zozzen Posted March 22, 2008 at 05:29 PM Report Posted March 22, 2008 at 05:29 PM Chinese has some apparently contradictory words. For example, 中國女排大敗古巴 中國女排大勝古巴 No matter it's win or lose, Chinese always wins. In Cantonese, we say "陰功" to describe sb / sth pity. 哎, 陰功呀. 哎, 無陰功呀. No matter it's 陰功 or not, it's pity. And there's a strange expression in Chinese too. 她好漂亮 她好不漂亮. she's beautiful even if you say "不". In this case, "好不+adjective" means "very much" in chinese, but "很不+adj" always means "not very much". I have no idea how these terms come up in chinese, but i always find it funny. Can you think of more examples like this? Quote
peterlkj Posted March 22, 2008 at 06:01 PM Report Posted March 22, 2008 at 06:01 PM This one always gets me: 好容易 好不容易 Both meaning very difficult. 1 Quote
amego Posted March 22, 2008 at 06:26 PM Report Posted March 22, 2008 at 06:26 PM 你管他 means Don't bother about him... Quote
zozzen Posted March 22, 2008 at 11:14 PM Author Report Posted March 22, 2008 at 11:14 PM 好容易 好不容易 Both meaning very difficult.. this is tricky. While 好美麗 and 好不美麗 means positive, 好容易 & 好不容易 means negative. what happens to "好不" ? Quote
monto Posted March 23, 2008 at 02:30 AM Report Posted March 23, 2008 at 02:30 AM Similar way, NEVER NEVER answer following "question": 你是个什么东西？ Quote
Quest Posted March 23, 2008 at 03:39 AM Report Posted March 23, 2008 at 03:39 AM 她好漂亮她好不漂亮. I don't think these mean the same. The second one means and is usually conveyed by 好丑。 Quote
zozzen Posted March 23, 2008 at 06:52 AM Author Report Posted March 23, 2008 at 06:52 AM Quest: Yes, that's why i avoid using the adverb "好不" all the time, because it raises many confusion. compare this: 維也納一入眼簾一望無際的麥田,綠油油的,好不漂亮.(searched by google) Quote
imron Posted March 23, 2008 at 08:47 AM Report Posted March 23, 2008 at 08:47 AM How about 一倍 and 两倍。 Quote
monto Posted March 23, 2008 at 11:50 AM Report Posted March 23, 2008 at 11:50 AM 一倍 and 两倍 are totally different. Quote
imron Posted March 23, 2008 at 01:36 PM Report Posted March 23, 2008 at 01:36 PM 一倍 and 两倍 are totally different. So how about these two sentences*: 他们的人数是你们的一倍.他们的人数是你们的两倍. The same or different? *originally posted in this thread. P.S. before you mention it, I do realise according to their Mathematical definition, 一倍 and 两倍 are different, but in spoken Chinese it seems they are often used interchangeably. Quote
gougou Posted March 23, 2008 at 02:03 PM Report Posted March 23, 2008 at 02:03 PM Also see this thread for some examples in addition to the above. Quote
zozzen Posted March 23, 2008 at 05:45 PM Author Report Posted March 23, 2008 at 05:45 PM I'm wondering if there's any similar vocab in other languages. I've heard chinese isn't a language for "being concise" compared to this german and english. Never know why they say so, but does the above examples show any constraints in Chinese? Quote
zozzen Posted March 23, 2008 at 05:51 PM Author Report Posted March 23, 2008 at 05:51 PM The same or different? *originally posted in this thread. P.S. before you mention it, I do realise according to their Mathematical definition, 一倍 and 两倍 are different, but in spoken Chinese it seems they are often used interchangeably. If i used them interchangeably i would risk myself being fired. But yes, every year we have to give 5-min training to every new staff (all are graduated) to make sure they don't confuse it. (I was one of them to be trained. ) Quote
monto Posted March 24, 2008 at 05:32 AM Report Posted March 24, 2008 at 05:32 AM 他们的人数是你们的一倍. It is wrong. even those often say so also know it is wrong. Quote
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