General phrase translation requests

[chris(mandarin_student)]

Yeah Will like yours better!

I cheated as an experiment and ran it through a translator although the only word I wasn't sure of was monster (I could have done dragon, I suppose).

What came out looked ok for a change, it often doesn't so I thought I'd give it a pitch.

Is the translator version still technically though? it seems so to me.

I am moving into the realm of tying to construct longer sentances now. My Skype tutor asks me questions about texts we are studying. I can understand the questions but find it very hard to construct an elegent answer in real time, either too short ("wu3") or too long (regurgitating from memory and entire chunk of the text back).

If Bazza keeps churning out song lyrics there are going to be some very funny sentances in here.

[Will]

The translator one's correct enough to be understood, but it "doesn't sound natural". That phrase comes up altogether too often when you're translating into Chinese. It's important not only to get it grammatically correct, but also so that it doesn't sound like it's just been put through a translator.
There's quite a difference between natural Chinese sentences and natural English sentences. Perhaps we think about concepts differently (or is it the other way around - do Chinese people think differently because of their sentence structure?...woooooh).

[chris(mandarin_student)]

Good thanks for that Will.

I think I was already viewing translators (in either direction) as just another little helper, but not to be taken too seriously.

[Bazza]

If Bazza keeps churning out song lyrics there are going to be some very funny sentances in here.

Here's another one to have a go on.

"Let's all meet up in the year 2000, won't it be strange when we're all fully grown? Be there 2 o clock by the fountain down the road."

[Zhang]

I am a Chinese and just got the qualification of teaching chinese as a foreign language (intermediate lavel) though I don't have many experience yet. Anyway hope I can help you guys learn Chinese.


'I know nothing'
without context, the translation can be
(w)什(shn)么(me)(du)(b)知(zh)(do) ;or
(w)什(shn)么(me)(du)(b)(dng)

'Where's the toilet please?'
(qng)(wn)洗(x)(shu)(jin)(zi)(n)(er)
toilet :洗(x)(shu)(jin); (wi)(shng)(jin); (c)(su)
ladies' toilet: 女(n)(c)(su)
(n)(er) is the same as (n)(li) but more commonly used and more difficult to pronounce

"I went up the stairs."
(w)去(q)楼(lu)(shng)(le)

"I came down the stairs."
(w)(li)楼(lu)(xi)(le)

"什么 ? "
More commonly we say:'(n)(jio)什(shn)么(me)?'
When you answer, you can just say your name.
e.g. "(n)(jio)什(shn)么(me)?" "(hi)(lng)"


'What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?'
山潜吖什么一

'why me? why you? why here? why now?'
Here is a literal translation:
为(wi)什(shn)么(me)(sh)(w)
为(wi)什(shn)么(me)(sh)(n)
为(wi)什(shn)么(me)(zi)(zh)(er)
为(wi)什(shn)么(me)(xin)(zi)

"Can you change this 50 please?"
Can anyone explain this sentence to me or give me a context? So I can give it a proper translation. Thanks

[Bazza]

Zhang, did that post the way you typed it? We're currently experiencing problems with Chinese characters.

Putting the letter ì at the top of your post seems to fix it though. Not sure why but it does.

[Will]

ì
"Let's all meet up in the year 2000, won't it be strange when we're all fully grown? Be there 2 o clock by the fountain down the road."
我们二零零零年都遇到把。我们长大的时候真奇怪呢？你们两点钟在路旁边的泉水站。
wo3men er ling2lingling nian2 dou1 yu2dao4 ba. Wo3men zhangda de shi2hou zhen1 qi2guai4 ne? Wo3men liangdian3 zhong1 zai4 lu4bian4 de quan2shui3 zhan4.
We 2 0 0 0 year all meet let's. We grow big de time really strange, eh? We 2o'clock at roadside fountain stand.

[Bazza]

Nice one, Will.

[Zhang]

ì

ha, my first post here became a mess :) Let me try again.

