>
> "His victory in the final was no more convincing than I had expected."
> "His victory in the final was not more convincing than I had expected."
>
> Note that the two sentences below do have difference:
> You are not more careful than he is. 你不如他仔细。
> You are no more careful than he is. 你和他一样不仔细。

That makes perfect sense. But that distinction doesn't seem to apply to the case here: "His victory in the final was (no|not) more convincing than I had expected." I'm not sure, but if I have to think of an explanation, maybe it's because the part after "than" is not a direct object. Consider:

"His victory in the final was (no|not) more convincing than hers."

In this case, "no more convincing" implies his and hers are equally unconvincing, while "not more convincing" says her victory is more convincing.

"idea" not to be pronounced like "idea-r"

2009-01-20T18:54:00.000-08:00

> yuzhoucn said:
>
> 不少中国人滥用美音的儿音，如China、India、puma、idea这
> 种字里根本就没有r，也去给它附加一个儿音，听起来就很怪。

I can't agree more on that! We should make as many Chinese studying English now as possible aware of this very common and yet easy to correct mistake.

By the way, a former coworker of mine who grew up in Germany always said "data" as if it was dater. But I don't recall he read "idea" as "idea-r".

"Later" and "recently" are used in past tense

2008-12-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

> What will I be a decade later?

Normally, "later" is used in a past tense sentence. Here you can say "in a decade", "in ten years", "ten years down the road", or "ten years from now on".

Similarly, "recently" is only used in past tense. In future tense, you can say "in the near future" or "before long".

Off-topic: Year end charity - Half the Sky

2008-12-17T05:58:00.000-08:00

Over the past few years I've been searching for the perfect charity. Except for the times when there're natural disasters in China, I regularly donate to American Red Cross. But a message passing among Chinese immigrants a few months ago alerted me to the Red Cross executive director's half a million dollar pay (search on charitynavigator.org), which appalls me. So my search continues.

In the last year or two, I came to know an organization named Half the Sky (www.halfthesky.org). The more I watched it, the more I like it. The executive, apparently an American, spends her time and energy focusing on one thing, helping Chinese orphans in mainland China. They take abandoned kids, strive to provide a loving care environment and turn them into happy, confident and productive members of the society. For young kids, every effort is made to find them a permenant loving home. For older kids, Half the Sky provides them education opportunities, so they can become self-supported adults. Compared to monthly $35 per African child a Houston church sponsors, Half the Sky with its efficiency needs $25 for a Chinese orphan. We have choosy friends that donate to them and we become their donors as well.

I don't work for Half the Sky and the organizers don't know me. But I'd like to promote awareness of this California-registered charity. I regularly receive their newsletters, which are always centered around the kids. Their work during the Sichuan earthquake deeply touched me. The latest news from them asks for donation, as usual, but unlike in other years, they're experiencing particular difficulty due to slowdown of the US and global economy, and many people's unemployment. I encourage those that still have a job and can lend a helping hand to the Chinese orphans to consider supporting Half the Sky, even just for this Christmas.

P.S. I don't know if anybody ever wrote this, but I want to tell you that charity donation of complete willingness, I do mean absolute willingness free of any pressure, is benefitial to our health. The feeling of being content when you do that is pure and religious. You do a good deed, and you're rewarded accordingly.

No concatenation of sentences with comma

2008-12-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

> 1. There are 50 stars on America's national flag, each ______ a state.
> A. standing for
> B stands for
> C represented
> D to represent
>
> In my opinion the answer of the question should be B

A is correct. Too many people (especially Chinese learning English) write two sentences separated by a comma. In English grammar, that's incorrect. If needed, the comma can be changed to semicolon so the second sentence further explains the first one.

关于背单词是背英文解释还是背中文解释？

2008-11-19T13:46:00.000-08:00

> 由于现在一些“适合中国人的英英词典”面世，
> 我本人也使用了多年，觉得是比英汉词典查
> 得更多单词，但是在记忆词汇的释义时不知
> 道该记中文释义还是英文释义？如果记英文
> 释义，觉得效率似乎不高，如果记中文释义
>，又怕不能“英语思维”，真是骑虎难下

How about memorizing its synonym? Let's say the word is "cranky". You remember its meaning as "unhappy". Since "unhappy" is a very easy word, using that for its meaning won't be harder than using the Chinese translation.

