|
 |
Mandarin : the character 讷 | ||
Tags: Mandarin | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4826 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes  Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 1 of 18 16 July 2012 at 3:24am | IP Logged | ||
|
I've had a though time trying to find this character that I learned in a Pimsleur lesson, 讷, which according to the
lesson means something like "here you are" or "there you go" when serving someone something to drink or to eat. For instance : 讷，一杯啤酒。But all I could find on the net is that it means either "slow", "to be slow of speech, to mumble". Also, Pimsleur pronounces it no4 but dictionaries mention it as na4 or ne4. Can anyone shed some light? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vermillon Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4680 days ago 602 posts - 1042 votes Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, Mandarin Studies: Japanese, German | Message 2 of 18 16 July 2012 at 8:04am | IP Logged | ||
|
If it sheds any light, I've never seen it in several years of daily reading.
But how did you know this was the character they said, Pimsleur normally comes without any transcript, right? Or perhaps Pimsleur teaches some quite rare stuff, because I've asked two native speakers and they had no idea. It's possible that 那 was intended in fact, it's a quite common sentence starter... However Mandarin has no "no" pinyin, so I'm not sure which sound you refer to by no4... there's na, ni, ne, nuo, nu, nü (and perhaps nou, but I can't think of any). Edited by vermillon on 16 July 2012 at 8:08am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4703 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 3 of 18 16 July 2012 at 11:05am | IP Logged | ||
|
讷 by my dictionary is defined along the lines of ne4 "large/to speak cautiously".
I did pimsleur myself up to lvl3 and no where do I ever recall coming across that, I foudn some transcripts on the net and again it features no where in the transcripts so only two things I can think of;- You miss heard and and trying to make you own transcripts but ar unfamiliar with choosing the correct Hanzi. You heard correctly but made a mistake with waht ever Chinese input system you are using for your computer. Perhaps you meant no4, na4, or lai2? N.B - I do recall seeing this character once but it was in a Heisig book, I think his keyword for it was "cautious" Edited by eggcluck on 16 July 2012 at 11:06am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4826 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 4 of 18 16 July 2012 at 4:18pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I forgot to say I referred to the transcript of the level I I found on the internet. There are very few mistakes in it (I
only found one so far and it's very minor), so I thought 讷 would also be correct, but surely it is a mistake of some kind, as I can't find the corresponding "no" sound (there are no mandarin words with that corresponding pinyin). Anyway, it's used in the recordings starting with lesson 13, if anyone is curious. The printout writes it as "no" but it's really ne4 because, well, that's what it is! For an example from the transcript (and thus the recording): "The Mandarin word that means here you are is pronounced with a high falling tone. Say Here you are, 10 American dollars. Nò. Shí kuài mêijïn." The authors of the transcript add a note : 讷 (nò) is considered very informal. Avoid using it in a business situation. Edited by Homogenik on 16 July 2012 at 4:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5962 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 5 of 18 16 July 2012 at 4:33pm | IP Logged | ||
|
It must be an error. I looked in a dictionary for native speakers and there is no
meaning that would fit.
http://dict.baidu.com/s? wd=%DA%AB&f=3&dt=explain 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4826 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 6 of 18 16 July 2012 at 4:36pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Yeah, I just saw that as well while doing research. It surprises me very much that Pimsleur would use such a
"popular" or, surely, colloquial expression that no one knows about it and no dictionary even mentions it! How useful (as much as learning Long Pea Street in chinese...) ! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lucky Charms Diglot Senior Member Japan lapacifica.net Joined 6951 days ago 752 posts - 1711 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German, Spanish | Message 7 of 18 16 July 2012 at 6:20pm | IP Logged | ||
This made me laugh. Chang an jie is translated as "long peace street", not "long pea street"! :) But it's one of the main streets in Beijing, so it might come in handy if you travel there someday. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Homogenik Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4826 days ago 314 posts - 407 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Polish, Mandarin | Message 8 of 18 16 July 2012 at 10:58pm | IP Logged | ||
|
Oh right! Peace! This makes more sense.
1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