'I know nothing'
without context, the translation can be
我什么都不知道 or
我什么都不懂 （dong3）

'Where's the toilet please?'
请问洗手间在哪儿？
toilet :洗手间；卫生间；厕所
ladies' toilet: 女厕所
men's toilet: 男厕所
哪儿is the same as 哪里 but more commonly used and more difficult to pronounce

"I went up the stairs
我去楼上了

"I came down the stairs."
我来楼下了

"你叫什么名字 ? "
More commonly we say:'你叫什么?'
When you answer it, you can just say your name.
e.g. "你叫什么?" "黑龙"


'What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?'
正从山那边过来的是什么？是一个怪物吗？
怪guai4
物wu4

'why me? why you? why here? why now?'
Here is a literal translation:
为什么是我
为什么是你
为什么在这里
为什么现在

"Can you change this 50 please?"
Can anyone explain this sentence to me or give me a context? So I can give it a proper translation. Thanks

[Will]

Change this 50 refers to money. A person has a 50 dollar/yuan note and they want say, three $10 notes and a $20 note.

[Zhang]

ì

"Can you change this 50 please?"

请问能换开50块钱吗？
qing3wen4 neng2 huan4kai1 50 kuai4 qian2 ma?
请问能破开50块钱吗？
qing3wen4 neng2 po4kai1 50 kuai4 qian2 ma?

请问50块钱能换开吗？
qing3wen4 50 kuai4 qian2 neng2 huan4kai1 ma?
请问50块钱能破开吗？
qing3wen4 50 kuai4 qian2 neng2 po4kai1 ma?

请问50块钱换得开吗？
qing3wen4 50 kuai4 qian2 huan4 de kai1 ma?
请问50块钱破得开吗？
qing3wen4 50 kuai4 qian2 po4 de kai1 ma?

positive answer: 能（换开），能（破开）；换得开，破得开
negative answer: 不能（换开），不能（破开）；换不开，破不开

You can use 可以ke3yi3 instead of 能neng3

Will, only for your reference.
"Let's all meet up in the year 2000, won't it be strange when we're all fully grown? Be there 2 o clock by the fountain down the road."
让我们共聚2000年，那时我们都已长大，难道不是很奇妙吗？
2点在路边的喷泉那里

[preyer]

厕所在哪里？Ce4suo3 zai4 na3li3? Where's the toilet? (Add 请问qingwen for politeness, or for more polite: 我哪里能洗洗手？Wo3 na3li3 neng2 xi1xi1 shou3? Where can I wash my hands?

So wèi shēng jiān would be politer as well then?

xi3shou3jian1洗手间 is more popular than wèi shēng jiān

[Bryan]

Hi, I'm new to Chinese Pod and an absolute newbie and I must say that I am so impressed with this great community and am excited to become part of it. What a great place to learn and meet others!

I was hoping that some of you may be able to help me out. I believe I already know how to say (please correct me if I'm wrong):

I am Chinese.
Wǒ shì zhōng guó rén.

However, I'm wondering how to say one or both of the following:

I'm part Chinese. (and if you mean it only in the context of lineage or descent, would you even say "part" like in English or would you need to clarify that you are speaking of lineage?).

I'm one-quarter Chinese. (in other words, "I'm 25% Chinese by lineage").

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

PS - I'm having problems getting Hanzi characters to show up correctly on this post only (no problems in other applications). I've toyed with HTML settings on the forum and character encoding, etc. but nothing seems to be working. Only one or two characters show up and sometimes they are incorrect. Also, I used the Pinyin to Unicode coverter to get the pinyin to format properly on this post. Are others doing this? I've read the FAQ and tried other suggestions made on the site but to no avail...

[AuntySue]

Bryan, start your post with the pinyin of i4 like a couple of people have done above. Then your Chinese characters will come out. It's a work-around until we fix this bug.

Can anyone tell me how to write this, correctly for language and culture?
"Smile if you speak Mandarin!"
"Honk if you speak Mandarin!"
I'll leave you to imagine what I plan to do with it :-)

[Bazza]

Bryan, start your post with the pinyin of i4 like a couple of people have done above. Then your Chinese characters will come out. It's a work-around until we fix this bug.

Can anyone tell me how to write this, correctly for language and culture?
"Smile if you speak Mandarin!"
"Honk if you speak Mandarin!"
I'll leave you to imagine what I plan to do with it :-)

ì
This might be grammically incorrect, but it's my attempt.

Smile if you speak Mandarin! - 如果你说普通话,那么微笑 rú guŏ nĭ shuō pŭ tōng huà, nà me wēi xiào

Honk if you speak Mandarin! - 如果你说普通话,那么嘟 rú guŏ nĭ shuō pŭ tōng huà, nà me dū