English translation: US Financial Crisis

2008-11-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Partial translation of an excellent article published on a Taiwanese forum

http://yong321.freeshell.org/misc/US_financial_crisis.html

Should "have" in "I have finished packing by 5pm" be dropped?

2008-11-11T14:47:00.000-08:00

> 现在完成时态，本质是一种“现在时”。不管有没有时间状语的存在，
> 它总是与“此时此刻”联系起来的，所以它不能与确切表达“非现在”
>（过去、或将来的任何时刻）的时间状语连用，这里的by 5:00, P.M.
> 就是一个“ ...

So the sentence "somebody has done something by 5pm" is wrong? Example:
A: You're ready to go?
B: Yes. I have finished packing by 5pm.

Actually, I asked two native speakers, one white (John) one African American (Jack), and here's what they say.

Yong: Is this sentence grammatically correct? "I have finished packing by 5pm." Or should it be "I finished packing by 5pm."?
John: I finished packing by 5pm
Yong: No "have"?
John: correct no have. I think they are both technically correct
Yong: Technically correct. I love that judgement

Yong: Is this sentence grammatically correct? "I have finished packing by 5pm." Or should I drop "have"?
Jack: I am not sure what context you are using the sentence in. Currently the way you have presented the sentence, it would be ok
Jack: either way
Yong: Consider this dialog:
A: Ready to go?
B: Sure. I've finished packing by 5pm.
Jack: then i would say "i finished packing at 5pm"
Yong: OK. Thanks. I asked another coworker here and he prefers that too, although he says they're both "Technically correct"!
Jack: that is true

Off-topic: Barack Obama is not an ordinary black man

2008-11-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

While economy is definitely the top issue, Asian Americans have one other item in the top priority list, i.e., personal safety, or crime rate. On average, one Asian immigrant gets killed per year in homocide in the greater Houston area, mostly by a black man, occasionally by a Hispanic. (The number may be higher because I only care about high profile cases and mostly only cases involving Chinese immigrants.) And there's frequent robbery, once per week maybe. This is one of the reasons Asians hesitate about Obama.

Let me use the term "black" here instead of "African Americans" but I have no intention to be politically incorrect. The reason for this choice of word is that American black people have very different traits compared to the African Americans proper, those that grew up in Africa and immigrated to the US, or to a less extent those whose parents, but not grandparents which is too far away, grew up in Africa. I want to bring to my Asian friends' attention that Obama is nearly a true African American. I won't say much here about the difference but I think you can guess what it is.

As I alluded to in my earlier off-topic posting, assuming no ill intention, an intelligent man does good deed, and tremendously good deed if given high power, just as a dumb man does dumb things, and tremendously stupid things if given high power. Although McCain could bring some prosperity, or rather less economic disaster, to Houston, than Obama, the wide area properity or less economic damage would be better achieved by a man with more brain cells. Lastly, an America with weaker emphasis on war mongering will win more friends in the world, and if done right, less hatred from Americans' enemy and terrorists. (I bet most people don't know the three reasons Bin Laden quoted why he hated the US. It's in a long PBS article in late 2001.)

Omission of "to" after "is"

2008-11-05T20:58:00.000-08:00

> All you can do is remove yourself from her mailing list
> remove 这事做什么词性充当什么成分

You can omit "to" only if it follows "all [or what] ... to do", e.g.,

All you can do is wait.
All there is to do is wait.
What needs to be done is ask for more money.

Off-topic: Waste channel of American money

2008-10-29T06:09:00.000-07:00

Folks on Wall Street made fortunes prior to the current financial crisis. American tax payers' money is used to save AIG and other companies. But it seems we have not thought about from where else, other than tax payers' money, we can fund the morbid AIG. That big pool of money is currently in Iraq and Afghanistan. The current leaders of this country didn't use their brains very much and poured billions of dollars to the useless regions of the world, winning curse, not hurray, winning a title of world police, not liberation army. I had thought about a quagmire situation the troops could be in similar to the Afghanistan quagmire Russian troops were in many years ago. It's happening now. American voters should stop wasting money in ammunition which buys us nothing, and use it to save our economy. Whoever will be our next president is probably going to have higher IQ to realize this. A low intelligence person does great damage when he seizes high power.

