Question vs problem 问题 vs 问题

[ralphmat123]

Hi, I looked up the word 'question' in the dictionary and it said '问题 but that also means question. So how do you differentiate between the two, especially when context isn't obvious. For example how would you say "I have a question" as opposed to "I have a problem"?

 

Thanks.

[Gharial]

If you aren't happy with English concepts overlapping in Chinese, then you can try to find somewhat differing expressions (e.g. nanti rather than wenti: 我有一个难题，可以和你谈谈吗? (Wo you yi ge nanti, keyi he ni tantan ma?)) or make notes of where the contexts (co-texts) suggest one rather the other meaning: wen, ti (ge): 问，提（个）or huida 回答 versus chu 出 or jiejue 解决 (and 出 could be followed by the more or less synonymous maobing 毛病 rather than wenti 问题, though maobing can also mean 'illness', arghhh! ). It might help to look in thesaurus-like and collocation dictionaries (I've only the former, but I'm sure there are some of the latter type available, possibly in the form of translations from English works. Collocations are a great way to establish or double-check meaning divisions), and some dictionaries have signpost glosses that may be of interest - for example, note the (故障) (=guzhang) at the sense 1 then sense 3 entries for maobing and wenti respectively in the Reverso ( http://dictionary.reverso.net/chinese-english/maobing , http://dictionary.reverso.net/chinese-english/wenti ); then, free apps like Pleco really ease the accessibility and speed of searching, and beyond headwords (but I see from one of your previous threads that you're already using that, so maybe use it some more! LOL).

[tooironic]

First you should remember that "have" in Chinese (有) isn't always used the same way as it is in English. For example, in English you would say "Do you have any pets?" while in Chinese it is more common to ask "Do you raise any pets?" (你養寵物嗎？). In English you "have" a headache", while in Chinese you just say "My head aches" (我頭疼). I'm sure others could come up with other examples. Thus you can see here how Chinese by and large prefers to use a verb specific to a situation, rather than use "have" for a variety of situations.

 

As for the question you originally asked, a native speaker of Chinese would say 我有個問題想問 ("I have a question I'd like to ask"), or perhaps more commonly 我想問一下 ("I'd like to ask") or 請問一下 ("Please, can I ask"). Again, the focus is on the verb "ask", not the noun "question" like it is in English. And I also feel that few Chinese would say "I have a problem" by itself - they would probably use a verb like x出了問題, x有點問題, x碰到了困難, etc.

[Carl Chen]

I have a question. 請問一下

 

I have a problem. 我遇上麻煩了

 

To me, problem is more serious than question. Just like errors vs. mistakes.

[Gharial]

With the 请问一下（儿）, does the actual question immediately follow and without much ado between asker and answerer (like in "just 请问" examples such as 请问，您贵姓？or 请问，几点了？), or does it have more of a "我可以问(你)个问题吗？可以。...", stop-start quality about it? I'm more familiar with just 请问, so I thought I'd better check and ask. (Sure, I could search online, but asking questions helps nudge threads along and ready the way for answers!).

[Nathan Mao]

In many contexts, what is the difference?

 

For example, in the television series 《落地请打开手机》, several times a character would speak of another character and say, "这个人有问题".  I could easily take that to mean: "This guy raises questions" or "This guy raises problems."

 

From another perspective, you usually don't ask a question unless you have at least a slight problem in understanding that needs to be resolved, right?

 

So I determine the translation of 问题 as whichever makes the translation flow smoother.

 

Same with 希望 (used for both "hope" and "wish").

 

...now to go off on a complete SWAG: 问 by itself means "to ask".  I've never seen it mean "problem" by itself.  质问， 审问， 问候， all really indicate/involve "asking".

题 is topic or subject or item, right?

 

So I think (think, mind you) that 问题 should mean "question" most often...that the idea of it being "problem" arose from the original meaning of question, perhaps as in questioning how one would solve a problem, until they were linked in most people's minds.  There are other words that are synonyms for "problem" (like 毛病， 困难).

 

As such, I would think of 问题's default translation as "question" unless context clearly indicates that "question" just doesn't work.

[ralphmat123]

Hi thanks to everyone who answered. Sorry but I'm a beginner so I don't really understand all of the complex answers people gave, especially all the sentences just in Chinese with no English translations! Can someone perhaps give me a more simple explanation? Sorry, excuse my low level!

[Nathan Mao]

In many contexts, what is the difference between "problem" and "question"?

 

From another perspective, you usually don't ask a question unless you have at least a slight problem in understanding that needs to be resolved, right?

