6.9 Dialogue: Where are you from?

Transcription

1 When did your parents come to the US? / They came in Do they still live in Chicago? Yes, they do. They re coming to see me on Saturday. 6.9 Dialogue: Where are you from? Ji is a Chinese student who has just met Y, an overseas student who has been studying Chinese at Q nghuá Dàxué in Beijing for the past year. Ji Q ngwèn, n shi n i guó rén? May I ask your nationality? Y W shi Ji nádà rén. I m Canadian. Ji K shì n xiàng <yí>ge Zh ngguó rén. But you look like a Chinese. Y W fùqin shì Zh ngguó rén, m qin My father s Chinese, my mother s shì M iguó rén, k shì w sh ng zài American, but I was born in Ji nádà. N qùguo ma? Canada. Have you been? Ji Méi qùguo, k shì h n xi ng qù. I haven t, but I d love to. N shi Ji nádà shénme dìfang rén? Where abouts in Canada are you from? Y Du lúndu, w sh ng zai Du lúndu, Toronto, I was born in Toronto. w y zhù zai Du lúndu. and I live in Toronto. Ji O, Du lúndu, w nàr y u q nqi. Oh, Toronto, I have relatives there. Y Shì ma? Really? 28

2 Ji W tángxi ng zài nàr, shi y sh ng. My cousin [older, father s side] is there -- [he] s a doctor. Y Nà, n ne? N shì B ij ng rén ba? And you, you re from Beijing? Ji Bù, w sh ng zai X n, y zh ng No, I was born in Xi an, and I zai X n k shì xiànzài zhù zai grew up in Xi an but now I B ij ng. live in Beijing. Y N shi n i nián lái de B ij ng? Which year did you come to Beijing? Ji W shi 1998 nián lái de. W fùm I came in My parents still live in hái zhù zài X n. Xi an. Y Nà n x bù x huan B ij ng? So do you like Beijing? Ji B ij ng bú cuò, k shì w h n xi ng Beijing s not bad, but I miss Xi an. X n. Y W qùguo X n, X n h n h owánr. I ve been to Xi an, it s a great place to visit. Ji N shi shénme shíhou qù de? When was it that you went? Y W shi qùnián qù de. I went last year. Ji Xià cì qù, q ng dào w ji lai Next time [you] go, you should come wánrwánr. by my house. Y O, xièxie, n tài kèqi. Oh, thanks, you re very kind. 29

3 Notes a) Tángxi ng elder male cousin (on father s side) ; cf. tángdì, tángji and tángmèi. Táng is a room (cf. yì táng kè), the main house, or by extension, the clan. The táng cousins all share a surname. The mother s side cousins are all bi o, which means surface or outside : bi oxi ng, bi odì, bi oji, bi omèi. b) Q ng dào wó ji lái wánr is a conventional phrase, equivalent to you must come by and see us ; often preceded by y u kòng<r> [q ng dào.] [if] you have free time Wánr Wánr is interesting not only for it pronunciation (one of the few common verbs with the r- suffix), but also for its meaning. In dictionaries, it is glossed play; have fun; play around with but in many cases an appropriate translation is difficult to find. In the Chinese world, wánr is the counterpart of g ngzuò work ; in English we sometimes place work and play in opposition as well. So a better translation would be have a good time; for some fun. Wán<r> can also be a verb meaning fool around with [for fun] ; cf. máng be busy and máng shénme be busy at what. Nèi ge dìfang h n h owánr. That place is very interesting. Y u kòng<r> q ng zài lái wánr. If you have some time, come by again. Zánmen gàn shénme wánr ne? D májiàng ba! What shall we do for fun? Why don t we play mahjong? MIT xuésh ng h n x huan wánr diànn o. MIT students love to fool around with computers. Notes a) Q ng zài lái wánr, with zàijiàn de zài ( ), meaning again. 30

4 Exercise 9. a) Translate: 1. There are a lot of large cities [dà chéngshì] in China. 2. Why are there so many people outside? 3. May I ask where you work? 4. I was born in Tianjin, but I live in Beijing nowadays. 5. We re going to Shanghai on the 18 th. 6. My father s in Kunming he s a manager for a computer company. 7. Next time you re in Kunming, please come by my house for a visit. b) Write questions that would elicit the following answers: 1. W men shì shàngge x ngq sì lái de. 2. Zh ngwén kè, l bàiy dào sì d u y u, l bàiwú méiy u. 3. Xiàge yuè w d suàn qù Huángsh n kànkan f ngj ng [ scenery ]. 4. Lóuxià y u diànhuà, lóushàng méiyou. 5. W hái méi qùguo, dànshì h n xi ng qù Jiào with two objects 6.10 Calling Michael Jordan The familiar verb jiào can take two objects, with the meaning call someone something : W men jiào t Chén l osh. Dàji d u jiào t l o f z. N jiào t shénme? Péngyou d u jiào w Xi omíng. We call him Chen laoshi. Everyone calls him the studious one. What do you call her? Friends call me young Míng. A more colloquial form of this construction makes use of the verb gu n whose root meaning (as a verb) is be in charge of : 31