牛津双解还是朗曼双解？

2008-10-19T08:56:00.001-07:00

I used Longman a long time ago. The example sentences are the best among all dictionaries I've used. Longman also has a rule that the examples only use words from a 2000-word vocabulary. (There're exceptions and the exception words are clearly marked.) Back in the days without the Internet, example sentences in dictionaries are crucial to English study. Now you can find them with a Google search. But still sentences in dictionaries are guaranteed to be correct in grammar and spelling. I highly recommend it to the people studying English as a foreign language.

Off-topic: More freedom after Olympics

2008-10-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Blogspot.com and wikipedia.com used to be blocked in mainland China, until some time before the Beijing Olympics. I was not sure whether the blockage would be lifted after the Games. Now it's mid-October, two months after the Games. The two web sites seem to be still open in China. And it's said foreign journalists in China get extended freedom about street interviews. Regardless other problems, I'm glad to see the positive effect of the Olympic Games on China's progress.

Singular or plural: "bird's nest" and "apple tree"

2008-09-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

> 为啥鸟巢用 bird's nest 而苹果树没有's呢？
> 还有为啥是bird's nest 而不是birds' nest呢？？
> 为啥是apple tree 而不是apples tree呢？

I'm not sure why we don't say birds' (or birds's) nest, even though the nest we're referring to should be for more than one "bird". Just remember it for now.

"Apples tree" is wrong. You always use singular noun as an adjective, like "car mechanic", "computer network" (even though the network connects to many computers).

> 我知道100-meter race这种表达是对的
> 但是有没有 100 meters race这种表达的？！
> 或者是应该100 meters' race?

100-meter race or 100 meters race. Either one is OK. I'm not sure if I've seen 100 meters' race (with an apostrophe). Also see message 8 by yuzhoucn at
http://forum.putclub.com/viewthread.php?tid=145045&extra=page%3D1

How to read keyboard symbols

2008-09-10T04:44:00.000-07:00

~	tilde (sounds like til-da); be prepared to explain to computer-illiterate people saying "you know, the wave-shaped thingy"
!	exclamation; commonly read as bang in case of #!/bin/sh
@	at
#	pound; but commonly read as shee in case of #!/bin/sh, not sure why
$	dollar
%	percent
^	caret; not many people know this word so be prepared to say "no, not carrot; it's the character above 6, an arrow pointing up"
&	ampersand
*	star; some read asterisk
(	opening parenthesis (some may shorten it saying paren)
)	closing parenthesis
_	underscore; once I heard people say underbar
+	plus
-	minus; as symbol before arguments in commands, some people including me read dash, easier to say one syllable
=	equals
`	backtick or backquote
{	opening brace
}	closing brace
[	opening bracket
]	closing bracket
\|	pipe or vertical bar
\	backslash; be prepared to explain to some computer-illiterate people
:	colon
;	semicolon
"	double quote
'	single quote
<	less than; some may read left angle bracket
>	greater than
,	comma
.	dot; period if in English text
?	question mark
/	slash or forward slash; some computer-illiterate people may be confused about / and \
	space
(), [] and {}	may also be called brackets in general. In that case, they specifically call [] square brackets and {} curly brackets. I never like this. Open and Closing may also be called left and right.

Difference in pronunciation between "fond" and "found"

2008-08-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

It's better to listen to a good speaker. I think most Chinese have problems with "ou" in "found" or "ow" in "town". If you slowly pronounce "found" as f-a-u-n-d, it will be good. Instead, many Chinese pronounce "found" and "fond" as (I think) f-a-n-g-d. "Fond" is really f-o-n-d, where "n" is not "ng", and "o" is that in "dog".

"up to now" and "up till now"

2008-08-25T10:03:00.000-07:00

> up till now一般是和现在完成时搭配的，表示个时间一直持续到现在。
> Until now, doctors have been able to do very little to treat this disease.

