Everplayer Diglot Groupie China Joined 5047 days ago 69 posts - 85 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, English Studies: Japanese, German
| Message 513 of 740 23 November 2011 at 6:27am | IP Logged |
The conversation is certainly understandable but the concerned sentence is still not a good one.
Firstly, it appears that "the bottle of Fanta" is really the main course here so the second mistake I mentioned doesn't exist.
However, 正好就着披萨一起喝 is still not good as it suggests "drinking pizza". One solution is to get rid of 一起. Another possibility is to use 吃 instead of 喝, but since 吃 is used again later this option is not a best one. ["Eating pizza and soda" is more or less legitimate while "drinking pizza and soda" is not. 吃 can have broader meaning than eating. Ancient Chinese said 吃酒('eat' wine/alcohol) and nowadays people also say 吃茶('eat' tea), not to mention other uses like 吃药(take medicine).]
I watched the opening of Over the Hedge but didn't hear any English equivalence of 享用 used in the conversation (such as enjoy/relish). The Chinese subtitle I saw didn't have it either. Perhaps the translator of your version has overdone his job. :) There is no clear-cut scope for the use of a word like 享用. Use it whenever you want to express "enjoy/relish", be it to show politeness in service industry, sound playful, or show self-importance as the bear may want to.
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 514 of 740 23 November 2011 at 10:54pm | IP Logged |
Given the sources and the number of native speakers who would be involved in making these productions, I would surmise that there is some regional variation in play here.
I would have to differ with the assessment...the original English does have the sense of enjoy/relish when the bear is talking about his food stash.
Edited by Snowflake on 24 November 2011 at 12:29am
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 515 of 740 02 December 2011 at 6:01am | IP Logged |
Given the recent back and forth, I'm happy to being working with the PopUp Chinese material. It's proving to be a very good complement. I passed 正好就着披萨一起喝 by two different people from Beijing... my tutor and a friend at work. Both of them were fine with the phrase. They both said that the meaning is to 一边喝一边吃. And to be sure, I mentioned that some other native speakers said the sentence is strange since it talks about drinking pizza. They responded by relooking at the sentence and the entire dialog. Then they both again said that the sentence is fine. Ah, the joys of regional variation.
I am trying to get back into the swing of attending small group meetings. The realization that the conference is about 3-4 weeks away has hit. The conference is sort of my mini-immersion without having to leave the region. Last year the conference was predominately mainlanders though the Taiwanese, Singaporeans and Malaysians were very visible (they led various sessions). By the numbers, last year there were about 1500 attendees.
Edited by Snowflake on 02 December 2011 at 6:04am
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 516 of 740 05 December 2011 at 3:02am | IP Logged |
Bang head here => X
Frustrated, thinking taking a break from attending my Mandarin speaking groups was a mistake but I needed the time to myself.
Going through "Achieving Success in Second Language Acquisition" again. Thinking about kicking up my tutoring sessions to 2x weekly for Dec and maybe Jan. Also planning to look at "Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China" by Ezra Vogel. That may seem unrelated to language learning though the book will provide insights into the culture and mindset. The downside is that will take time away from studying Mandarin. The book is reportedly 900+ pages so I'll probably have to pick and choose sections to read.
Update: I'm looking through the DLI materials that were downloaded a while back. They include pinyin versions of my Yale Mirror Series college textbooks. There are additional supplemental materials for those which I did not have back then. In one, there are about 16 pages of memorization which from the description is meant to function much like Boris Shekhtman's islands....going to look at these more carefully.
Edited by Snowflake on 05 December 2011 at 5:42am
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Everplayer Diglot Groupie China Joined 5047 days ago 69 posts - 85 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, English Studies: Japanese, German
| Message 517 of 740 06 December 2011 at 9:04am | IP Logged |
So you have consulted many to verify the usage of the pizza sentence... In fact, if I hear one uses a sentence like that, I won't think twice and understand it immediately. I scrutinized it only because it had been put in writing and taught as a GOOD example. Chinese language is not well known for a water-tight grammar, not to say that colloquial Chinese could get very sloppy if not wild. This is not a "regional variation", which I gladly consider a salvo for me and my dissident opinions. It is a matter of personal tolerance of sloppiness. Perhaps I shouldn't have brought up such issue from the beginning.
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 518 of 740 06 December 2011 at 4:03pm | IP Logged |
Everplayer, two other native speaker friends had difficulty with that phrase before you voiced your concern. As we say jokingly in English, don't be so paranoid! The US is a pretty pluralistic society and we encourage people to express varying viewpoints. That is seen as helpful so, to use another colloquial phrase, we avoid sticking our heads in the sand.
Edited by Snowflake on 06 December 2011 at 4:25pm
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 519 of 740 07 December 2011 at 3:07am | IP Logged |
Looking at updating the before mentioned memorization material since it is older. Sigh, doing that pushes everything else out due to time. The material is for the first year book so in addition to updating language, the sentences can be enhanced a bit. Doing all this basically customizes the material for me.
Edited by Snowflake on 07 December 2011 at 5:29am
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Snowflake Senior Member United States Joined 5957 days ago 1032 posts - 1233 votes Studies: Mandarin
| Message 520 of 740 09 December 2011 at 2:34am | IP Logged |
Found memorization pieces for the second year material.
Not getting as much done this week as I'd like....got a new laptop and am setting it up, hence the look at the DLI materials.
Edited by Snowflake on 09 December 2011 at 2:36am
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