How to use these words

[studentyoung]

My teacher, a man of around 60 from Beijing, a member of the local provincial 政协 , says wuse cannot be used when you are finding something yourself. Is he wrong?

Would you mind showing him such a sentence : 我已物色了一个好厨师来当我的私人厨师. (I’ve found a good chief to be my private chief. ) Hehe.

Cheers!

[A life of study]

Student young, is 物色 nearly always used for finding people to work in various jobs? Could you use it for "I am looking for the cheese section in the supermarket"? Or would it always be better with a person as the object, eg "I am looking for a chauffeur"?

[studentyoung]

Student young, is 物色 nearly always used for finding people to work in various jobs?

No, not always. Here are examples to used for looking for some people or something.

李老伯正给他的宝贝女儿物色一个好小伙子。

Uncle Lee is looking for a young good man for his beloved girl.

这件国宝级的文物早以是文物贩子们物色的对象了。

This national-treasure relic has been the very object what those illegal relic dealers are looking for.

Could you use it for "I am looking for the cheese section in the supermarket"?

No. 物色 means someone looks for something / someone for some special purpose / use. “look for cheese section in the supermarket” is not in this case.

Or would it always be better with a person as the object, eg "I am looking for a chauffeur"?

Well, I think I can explain the whole thing more clearly by comparing the two sentence below.

我正在物色一名司机帮我开车implies that I’m looking for a chauffeur who can be fit for all my requires. For example, s/he must be skilled in driving, keep the map of the city in his / her mind, can speak some foreign language/s, etc.

我正在找一个司机帮我开车implies that I’m look for a common driver.

Is that clear?

Cheers!

Edited August 29, 2008 at 03:40 AM by studentyoung

[imron]

No. 物色 means someone looks for something / someone for some special purpose / use. “look for cheese section in the supermarket” is not in this case.

What if I'm looking for cheese for a special purpose

[studentyoung]

What if I'm looking for cheese for a special purpose

Yes, I guess you mean you're look for some first-class cheese to match Japanese oysters and make a new fancy dish你正在物色一种上好奶酪配日本生蚝来做一道新颖的菜. (对了，做好了，请别忘了让我们尝尝。我想味道应该不错吧？ )

Cheers!

[A life of study]

Student young, that's clear now! My teacher maybe is not as good as he likes to boast. He is always comparing himself to the other teachers during the lesson and telling me all the other teachers are not as good as he - which annoys me slightly. On one occasion, the word 蛰居 came up, and he said he would be the only teacher in the school who knew the character 蛰, and as we were sitting in a common area for our class, the school student affairs officer walked by, and he called him over and said "my student has a character to ask you", to put the man on the spot to see if he knew the character. Of course, that embarrassed me, as I didn't intend to ask him at all. Anyway the man was not sure, but after a minute suggested it might be 蛰伏的蛰, which was correct... This sort of thing is happening all the time.

[studentyoung]

Student young, that's clear now! My teacher maybe is not as good as he likes to boast. He is always comparing himself to the other teachers during the lesson and telling me all the other teachers are not as good as he...

Hehe. Take it easy. I see what you mean. I came up with this kind of teacher in my life time too, while I was studying English in senior high school. I hope you can understand that there’re vary kinds of people in this world, and, in many cases, you can’t decide which kind you want to meet, which kind you don’t. Alas, learning how to deal with different kinds of people is also a life time study, a very tough and unavoidable one, too! Well, at least, if you have questions on Chinese汉语, please put them in your posts / threads on this forum. I think me and other members here can give you a helping hand.

Anyway,good luck, a life of study!

Cheers!