Translation: "please write syllables together"

[wima]

Hi there

so I arrived in China a couple of weeks ago and have made some chinese friends already. They speak no English. At all. Which is good for my learning chinese but sometimes difficult. So we mainly use text messages to sort out when and where to meet etc. They write in pinyin so that I can understand, use blank spaces between every syllable. I have tried in dozens of ways to explain to them that I need them to put syllables together, and use blank spaces only between separate words in order to decipher their texts with the help of a dictionary and reasonable effort.

Could anyone help me putting this request into a chinese sentence (pinyin)?

Many thanks in advance

wima

[cababunga]

The problem is that for most Chinese who do not speak any other language, concept of what a word is, is at best fuzzy. You can try to find official explanation here: http://www.pinyin.info/rules/pinyinrules_simp.html#x4

The most basic rules you may try to convey to your friends are these:

4.1.1. 拼写普通话基本上以词爲书写单位。

4.1.2. 表示一个整体概念的双音节和三音节结构，连写。

And maybe try to give them some example: "míngtiān wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng ba".

[abcdefg]

I have tried in dozens of ways to explain to them that I need them to put syllables together, and use blank spaces only between separate words in order to decipher their texts with the help of a dictionary and reasonable effort.

I ran up against this problem years ago when brand new to Chinese. Never found a workable solution. It had to be either English or Hanzi characters for text messages 99% of the time.

And maybe try to give them some example: "míngtiān wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng ba".

Maybe @catabunga's suggestion would work. I did not think of it at the time. Use some examples of what you want when your are face to face to try and make your point.

Bottom line: Pinyin is useful as a learning tool but not as a communication tool.

[wima]

Hi. Thanks for the quick replies. I actually tried to give them examples, but it did not help. And as far as cababunga's recommendation is concerned, this is far beyond my level at this point (I can't read chinese characters), plus we don't really use email, only texts, so referring them to a website is difficult.

So if there is any way of expressing this in pinyin I would still be grateful for help :-)

[Erbse]

You are talking against a brick wall if you attempt this. Put your energy into lerning more Chinese, learn Characters and buy a Chinese phone if your current phone is without Chinese characters. This way your energy will be used more efficient.

[wima]

Hi Erbse. Thanks for the reply. I can see where you are coming from, and I guess I would agree if I was staying in China for like a couple of years or at least months. But I am actually leaving in a couple of weeks again already, this is just an extended business trip, so I don't think it would be realistic for me to learn chinese characters in that timeframe, nor would it be sensible to buy a new phone.

So in theory I agree with you 100%, but in reality I just cannot believe that it is impossible to make a chinese person write words together without blanks.

And maybe that's just me not having enough understanding of chinese language logic.

So if anyone wants to give his best shot at a pinyin sentence that would help, I will be very grateful. If not I still do appreciate the input I got so far :-)

[jbradfor]

I just cannot believe that it is impossible to make a chinese person write words together without blanks.

No one said it was impossible. We only said they are not used to it. When writing Chinese characters, there are no spaces between words either. So it would just be a matter of learning.

[skylee]

Show this to your friends -

你可以把每一个词语的拼音连在一起吗？像这样：明天=míngtiān， 而不是这样：明天≠míng tiān。你把一個词语的拼音分开了我是看不懂的，它們连在一起我才可以明白。

[abcdefg]

So in theory I agree with you 100%, but in reality I just cannot believe that it is impossible to make a chinese person write words together without blanks...So if anyone wants to give his best shot at a pinyin sentence that would help, I will be very grateful.

My hat is off to you for at least trying to communicate and I genuinely wish I could help. I understand your situation, but I'm afraid I don't know how to write what you want to say in Pinyin, especially since your Telephone Pinyin cannot even have tone marks.

The task is immense, even with the simplest things. Especially if you cannot meet face to face or use e-mail to help work out the "ground rules." For example, what happens if you get this as a text message?

"wo men ming tian xia wu si dian jian." (Tomorrow we will meet at four in the afternoon.) Lots of almost cryptographic sleuthing is going to be required to keep from winding up with nonsense. Most of these Chinese words have multiple meanings, and Chinese has many words which sound alike.

wo = I

men = door

ming = name

tian = heaven

xia = below

wu = five

si = west

dian = spot

jian = pan fry/saute

@Skylee's suggestion is your best bet. 你可以把每一个词语的拼音连在一起吗？She knows much, much more than I do. Here it is in Pinyin and you can see if it works with your friends. If they were teachers specializing in Chinese for foreingners, you would have a pretty decent chance. (I won't use tone marks, since your phone cannot transmit those.) Ni keyi ba mei yige ciyu de pinyin lian zai yiqi ma?

[wima]

@abcdefg:

Great, thank you so much for taking the time! Just sent it out, we'll see what happens. I will sure let you know the outcome.

Thanks again, I appreciate it.

[wima]

Yippiee. It worked! Just received the reliefing "wo dongle" along with a message with words perfectly written together. Thank you so much again, and also to skylee for coming up with the sentence in the first place (sorry I overlooked that before, I should be reading more thoroughly...).

Greetings from Changchun!

[abcdefg]

I think we are all glad that it worked. Enjoy Changchun!