"up to now" is different from "up till [or until] now". Whenever you have the word "till" or "until", it implies that something did not happen before that point in time BUT IT DID HAPPEN AT THAT TIME! The above sentence you gave means that the doctors now ARE ABLE TO do something significant to treat this disease. "up to now" may or may not have that implication or side effect. It's much less used. In fact, I always say "until [till] now" to HAVE that side effect and "so far" to AVOID that.

Answers.com and thefreedictionary.com claim that "up to now" can only be used in negative sentences (see e.g. www.thefreedictionary.com/up+to+now). That's not right. You can see people's usage by searching on Google for this phrase (wrap the three words in double quotes), and ignore the cases where the phrase "be up to" is meant.

Translation of "班长"

2008-08-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

[quote]原帖由 lavender0914 于 2008-8-19 09:22 发表
I hope our monitor is all right now. 我希望班长已经一切正常。[/quote]

I vaguely remember the translation of "班长" to "monitor" in some Chinese-English dictionary. That's misleading, to put it nicely. I know exactly what a 班长 is. In case anybody had a chance to watch the American TV series produced by PBS (Public Broadcast Station) a few days ago, the interview with a Chinese 班长 student used the term "class president". I think that's a fair translation, although it can only be understood by American audience based on the context, because there's no such role among the students in the US.

Off-topic: Post a message and sign with real name

2008-08-17T10:37:00.001-07:00

>> ...
>> Yong Huang

> 楼上每次发帖子都要署名累不累？

It's actually a well established etiquette on the Internet, or Netiquette as some call it. Chinese forums are different for some reason, probably because most members are younger. But if you post questions to a forum non-Chinese participate in, lack of a name at the end is not polite. See
http://www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/10-2007/msg00470.html
---begin quote---
By the way, please note that many people on this list usually do not respond
to questions posted by anonymous parties. Myself included. In the future,
if you want help, please have the good manners to identify yourself. At
least be good enough to provide a name more meaningful than "anysql".
---end quote---

(The user anysql is my Chinese friend doing Oracle DBA work in Shanghai. He's a good guy by the way.)

Some people use forum signature to automatically sign at the end to save typing. You can do so too.

"Comp time"

2008-08-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

----- BEGIN QUOTE -----
If you need to work six hours on a Saturday to deploy a software update to avoid downtime during business hours, you get, There’s no comp time for that since you’re on salary.That’s why we pay you the big bucks!”

请问这就话里的There’s no comp time for that since you’re on salary.是什么意思? 我感觉像是不给加班费的意思,请高人指点
----- END QUOTE -----

In the US, "comp time" means compensation time, not overtime pay or 加班费. Instead, the company allows you to take some time off to compensate for your extra working hours.

与老外交流最不该说的八句话 (Taboos when talking to non-Chinese)

2008-08-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

----- BEGIN QUOTE -----
一戒：不问年龄。西方人的年龄是保密的。特别是24岁以后绝不会谈论自己的年龄。　　二戒：不问财物。一个人的收入和随身所戴的财物都与个人的能力、地位、脸面等有关。　　三戒：不问婚姻。这属于个人隐私。让一位老大不小的外宾交待自己尚未婚配并不是件愉快的事情。　　四戒：不问住址。西方人认为给人留下住址，就得请对方到家作客。西方人是不喜欢随便请人到家里作客的。　　五戒：不问经历。这是对方的“老底”，也是商业秘密，西方人是不会轻易让人摸到自己的底牌的。外宾认为这是不友好的盘问，是干涉别人的私生活。　　六戒：不问信仰。政治见解和宗教信仰都是非常严肃的。　　七戒：不问行踪。　　八戒：不问吃饭
----- END QUOTE -----

Westerners are not all equal. Europeans are more private. Americans are more open, especially southerners. The first two rules are correct regardless, even for young generation Chinese nowadays. But the third is not quite right. It's OK to ask "You have kids?" Not quite the same as "Are you married?" but close, although Americans may be single Moms or Dads at a higher probability than Chinese. Asking "Are you married?" sounds strange. You can ask "You have family?" That's acceptable. The fourth is very wrong. It's perfectly OK to ask "Where do you live?" or if you know he stays in a hotel, "Where do you stay?" The fifth is wrong too. You can ask "Where were you before you joined [your company name]?" or "What were you doing before you ...?" Just don't keep asking too much unless he's interviewing for a job. The rest of the rules are probably OK. Again, my observation is from an American's perspective. Europeans could be different.

