Need Help With Slowchinese Vocab

[jbradfor]

I'm going through the SlowChinese lessons and trying to make vocab lists, and running into a bunch of words I don't know and aren't in MDBG. So I'll post them here, any help is appreciated.

As I get them done, I'll post my vocab lists as well, in case anyone else finds them useful.

[P.S. I know there is a separate SlowChinese thread here. However, I thought I'd keep this separate, and this is discussion of words that happen to be in SlowChinese podcasts, while that thread is for discussing SlowChinese in general.]

Lesson 2:

網上聊天 -- online communication? online discussion? online chat?

Lesson 3:

正菜 -- main dish (as in at a meal)?

正餐 -- main part of a meal (as opposed to appetizers and dessert)

看准 -- This one I'm really not sure about it. From the context, it seems to mean something like "to observe and find a good opportunity", but that doesn't sound very good.

The sentence there is

首先，夹菜之前要 看准想要的食物，绝对不能在食物里面挑

jukuu has a lot of examples, but the translations range from "every watchful", "first make sure", "saw his chance", etc.

[bunny87]

Lesson 2:

網上聊天 = online chat

Lesson 3:

正菜 -- first meal? (not sure if then that's the 早饭，or appetizer?)

正餐 -- dinner / "a regular meal served in a restaurant

看准 -- aim at. / be certain (about something).

The sentence there is

首先，夹菜之前要 看准想要的食物，绝对不能在食物里面挑

first of all, before the food comes desire, be certain about wanting food, sever facing/towards/against? can't again ..food within face push..?

I used my pleco dictionary to look it up, word by word. but looking at the final product, rely on anyone else but me.

not gonna lie, i have no idea what that sentence means. Most instances I hear "mian tiao" i think noodles, but that's not my noodle tiao. my dui grammar rivals the grammatical skills of a banana. But is this slow Chinese beginner level? never heard of it, might look into it.

[SiMaKe]

Given the context (rules about eating with chopsticks), my guess is the sentence says something like:

First, before picking up the food with chopsticks, you want to be certain what the food feels like (?). Absolutely shouldn't pick it up by stabbing it with the chopstick.

Awaiting more informed individuals for confirmation/correction.

[Altair]

首先，夹菜之前要 看准想要的食物，绝对不能在食物里面挑

My semi-educated guess is:

First, before using your chopsticks in a particular dish, you have to be observe and target the bit of food you want. You absolutely can't poke around in the food.

[skylee]

首先，夹菜之前要 看准想要的食物，绝对不能在食物里面挑 -> First, before you put your chopsticks in the dish, you have to be sure about which bit/part you want to take. You absolutely must not poke around in the food.

[roddy]

Watch out for 夹, it's not 来。 Skylee and Altair have it - decide what you're going to get before taking it, don't rummage through the food looking for the best bits. Although I was told to just take what's nearest.

[trien27]

Watch out for 夹, it's not 来。

To clearly see the difference, let me put them in Traditional Chinese in parenthesis*/brackets*:

夹 [夾], jiā = To pick up [with a set of two long & slender objects, such as chopsticks, etc...]

来 [來], lái = To come

* [] = "brackets" in the US, but = "parentheses" in the UK.

() = "parentheses" in US, but = "brackets" in the UK.

正菜 -- main dish (as in at a meal)?

Maybe they use that in China, but I've heard of 主菜.

[bunny87]

oh wow, that jia1 got right by me as a lai2. thanks!!

[jbradfor]

Thanks all for the help. So it seems that "plan ahead" would be a good definition for "看准" here? I also horribly mis-translated that sentence, so this was useful.

Regarding 正菜 and 正餐, here is the context.

"然后，主人要求服务员开始上正菜。上正菜的时候，服务员给大家倒酒或者饮料" -- "after [the appetizers], the host instructs the waiter to start serving the main dishes. While serving the main dishes, the waiter gives everyone alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks".

"正餐结束后还有水果或者甜点" -- "after the conclusion of the main courses comes fruit or dessert". So with apologies to bunny87, it doesn't seem like just "dinner" to me, as I would count dessert as part of dinner?

I'm guessing by the lack of other comments here that this is not common usage? Or am I misreading something?

[bunny87]

I too would like to know the definitions of these items. I take no offense, i just plugged the vocab in question into my Pleco dictionary. However, it does have an option to add entries, so I'm looking for a general consensus on all this so i can add them in.

[jbradfor]

@bunny87, good point, meant to ask that too. If there are any words here that people feel are common enough and should be added to MDBG, please say so...

Anyway, got lessons 4, 5, 6, and 7 done over the weekend. Lesson 4 caused me some grief:

犯懒: ??? No idea for this one. "to violate by being lazy"? I don't think so.... [context: 公司要开会讨论新的方案，除非你是顶头上司，否则就不要犯懒]

長途火車 -- "long distance train" is the obvious translation, but the context doesn't quite seem right. [context: 中国的火车基本上是长途火车] Much later in the paragraph the context is local buses and subways, which are shorter distance and don't run on a fixed schedule.