 

So I determine the translation of 问题 as whichever makes the translation flow smoother.

 

Same with 希望 (meaning: "hope" or "wish") (used for both "hope" and "wish").

 

...now to go off on a complete SWAG: 问 by itself means "to ask".  I've never seen it mean "problem" by itself.  质问 (means: "query")， 审问 (means: "interrogate")， 问候 (means: "to ask after someone's health/well-being")， all really indicate/involve "asking".

题 (means: "topic/subject/item") is topic or subject or item, right?

 

So I think (think, mind you) that 问题 should mean "question" most often...that the idea of it being "problem" arose from the original meaning of question, perhaps as in questioning how one would solve a problem, until they were linked in most people's minds.  There are other words that are synonyms for "problem" (like 毛病 (means: "malfunction")， 困难 (means: "difficulty")).

 

As such, I would think of 问题's default translation as "question" unless context clearly indicates that "question" just doesn't work.

 

There you go.  Hope that helps.

[Gharial]

OK, let's take a look at the examples from the entry for 问题 wenti in the free Pleco app. Only the first example (我提个问题行吗? Wo ti ge wenti xing ma? May I ask [put forward, pose] a question?) is to do with an actual question that somebody asks. And as we've previously established, another (THE other) verb that can be used in this sense/meaning is 问 wen, as in 问问题 (wen wenti, literally "ask question" i.e. ask at least one if not more questions). All the other examples are either to do with some sort of (non-)issues or problems (note the various modifiers of the noun in each case), or with various mishaps or malfunctions that have arisen or not (and then the key verb seems to be 出 chu). There are as mentioned above alternatives (rough synonyms, more or less) that may be used e.g. 毛病 maobing for the sense of malfunction. (You can either be taught these, encounter them by chance, or you can possibly pick them up from browsing and moving between the two languages in a bilingual dictionary or thesaurus. A lot depends on the materials available to you, obviously).

 

You might be interested to know how 问题 wenti is listed in Hu & Lee's Basic Chinese Vocabulary (Passport Books, 1992~). It appears in two places:

-Politics and the Economy, subsection 10.2 (Social Problems and Change)

-Education, subsection 12.8 (Tests)

[Lu]

So how do you differentiate between the two, especially when context isn't obvious. For example how would you say "I have a question" as opposed to "I have a problem"?

As an answer for your last question, see Carl Chen's reply. In Chinese, you often say things differently than in English. Instead of making a direct translation, you take a step back and see how a Chinese person would actually say it.

For the larger question of 'how do I tell whether someone means 'question' or 'problem': you can usually tell from context, and if you can't, it's usually because the 问题 in question (hah) is a problem that you have a question about, or it's a 'matter' or an 'issue', and for understanding it, question/problem/matter/issue are basically equal.

Chinese doesn't always match English, the range of meanings for a certain word can be different from the range of meaning of similar English words. Which can be inconvenient but also makes it interesting.

[Gharial]

To repeat the question I asked in post #5 above, what effect (if any) does the addition of 一下 have on the shape of the conversation? For beginners it'd obviously be helpful to explicitly show how it plays out in dialogic form than to just leave it rather decontextualized. Is it similar to how "just" 请问 works (i.e. is it followed by a comma and then the question with no further preamble), or does it require some form of an "OK" from the potential answerer before the actual question can be posed? (If so, what punctuation usually follows the 一下, a question mark, or ..., or...?). Like I say, I could check back on and answer this stuff myself, but wanted to leave it for those who first mentioned it to hopefully fill in some more.   

[Carl Chen]

請問一下 is usually followed by a comma. (function: stop for a while)

you interrupt someone and hope he/she can stop for a while and answer your question

 

一下 is similar to 等一下 (wait a minute)

 

we use 請問一下 when somebody is busy or doesn't notice us.

and we want to attract his/her attention

just like how we use 不好意思 (excuse me)

 

請問一下 equals to 不好意思,可以跟您請教一個問題嗎 (Excuse me, may I have a question for you)?

 

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And no marks follow just 請問

 

For example

請問你今年幾歲 How old are you

請問你叫什麼名字 What's your name

 

we use it when somebody already know I am about to ask (probably a face-to-face situation)

[Gharial]

Thanks for the reply, Carl. What you've said about the commas makes sense, but I think there's some variation either way.

 

I was checking on Google and a lot (the majority) of the 请问一下s seem to be immediately followed by the actual question, so it's similar to "just" 请问 (but with the 一下 simply helping delimit and soften things a bit).