Skill to explain things indifferent ways

2008-08-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

> 如果已经学会界定，但理解还有偏差，那就要训练How
> to explain things indifferent ways(用不同的方式解释同
> 一事物)。一种表达式对方不懂，美国人会寻找另一种表
> 达式最终让对方明白。

That's an excellent point. A few years ago, I read on a Chinese forum where somebody said all he needed to be good at English was vocabulary, meaning once he knows a lot of words, his English will be super. I said that's far from true. Suppose a person knows only 1000 words (which may be true to some undereducated people). And suppose he doesn't know the word "engine". He may say "My car broke. It's the thing that drives the wheels through some belts. I forget what it's called." Then you know it's the word "engine". Well, this may be a bad example because most undereducated people probably know even more about cars than some educated ones. But the idea is that a guy with limited vocabulary can communicate well as long as he can "explain things in different ways". And that's the skill many Chinese that are studying English do not have.

Challenging English paragraph

2008-08-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

Question:

I am suffering my first, sever attack of nostalgia, or tesknota - a word that adds to nostalgia the tonalities of sadness and longing. It is a feeling whose shades and degrees I'm destined to know intimately, but at this hovering moment, it comes upon me like a visitation from a whole new geography of emotions, an annunciation of how an absence can hurt.
这里的shades and degrees什么意思？？谢谢！

那么这道题，高手们看看应该选什么,及为什么。谢谢各位了
By describing her feelings as having "shades and degrees", the author suggests that
(a) she is allowing herself to gieve only a little at a time
(b) she is numb to the pain of her grief
(c) she is overwhelmed by her emotions
(d) her sadness is greatest at night
(e) her emotional state is multifaceted

Answer:

It took me a couple of readings to realize why answer E is correct. First, the author is clear in saying she's very nostalgic, thinking of her home or past time very much ("severe attack of nostalgia"; note the spelling of the word "severe"). So answers A and B can't be right. Then you read the words "sadness and longing" as tonalities; think of hue to color, or MSG to Chinese food, if you wish. She's describing these tonalities or related feelings aside from the main feeling, nostagia, as "shades and degrees" of the main feeling. Isn't it clear that it's a multifaceted feeling?

"Romantic" vs "浪漫"

2008-08-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

More than once I heard that some Chinese students coming to the US said the word "romantic" and caused confusion to Americans. For instance, when he (she) found a beautiful view and uttered "How romantic!", an American would ask, "Why? There's no boy or girl falling in love in this scene." It seems that in America, the word "romantic" strictly means "displaying or expressing love or strong affection". Last night I was watching Jane Austin's "Sense and Sensibility" on TV. When the Dashwood family moved to the seaside cottage, the lady praised the view with the word "romantic". So the British, at least back then, did not have the restriction on this word. In fact, dictionary.com lists 8 meanings, and about half of them are not related to love. If it was restricted, the word "romanticism" in arts would be hard to understand.

Translation: 加油

2008-07-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

> 有些糊涂，书上说是come on
> 现实中有的人说是 go go go
> 还有人说是 hop on
> 韩国人经常使用 fighting

> 那么，老外到底怎么说加油的呢？
> (上次举办拔河比赛的时候，我们公司的外籍员工都叫一个单词pull~pull~
pull~pull~，难道老外没有加油专用词？)

"Pull" is obviously a proper word in cheering for the tug-of-war game. But in general, "go" is the word. It's commonly followed by the player or players on your own side, like "Go China", "Go Accounting" (suppose you're in the Accounting department of the company).

"Come on" is OK too. But you don't shout it many times in a row as you shout "go". I don't know "hop on" or "fighting" in this context.

Translation: college recruiting

2008-07-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

>这里有先进的仪器设备，宽敞明亮的学习环境，
>浓厚的学术氛围和热情的老师和同学们，为你
>实现自我价值搭建了坚实的平台。这里纪律严
>明，理论与实践相结合，为你将来的发展打下
>坚实的基础。

"We have sophisticated instrumentation, and bright and spacious study environment, where teachers and students find comfort in academic study and where you fulfill your potential. Disciplines and the philosophy of theory combined with practice in study will lay a solid foundation for your future development."