交通工具 -- mode of transportation? [context: 大城市的飞机场都离市区比较远，所以你一定要找好交通工具，计算好时间]

累人 -- tiring? Or is here 累 third tone and means "accumulate", as in more and more people get on the bus? [context: 我在北京常常有坐公交车坐一个多小时的经历，还真是挺累人的。]

[SiMaKe]

Given that my translation also left much to be desired:oops:, one must take the following with a large grain of salt. But in the interest of furthering this discussion, I offer the following.

On 看准：

Looks like this might be a verb+result combo ("resultative verb") and suggests that the key underlying meaning is looking/observing (看） accurately （准）. Some examples of nciku seem to suggest this.

1. 做生意一定要看准行情。Business men should observe and accurately predict market quotations.

2. 他看准部下的特长，及锋而试，让部下最大限度地发挥自己的能 力。

He observed his followers' advantages and granted them appropriate opportunities to give good play to their abilities

On 正菜 and 正餐：

The first seems to refer to the entree (main course(s)) and the second to the whole meal (not including the fruit or desert).

As to whether these are common, I have no idea.

[SiMaKe]

My guesses:

我在北京常常有坐公交车坐一个多小时的经历，还真是挺累人的。

In Beijing, I frequently have a more than one hour bus ride ("experience riding the bus"), a really tiring experience for people.

中国的火车基本上是长途火车.

China's trains, on the whole, are long distance trains. (So for shorter distances, buses and subways are used).

大城市的飞机场都离市区比较远，所以你一定要找好交通工具，计算好时间.

Big city airports are far away from the urban areas, so you must find other forms of transportation, taking into account ("carefully considering"?) the time.

Do these fit the contexts?

Edited June 7, 2010 at 07:37 PM by SiMaKe

[jbradfor]

Opps, wasn't paying attention, did have some issues with Lessons 5 and 6

Lesson 5:

說悄悄話 -- speak quietly? speak quiet words? The context is when describing the hand sign for the number seven "七、大拇指、食指和中指在说悄悄话，这就是“七”。" -- "holding up the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger, speak quietly (???), this is 'seven'".

Lesson 6:

意識到 -- thought arrives? The context is "他们从中国夺走了土地和财富，同时，又让中国人意识到自己的落后。" -- "They [the western powers] took Chinese land and wealth, while, at the same time, also causing Chinese to ??? (realize their thinking has fallen behind??)"

Also, for 长途火车, I'm thinking that "long haul" sounds better for trains than "long distance"?

Thanks as always.....

[Glenn]

For 同时，又让中国人意识到自己的落后, I'd say it's "[the Western powers] at the same time also forced them to realize how far behind they were (technologically)." This may help: 落后. I believe 到 goes with 自己的落后, and not 意识.

[SiMaKe]

My guess on 大拇指、食指和中指在说悄悄话

(This could be waaaay off) but I'm guessing what it tries to say is to hold these three fingers together as if they were whispering.

I know this may be a stretch but that's what the picture and the 说悄悄话 suggests to me.

[roddy]

犯懒 - 犯 can be to revert to or fall back into an old bad habit or similar. 犯病 would be a relapse. You can also 犯傻 if you do something stupid.

[jbradfor]

My guesses:

我在北京常常有坐公交车坐一个多小时的经历，还真是挺累人的。

In Beijing, I frequently have a more than one hour bus ride ("experience riding the bus"), a really tiring experience for people.

Ah. So here 挺累人 means 讓人很累？ OK, I can go for that.

I believe 到 goes with 自己的落后, and not 意识.

I got 意识到 from the list of vocabulary words that Weng Xinyu puts at the end of each lesson. [Look in the pdf for them.] So that's why I put them together.

My guess on 大拇指、食指和中指在说悄悄话

(This could be waaaay off) but I'm guessing what it tries to say is to hold these three fingers together as if they were whispering.

I know this may be a stretch but that's what the picture and the 说悄悄话 suggests to me.

AH. Yes, I see what you mean. I agree.

犯懒 - 犯 can be to revert to or fall back into an old bad habit or similar. 犯病 would be a relapse. You can also 犯傻 if you do something stupid.

Hummmm. 犯懒 would be translated still as "lazy", but would have the implication that one has been trying not to, or had been told not to, and failed in improving? I can't think of a direct English translation. "to be lazy again" sounds weird.

[roddy]

Yeah, I'd just translate it as lazy. I'd also not bother about the 人 on 累人 - tiring is fine. We know it's not the bus getting tired, after all.

[Glenn]

I got 意识到 from the list of vocabulary words that Weng Xinyu puts at the end of each lesson. [Look in the pdf for them.] So that's why I put them together.

Ah. Well, maybe I was wrong about 到 going with 自己的落後. But the rest of it makes sense, right? Maybe it's like the 到 in 聽到 and 看到, then. I just checked jukuu and saw that they have and entry for 意识到. I don't know if you looked at it already, though. Maybe I should stop now. haha