Skip to main content
Wayne Cheah's user avatar
Wayne Cheah's user avatar
Wayne Cheah's user avatar
Wayne Cheah
  • Member for 5 years
  • Last seen this week
revised
Loading…
Loading…
comment
Using 一点 as a complement of quantity after verbs
"She must have an extremely good telescope!" If the telescope is extremely good, then the sentence would be "她能看到一大部分嫦娥住的月宫" :)
awarded
comment
Origin of the character "力"
@prismcool is thinking of a plough pulled by a motorized tractor :)
revised
Loading…
revised
Loading…
Loading…
comment
Characters with Multiple Pinyin Transcriptions
These words, 了, 觉, are always paired with some other words, fore or aft, to give them the proper semantic context. Thus with past experiential readings, you would be able to tell, precognitively, their proper pronunciation nuances. Only lots of reading of these and other words in various combinations can give you that. Just like 好 which is pronounced "Hǎo" meaning "good", but pronounced 好斗 "Hào dòu" when it means having the propensity for being quarrelsome / combative. If you are looking for Rules to assist, there are 3 clichéd ones; Practice, Practice, Practice.
comment
Translation of "深" in "深坐" in 李白's poem《怨情》
Perhaps a question could be asked why I chose the version in my answer? I was thinking that the version in the Comment is a bit uncharacteristic for the times of Li Bai's writings as "self-loathing" is very "un-Chinese", then and now. This kind of emotions is, in my view, a by-product of our "modern" times where the all important "Self" has engendered an obsessive past-time of self-examination, partly I suppose due to the 19th Century emergence of popular psychoanalysis.
comment
Translation of "深" in "深坐" in 李白's poem《怨情》
"Eventually, I expect more than one meaning to be correct" Of course: that is why it is so captivating. This poem, (perhaps it was Li Bai's playful intention all along), could actually be interpreted to mean the lady is pining, longing for her lover and the "resentment" in the poem's title, 怨情, and 恨 were directed towards herself, not towards the object of her affection, and hence with tears in her eyes, Li Bai resolves this confusion with the final loaded line "不知心恨谁" as 不知, ("not knowing"), indicates a confused / indecisive state of mind. I was actually vacillating between the two versions.
comment
The origin of "goody-goodies are the thieves of virtue"
It is inevitable for non-Native translators, (not denying their academic credentials of course), to interpret / translate Chinese ancient text of a complex, culture-loaded subject from the familiar view point of the author's own native philological traditions, philosophical learnings and maybe even cultural bias. (not saying Alan Watts is one such) However, using "goodie goodness", (in application to the subject under discussion), has an unwarranted cynical character about it by equating it to 仁 which is beyond individual "goodness", for it encompasses a sense of universal beneficence.
Loading…
comment
Is it possible that 去 originally meant "go to the toilet"?
The 甲骨文 for 去 looks to me more like a person riding a horse, the bottom part looks like a saddle. So, "to go" is to "ride away". A picture speaks a 1000 words, it also sparks a 1000 ideas. The question is why use an activity, (toiletry), which is both private and unpleasant, (in any civilization, ancient or modern), to depict a mundane action of "to go"? Also, "to go" is not confined to just toiletry; but to go to the market, to go to the well to fetch water, etc.
comment
what is an exact meaning of 缘?
In order to assist in visualization, please tell us which part of the "pig" is the "string" attached to?
comment
Benefits of Learning a Chinese Dialect in Addition to Standardized Mandarin
Someone once said, "A man who speaks two languages is worth two men" Singapore is a country where the education system mandates bilingual proficiency, i.e., English and one mother tongue, such as Mandarin, Malay or Tamil. Singapore students consistently scores well in international student competitions, like PISA. Of course bilingualism is not the sole determinant factor but surely it helps? Also, in Malaysia, (Singapore's neighbor), with multiple Chinese dialect groups living together, bilingual dialect proficiency is essential. Also singing karaoke songs in dialect is truly satisfying.
comment
What exact breed of animal is a 金丝熊?
Thanks for the nostalgic reminiscing. You say that "... one thing a war will do for you is get rid of all the rodents" Yes, and during peacetime, they, (the rodents), all become politicians and run the government.
comment
This seems more complicated than it needs to be
May I ask what nationality are you? Because "lost in your summer smile, and rest in the autumn leaves of your eyes" sound "strange" even in English.
comment
Need help understanding a sentence from a novel
Quote:- "So the 是 is not part of 只是?" No, the 只 here is not part of "只是" It is part of "也只" which means "only", and thus 也只是 means "也只, only, 是, is" Here is an example where 也只 is separated from 是 in a sentence. x.com/zhonghuifufu/status/1825504786969657694
comment
Appreciation of 李白's poem 《清平调·其一》
A person with a runaway imagination could interpret 春风拂槛露华浓 in so many ways, including the erotic angle as each word there could be paired up with some other word to change the apparently innocent rendering to some kind of erotic innuendo. But would Mr. Li Bai dared to do that with 杨贵妃, the favorite concubine of an Emperor? The whole poem is just an unapologetic exaltation of her beauty to the divine plane comparable to a goddess; residing at 玉山 looking down on humanity from her perch at 瑶台, illuminated by the Moon, 月下, with 春风 gently wafting by and 露华浓, dew drops adding splendor to the scene.
1
2 3 4 5
85