Not every word is properly translated, though.

"must have to"

2008-07-16T05:21:00.000-07:00

>>> "must have to" 常常被说英语国家的人在使用，在
>>> 网上你可以找到很多的带有must have to的句子
>> Can you give some examples?
> http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/x.asp :

> He must have to have about half a dozen though, mustn't he?
> So you must have to get one from somewhere then?
> A place of that size must contain thousands; and must have to feed thousands.
> He was so dark that he must have to shave two or three times a day, ...
> Presumably they must have to pay for all the preparation leading up to an operation of this sort, ...

Thank you. That byu corpus site is interesting. I did a little more search on Google. There *are* some people out there that say "must have to", I guess to emphasize the point, as if either "must" or "have to" alone is not strong enough. Next time I talk to my coworker or neighbor, let me say that and see how he (she) responds!

"smile" vs "laugh"

2008-07-09T05:07:00.000-07:00

> 每次想起这件事情的时候，总觉得很好笑
> It makes me smile every time it comes into my mind.

"Smile" should be changed to "laugh". These two words have different meanings; not just one means a little facial expression and the other means loud laugh with mouth wide open. You can say

"Every time I think of this, I want to laugh."
or
"Evert time I look back, it makes me laugh."

"agree more", but no "believe more"

2008-07-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

> These scientists could not believe the two Curies more.

It's easy to cause confusion. In English, we often say "I can't agree more", meaning "I wholeheartedly agree with you". But "I can't believe them more"? Mmmh, I think this author intends to say "absolutely believe them". But in real life, who would say that weird sentence? If you read it too fast, you would even think it was "... any more", which is the opposite.

It appears that, not all verbs can be used in the structure "somebody can't [verb] more..." to mean "[s]he very much [verb]'s...".

"scheduled for", not "scheduled at"

2008-07-04T06:46:00.002-07:00

Many Chinese say "The meeting is scheduled at 8am July 8.", probably because that's a direct translation from Chinese. But "at" is incorrect unless the schedule was made at 8 o'clock; it should be "for" instead. If you do need an explanation, it's because "at" refers to the time this scheduling action is done, not the time the event being scheduled will happen. So it's reasonable to make this sentence: "After long discussion, at 11pm Sunday night, they scheduled the meeting for 9am Monday." But it may cause some confusion or at least a few seconds' pause if it reads like "After long discussion, they scheduled the meeting at 11pm Sunday night for 9am Monday", although I think it's understandable.

Pronunciation: 学习英音还是美音好？

2008-07-02T20:28:00.000-07:00

> 现在美音很流行，我学美音很吃力，听也听不清楚，英音感觉和上海话
> 像多了，也清楚，可是现在都是学美音的，就怕学了英音还受美音影响，
> 成了mixture。

If you expect to talk to Americans more, practice American pronunciation. If you talk to the British people, practice British. If you don't know, then it doesn't matter. A mixture of pronunciation is perfectly acceptable, as long as you pronounce words clearly. People living in the New England area of the US have a mixed pronunciation. Nobody laughs at them.

Chinglish: "遇到问题" and "meet a problem"

2008-06-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

"遇到问题" is often translated to "meet a problem". This is extremely wrong! This English sentence is only heard among Chinese, not any other non-English speaking people as I recall. The correct way to say it is "I have a problem", "I had a problem", "this problem happened to me before". Say whatever but absolutely avoid "meet", because that's a word for people, as in "I met him on the street". If you have to have an exact match for "遇到", say "encounter", as in "the operations team encountered a serious problem at the time the system went live". But it's too formal for normal use.

"in [with] regard to" ,"regarding","concerning", "about"

2008-06-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

> Can i use them as a sentences like the followings?
> 1) I have set bunch of ideas as regard the problem.
> 2) With regard to the problem,i have set bunch of ideas.
> 3) I have set bunch of ideas with regard to the problem .
> 4) In respect to the problem, i have set bunch of ideas.
> Are those sentences correct?

There's no difference between these words or phrase ("in regard to" ,"regarding","concerning", "about", and "with regard to"). But it sounds weird when you mix formal words ("with [or in] regard to") with informal words such as "bunch of". And obviously whoever uses formal words should never write "i" when he means "I". Many Chinese and Indians have this horrible yet easily correctable mistake in not using capital letters when they should.

