tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post5567183226929889093..comments2023-08-25T22:42:44.422+08:00Comments on Mandarin Segments: A Chinese Idiom in the hand is worth two in the bushGreghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11197148648944758867noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-22545371746895133402020-11-11T02:30:05.012+08:002020-11-11T02:30:05.012+08:00The ox is slow but the earth is patient.The ox is slow but the earth is patient.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-66624834929747288962013-03-10T23:21:56.150+08:002013-03-10T23:21:56.150+08:00Hi there - thanks for taking the time to write thi...Hi there - thanks for taking the time to write this comment, you've given some fantastic information - some of which I have never seen before. This is really great stuff!<br /><br />And you're in HK? We should meet up at some stage!<br /><br />Firstly, your point about both 鍾 and 鐘 appearing as 钟 in Simplified is interesting - I never knew about the other one, so yet - the chengyu makes more sense know that I know. Thanks :-)<br /><br />You say that "好久不見" is not a chengyu, and that got me thinking ... how do we know if a 4-hanzi expression is a chengyu or not? In this case, is it simply that it doesn't appear in some approved list of chengyu?<br /><br />And thanks for the link to the other dictionary - it looks really good!<br /><br />Thanks for dropping in, I look forward to more of your comments in future :-)Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11197148648944758867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-55808705338929504702013-03-10T03:36:17.924+08:002013-03-10T03:36:17.924+08:00hey~ hello from hong kong
kind of funny to see how...hey~ hello from hong kong<br />kind of funny to see how foreigners study my mother language! HA!<br />anyway~ here're some facts for you~<br /><br />---<br /><br />一见钟情<br />THIS is written in simplified chinese<br />in traditional chinese, it's 一見鍾情<br /><br />you translate this chengyu to "one look bell emotion"<br />this is not exactly correct because...<br /><br />both of the simplified chinese of these 2 word “鐘" and “鍾" are “钟”<br />they have the same pronunciation but different meaning<br /> <br />“鐘" means bell<br />http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE9Zdic90Zdic98.htm<br /><br />while<br /><br />“鍾" means focus on one (when it is pair up with “情") <br />http://www.zdic.net/zd/zi/ZdicE9Zdic8DZdicBE.htm<br /><br />so you can't say "one look bell emotion"<br />it should be "fall in love at first sight at this particular someone/something"<br /><br />---<br /><br />好久不见(好久不見) is NOT a chengyu<br /><br />---<br /><br />you can get a better definition of the idioms here<br />they have english definition YEAH~<br />and the story which the chengyu came from (written in ancient chinese 文言文)<br /><br />开门见山(開門見山)<br />http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/4/ZdicE5ZdicBCZdic80337573.htm<br /><br />塞翁失马(塞翁失馬) <br />http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/13/ZdicE5ZdicA1Zdic9E298274.htm<br /><br />you can look for more in the chengyu dictionary<br />http://www.zdic.net/cy/<br /><br />---<br /><br />i'm not an expert but these are what i know<br />hope it can help~<br />Wong Kai Zen Gemmyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07565090842605178727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-70002447790832312342012-09-10T15:37:04.320+08:002012-09-10T15:37:04.320+08:00Great thing in this blog.Great thing in this blog.jaffahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01507741685542014851noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-58938608754510679042011-03-30T08:38:09.517+08:002011-03-30T08:38:09.517+08:00Thomas, thanks for the update. Actually when looki...Thomas, thanks for the update. Actually when looking up this particular Chengyu, different sites had different interpretations of 'Sai Weng', so I went with the name. I didn't come across yours, but it makes most sense (particularly going to war, and being near the border)). Thanks!Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11197148648944758867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-49756145823009658362011-03-30T06:27:08.587+08:002011-03-30T06:27:08.587+08:00Hi, great post about chengyu.
In 塞翁失马 the Sai Wen...Hi, great post about chengyu.<br /><br />In 塞翁失马 the Sai Weng basically means the old man (weng) at the border (sai), since sai also means a place of strategic importance, or simply the border in the North (think of the Great Wall) placed against the barbarians.<br />So, it originally didn't mean this guy's name, but more a description. Of course this doesn't influence the rest of the post or the chengyu. Well done!<br /><br />ThomasTaminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14318431445088113412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-91334281836753015552011-03-30T00:52:51.861+08:002011-03-30T00:52:51.861+08:00Alex, thanks for your input. Yes you're right...Alex, thanks for your input. Yes you're right ... I just saw there were 250 results, and didn't even notice the 'next' button. Thanks also for the link - that sorting by frequency looks really useful!<br /><br />Am a little surprised to hear that someone has copyright over idioms which have been around for hundreds or thousands of years. Maybe they just copied the definitions?Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11197148648944758867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-13325198247357604372011-03-29T09:07:54.314+08:002011-03-29T09:07:54.314+08:00There are much more idioms in MDBG. 250 is how muc...There are much more idioms in MDBG. 250 is how much fits on one page, there is button "Next" at the bottom. You may want to look at them in order of usage frequency here:<br />http://mandarinspot.com/dict?word=idiom&phs=pinyin&sort=freq<br /><br />There was much more idioms in CEDICT, but most of them were dumped from the dictionary as result of somebody's copyright claim (AFAIK).Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14660997921307388703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-70662817661537609642011-03-28T23:43:54.620+08:002011-03-28T23:43:54.620+08:00Becoming fluent? Nope - but I *am* progressing! S...Becoming fluent? Nope - but I *am* progressing! So Kara, which would you say are the most common Chengyu that you use "in regular conversation"?Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11197148648944758867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-64336394645844292592011-03-28T20:41:07.121+08:002011-03-28T20:41:07.121+08:00I actually heard the story with the horses for the...I actually heard the story with the horses for the first time the other day! Wow! Great coincidences!<br /><br />I'm surprised that you have a love-hate relationship with chengyu. I have learned so much and was taught to use so many in regular conversation that I'm really used to them!<br /><br />How are you Greg? It's been awhile, I'm glad you're becoming fluent :)Karahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10960057016011606588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-87583883742537403252011-03-27T23:59:52.380+08:002011-03-27T23:59:52.380+08:00Hey mousenb. So it might very well have come throu...Hey mousenb. So it might very well have come through Chinese indeed! Thanks for the link. (I must admit, when I was originally told this, it reminded me of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", where the father was convinced that just about every word (including kimono!) derived from Greek words :-)Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11197148648944758867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4674533288609171573.post-16423636549681244632011-03-27T22:46:22.939+08:002011-03-27T22:46:22.939+08:00"Long time no see" very possibly did com..."Long time no see" very possibly did come from the Chinese.<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_time_no_seeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com