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The Chinese Riddles thread | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5858 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes  Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 1 of 13 18 May 2010 at 11:32am | IP Logged | |||||
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Riddling has been a favorite pastime of Chinese speakers for many centries. There are riddles of all kinds. Guessing the answers to riddles, is a popular game at festive gatherings, often at dinner parties, where the first person to answer a riddle correctly may receive a price. There are also many different kinds of riddles involving Chinese Characters. [Using Chinese, by Yvonne Li Walls and Jan W. Walls]
This thread is started in the spirit of allow Chinese learners to participate in guessing Chinese riddles. Riddling is often used as a way to help school children in China to remember characters, words and pharses. In Using Chinese, these 4 main types are mentioned: 1) Riddles refering to the shape of Chinese Characters 2) Riddles refering to the constituent element of Chinese Characters 3) Riddles refering to the pronunciation of Chinese characters ( often a pun) 4) Riddles refering to the meaning of Chinese characters. In a Chinese riddle dictionary, there are actually 29 types of riddles identified, but they can be considered to be subtypes of the 4 main types. I hope that all of you can enjoy the riddles posted. Edited by QiuJP on 19 May 2010 at 6:28pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| indiana83 Groupie United States ipracticecanto.wordp Joined 5493 days ago 92 posts - 121 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Cantonese, Italian | Message 2 of 13 18 May 2010 at 10:49pm | IP Logged | |||||
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By #3 do you mean such as
歇後語? If so, my favorite for a while have been: 老婆擔(撐)遮：陰功（蔭公），即可憐 老公撥扇：淒涼（妻涼），即可憐 火燒豬頭：熟口熟面 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Asiafeverr Diglot Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 6345 days ago 346 posts - 431 votes 1 sounds Speaks: French*, English Studies: Mandarin, Cantonese, Shanghainese, German | Message 3 of 13 19 May 2010 at 2:40am | IP Logged | |||||
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上不在上，下不在下，天没有它大，人没有它 大。
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| Hologen Newbie United States Joined 5307 days ago 16 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese | Message 4 of 13 19 May 2010 at 6:00pm | IP Logged | |||||
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lol, I guess it's just that you can't translate it directly and get the same message, but I just googled up a translator and this makes absolutely no sense. The first one, posted by Indiana translated as: The wife takes on (supports) obstructs: Good deeds done in secret (shade male), namely the pitiful
husband dials the fan: Miserable (wife cool), namely burns down the pig head pitifully: Ripe mouth ripe surface lol...the next one reads more like a riddle but I still don't really understand it or what the answer could be: On in on, does not get down in under, day it has not been big, human it has not been big. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5858 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 5 of 13 19 May 2010 at 6:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
The answer is "一" right? If you remove a stroke ( 一 ), 上 is not 上 , 下 is not 下 . If you remove the top stroke of 天, it become 大. If you add a stoke to 人 ,it become 大 . and the last sentence should be "人有了它大" Edited by QiuJP on 19 May 2010 at 6:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5858 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 6 of 13 19 May 2010 at 6:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, you can't translate directly. To solve the riddles, you have to guess based on the structure of the characters, the homophomes or getting indirect hints from the riddles itself. Some of them are very difficult for natives as well, as the riddles are based on classical Chinese texts. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| QiuJP Triglot Senior Member Singapore Joined 5858 days ago 428 posts - 597 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Czech, GermanB1, Russian, Japanese | Message 7 of 13 19 May 2010 at 6:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Here are 3 riddles for you:
1)谁也写不正 （Guess a character） 2)暗访山东 （Guess a name of a country） 3)(very difficult) 水 (Guess a four-character set pharse) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| indiana83 Groupie United States ipracticecanto.wordp Joined 5493 days ago 92 posts - 121 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Cantonese, Italian | Message 8 of 13 19 May 2010 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
I provided my answers with the riddles. Also, don't click the link I provided, since it gives away all the answers (in Chinese). Here is a translation of the ones I provided. The semi-colon divides the question from the answer. The parentheses contain the homophone, which is the pun. 老婆擔(撐)遮：陰功（蔭公） Wife holds umbrella : tragedy/sorrow (shading the husband). The pun being that the words for tragedy and the words for "shading the husband" are homophones. 老公撥扇：淒涼（妻涼） Husband waves fan : pitiful/sorrowful (wife is cooler). The pun being that the words for pity and the words for "wife being cooler" are homophones. 火燒豬頭：熟口熟面 fire-cooked pig's head : cooked mouth, cooked face. The pun is that "cooked" also sounds like "familiar", So the phrase "cooked mouth, cooked face" also sounds identical to the phrase "you are very familiar" (well, at least to one of the ways the phrase could be said). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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