I don't think you can say "bunch of" not following "a"; "a bunch of" is correct but "bunch of" is probably not. "As regards" is heard. I'm not sure if anybody says "as regard".

No "to" between two verbs

2008-06-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

> "Let’s help push the cart across the bridge"
> 能解释下 "Help" and "push" 为什么能并列吗？

Most verbs need "to" to be inserted in front of the verb following it, e.g., "He told me to do it". There're a couple of verbs that don't need the "to", e.g., "He let me do it". And there's one verb that can, but doesn't have to, be followed by "to", and that verb is "help", e.g., "We can help you to finish the job", "We can help you finish the job". In fact, Americans often omit the "to" and I think more and more British do that too now.

In very informal English, people omit "to" after "go", e.g., "Let's go eat", or omit "and", e.g., "Go ahead do it".

Don't omit that "that"

2008-06-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

> He tried to isolate the germ he thought was causing the disease.
> 我认为 i thought 是插入语，插入语在句中不做任何成分，所以这句话在
> was前是不是缺了一个that 呢？

I agree. The word "that" should not be omitted.

Also see this:

"There're too many people make such mistakes."

Indeed many Chinese say that because it's a direct translation from Chinese. The word "that" (or "who") after "people" should not be omitted. Or just say "Too many people make such mistakes."

You deserve it!

2008-06-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

> 日常的会话中也常常用到一句“You deserve it!”，这句话是说这是“你应得的”，就是“活该、
> 自作自受”的意思。比如有人老爱脚踏两条船，结果到头来同时被两个女人给甩了，这种人
> 你就可以对他说 You deserve it.

Most of the time I hear people say "You deserve it!" in a positive way, although the negative usage is also heard:

"You're all hardworking people. At the time our company is coming to the end of an unprecedented profitable year, you all will receive an unprecedented bonus, because you all deserve it!"

Silly or idiot?

2007-12-31T09:42:00.000-08:00

A friend's little girl played with my daughter. Both are about 11 years old. One called the other an idiot and caused some unpleasant reaction. I always thought "silly" would be a word used in joking and "idiot" is clearly used in an offensive context, like "You silly boy!", "That's a f!@#$ idiot!"

I did some research. I agree with the last message in this thread:

groups.google.com/group/alt.english.usage/browse_frm/thread/f404499647463ff8

or directly at
groups.google.com/group/alt.english.usage/msg/9b57d36e96deaba8

I've been reading newsgroups for 10 years. My impression is that "idiot" is often used in flames (argument beyond technical content), but "silly" is not, at least in newsgroups. I remember watching a Japanese movie on the airplane. The teenage girl chased her singer model all the way from Tokyo to New York and back to Tokyo. She finally got his affectionate attention, when she grew up, mentally. In the last scene, the guy ran to the airport seeing her off, from outside the security check-in, calling her. She smiled and said (sounds like) ba-da. The English caption is "You idiot!" The context is clearly not about her resentment against the guy. It's quite the opposite actually. So I think the word "idiot" is very wrong here. I don't know Japanese. But I guess the translation should be something like "You silly boy!"

English translation: 碰到问题

2007-12-31T09:39:00.000-08:00

> 如果你碰到这个问题，你的思路是什么？

碰到 is meet only if you 碰到 a person. It's NOT meet when you 碰到 a problem. This is a very common mistake the Chinese people make in writing English.

Encounter is the correct word here. But it's too formal. You can always work around it by saying something like "What's your thought when you have this problem [or when this happens to you]?"

English translation: 介绍信

2007-12-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

> “介绍信”用英文怎么说？

Reference letter. Some say recommendation letter.

> 想知道正宗中国特色的介绍信，就是以前（好象现在有时候还需要）那种单位开的到别的机构/单位办事的介绍信怎么说

I see what you mean. I was thinking of the letter a job seeker is using.

OK. 正宗中国特色的介绍信 is something English speaking countries don't use. So there's no corresponding word or phrase in English. You may want to say "authorization letter" or "proof of identity letter". If you do, you must explain in a few sentences what it means and why it's needed.