5 W men gu n t jiào l osh. We call her teacher. T men gu n t jiào fànt ng. They call him rice bucket. (ie big eater ) Finding out how to address someone Frequently, in talking to someone with status, it may not be clear what form of address is appropriate. At such times a direct inquiry will help, using the verb ch nghu call or address, or as is appropriate in this context, be called; be addressed : Ji : Q ngwèn, nín z nme ch nghu? Y : N men jiào w Yáng l osh jiu h o le. Excuse me, sir/madame, how should you be addressed? It s fine if you call me Yang laoshi Dialogue People in China will often ask about foreign entertainers and sports people. Here, a Chinese youth (Ch.) asks an overseas student (For.) about an American sports star: Ch. X huan Màikè Qiáod n ma? Do you like Michael Jordan? For. Shéi / shuí? Who? Ch. Màikè Qiáod n, d lánqiú de. Michael Jordan, the one who plays basketball. For. O, <Michael Jordan>. T de Oh, Michael Jordan. How do you say míngzi z nme shu? Q ng zài shu his name? Please repeat it. yí biàn. Ch. Màikè Qiáod n. W men d u jiào Michael Jordan. We all call him t F irén. the Flying Man. For. F irén? Shénme yìsi? Feiren? What does [that] mean? Ch. Z nme shu ne...t xiàng How to say [it] - he s like the birds, he can fly. ni o <yíyàng>, néng f i. For. Ei, bú cuò. Right! 32

6 Notes d lánqiú de f irén ni o literally hit basketball one, ie the one who plays basketball flying-man ; MJ was also called lánqiú-dàdì basketballgreat-emperor in China. bird ; alternatively, t xiàng f ij he s like an airplane. This is a good time to mention some Chinese sports figures who are, or have been well known outside China: Yáo Míng (d lánqiú de, 2003, Xi s dùn) and Wáng Zhìzhì (d lánqiú de, 2003, Yìndì nnà); Zhu ng Zédòng (d p ngp ngqiú de guànj n a champion pingpong player, flourished in the late 1950s, early 1960s); Láng Píng aka Ti lángtou iron-hammer (n de, d páiqiú de guànj n a volleyball champion from the 1980s); Chén Féidé, whose English name is Michael Chang (d w ngqiú de guànj n, 1990s) Yíyàng the same As observed in the previous dialogue, xiàng resemble is optionally followed by the expression yíyàng the same, literally one-kind (cf. jiu zhèi yàng<r> ba, z nmeyàng and a host of other phrases that make use of the root yàng). Yíyàng can be used independently of xiàng, with items to be matched connected by conjunctions such as g n or hé: T g n w yíyàng: w men d u shi yì niánjí de xuésheng. He s like me: we re both 1st year students. T hé w yíyàng: d u shì dúsh ngzi. He s just like me; we re both only children. Nà n shu de hé t shu de bù yíyàng. Now, what you are saying isn t the same as what he s saying. Yí cì de cì hé yì huí de huí, yìsi chàbudu yíyàng. The cì of yí cì and the huí of yì huí have roughly the same meaning. 33

7 Note Observe the order of elements in the last example: Topic [yí cì de cì hé yì huí de huí] followed by a comment [yìsi chàbudu yíyàng]. Yìsi sometimes called the inner subject refines the scope of yíyàng. Exercise He s very strict, so we call him the boss. 2. She s my mother s sister, so we call her auntie. 3. Because Mr. Chen s a director, people call his wife Madame Chen. 4. Because he s rather old, we call him l odàye. 5. Although [su rán] she s not a teacher, we still call her Professor Liào. 6. Excuse me, may I ask how we should address you? / It s okay to call me Liáng Àimín or Professor Liáng. 7. Their names are the same: they re both called Lín M i. 8. They live in the same place. [ie The places they live in. ] 6.11 Food (3) Chinese dishes are variously named. Some are descriptive: ch oj d ng stirfried-chickencubes ; zhàcài-ròus -t ng pickled-cabbage meat-shreds soup. Others incorporate proper names: Yángzh u-ch ofàn Yangzhou fried rice (from Yángzh u, a city on the north shore of the Yangtze, east of Nanjing). Numbers are also common: sh o èrd ng cooked-2- winters, ie usually d ngg winter mushrooms and d ngs n winter bamboo-shoots. Finally, there are dishes with poetic or allusive names: g ubul b ozi dog-not-obey steamed buns, a Tianjin specialty. Listed below are some other examples which can be incorporated in prior dialogues dealing with food. máog j piàn tángcùyú ( hairy-mushroom chicken-slices ), often listed on menus by its Cantonese name, moogoo gaipan. sweet and sour fish (sugar-vinegar-fish) 34

8 soups B ij ng k oy D ngpòròu s nxi n-h ish n máy shàngshù mápo dòufu ji cháng dòufu t ng zh g n<r>t ng Peking duck a rich pork dish, associated with the Song dynasty poet and statesman, S D ngpò, also called S Shì. 3-fresh sea-cucumber, ie sea cucumber with 3 fresh items, typically shredded pork, bamboo shoots and chicken. ants climb-tree, spicy ground beef sauce poured over deepfried beanthread noodles; the dish is named for the small bumps that appear on the noodles. hot and spicy beancurd, a Sichuan dish with cubes of beancurd, minced pork and spicy sauce home-cooked beancurd soup pork-liver soup Q ng zài lái ge m y -shàngshù! [JKW 2001] 35