Wrong English translation for "What do you think you are worth to us?"

2007-12-17T19:42:00.000-08:00

> What do you think you are worth to us？
> (你怎么认为你对我们有价值呢?)

Looks like many Chinese web sites have that wrong translation (search on Google and you'll know). The sentence means How much do you think you're worth? Or how much do you think your expected salary is? The Chinese translation, if translated back to English, is Why do you think you're valuable to us?, which is a legitimate but totally different question.

English translation: 我正在办理护照

2007-12-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

> 我正在办理护照
> 主要是这个办理，感觉prepare不太对

办理 or 办 is an interesting word in Chinese. It's used in so many places. I think in most (but not all) cases it's equivalent to "apply for".

English translation help (请帮忙翻译这句话)

2007-12-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

> 展望未来我们仍然不断完善自我，提升各方面的素质，更恳请您的指导与支持，
> 我们将继续竭诚与广大客户携手合作，与时俱进，共创未来

That was something quite fancy, literary... Let me try. It won't be a literal translation though. It sounds like advertisement words anyway.

Looking into the future, we'll strive for better quality and improve overall performance. Your suggestions and support are highly appreciated. We'll continue to work closely with our valuable customers in pursuit of a bright future.

English translation: 汉族

2007-12-17T19:25:00.000-08:00

> Han nation
> 好象不对

Since many years ago, China Daily or even Beijing Review (two English publications published by Chinese) used the word nationality to mean 族, so shaoshu minzu is minority nationality, and so on. I don't think that's correct. "Nationality" means citizenship as in:

A: What's your nationality?
B: French.

族 in Chinese is rather ethnicity or race. So I would say "the Han ethnic group" is a good answer to your question.

English study: Comments on How-to

2007-12-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

> 作为非母语学习，是永远也不可能完全达到母语水平比如用英文写诗歌和小说的

That applies to many people, but not to all.

> Jonathan现象，再一次证明了语言输出的能力不依赖输出的练习。“说”的能力是并不需要大量“说” 的练习的，所以不要再误认为学外语必须要“多说”，关键是先要会听和会思考。

I disagree. The ability to speak is not the same as the ability to speak well. That is, you may be able to speak (1) very slowly and (2) with heavy accent. But that's not nearly the ideal you want to achieve. Being fluent in a foreign language (as well as speaking with correct pronunciation) is just as important as being able to speak. And to achieve the goal of fluency needs a lot of practice. (Having good pronunciation needs practice too but to a less extent.)

> 自己对着墙练说或自言自语也可以

A very good idea if you don't have a chance to speak to a good (possibly native) speaker. The biggest advantage is that you have lots of time to do so. The disadvantage, however, is not to be discounted: (1) not knowing or knowing well whether you would be understood; (2) not knowing or knowing well if your pronunciation is correct.

> 写作是输出的有效手段，原理上跟“说”相似

Good point. I often tell my friends to chat with me in messengers. Messenger-chat is even closer to actual speaking than writing on your own because of its interactive nature. Again, there's clear disadvantage, i.e. the second (2) one above for speaking to yourself, pronunciation.

English translation: 瘦 and 胖

2007-12-17T19:18:00.000-08:00

> 瘦可以用skinny来说，如果胖用什么呢？

Fat is a bad word, unless you want to make a joke of your very good friend, or somebody completely unrelated to you in your everyday life.

To be courteous, you can say chubby if you refer to his/her face. If you talk about the body, big may be an OK word. But big may also imply tall. If you have to say fat but short, how about stout? Plump may be OK too. Another way to circumvent this embarrassing comment is to use a negative sentence, like "She's not skinny". People will understand you.

English translation: 怕冷 or 怕热

2007-12-17T19:06:00.000-08:00

> 我比较瘦，怕冷不怕热

I don't have a Chinese-English dictionary with me. I wonder what they translate the word 怕 to. You can't say fear or be "afraid of". A proper word may be "be sensitive to". So here's my translation:

"I'm skinny. I'm sensitive to cold (or cold weather). But I'm OK when I'm hot [or when it's hot]."

But that may be too literal. You could simply say "I don't like cold weather", or "I don't feel comfortable when it's cold", "I feel cold when it's cold".

Yong Huang