after playing a few (more?) times

[edelweis]

Still from Sinoligua's "IT 口语" booklet. Chapter 10! almost 2/3 done!

 

小李 explains that at one point he was addicted to video games and if it had lasted it would have seriously endangered his health on top of his studies. Finally:

 

不过，最终我还是控制住了自己，玩儿过几次后就不再玩儿了。

 

The translation is a bit vague:

"However, I controlled myself at last. I quitted [sic] after playing several time more."

 

which is correct?

1) after taking the decision to quit, he only played a few (几) more times (a few more days maybe) then stopped entirely.

2) actually he only played a handful (几) of times (days) altogether, then stopped entirely. (the term addiction 上瘾 seems odd in this case).

3) he learned to control himself and play a reasonable amount of time at a time. But he didn't necessarily quit playing forever.

 

The book kind of seems to imply 1).

But it's unclear to me how the 过 combines with 几次.

Could it be the "other usage of 过" discussed here? something like "redoing something / doing something over".

[陳德聰]

It is (1).

 

However, I eventually [was able to] control myself. After playing several [more] times, I did not play anymore.

 

You're right that it doesn't make sense to use 上瘾 if the meaning is (2). That's why it's not (2). It's definitely not (3), because 不再玩了 means he never did it again.

 

It's just a plain 玩过 <- "played", and 几次 <- "a few/several times". What's missing is an overt word "more", but that is just assumed because the information that came before that just becomes part of the underlying assumptions for the following sentences.

[edelweis]

thank you 陳德聰.

I don't know why I was fixated on 过+几次 being an indication of the number of times your have experienced something in your whole life.

I never imagined it could be used conditionally, as a number of times after an event (decision).

[lips]

Just by looking at the Chinese sentence alone it sounds more like (2).

[陳德聰]

That's why I said with the condition that he 上過癮, it cannot be (2).

[anonymoose]

Actually, without full context, I have a slightly different interpretation. The way I understand it is not that he decided to control himself and then played a few more times before actually stopping, but rather after some prior event (possibly referred to earlier in the book) he played a few more games and then finally managed to control himself. At least that would make more sense to me than 1, 2 or 3.

[edelweis]

hmm, well, it goes this way:

 

In the previous chapters, we found out that Li and Zhang are young professionals sharing a flat. The dialogues of each chapter are globally consistent with each other.

 

In chapter 10 dialogue 1, Li complains about the noise and finds out Zhang is playing a new computer game. Zhang then lets Li play it.

 

In dialogue 2, Zhang comes back from dining and finds out Li has been playing for the past 5 hours. He (jokingly?) asks Li whether he's addicted yet. Li answers 没准儿 and they comment that a lot of schoolchildren have game addictions, how dreadful for their parents.

 

This is the full dialogue 3:

小张：你玩儿游戏上瘾吗？

小李：说实话，有一段时间也挺上瘾的。

小张：什么时候？

小李：我上大学的时候玩儿游戏上瘾，那时是玩儿游戏机。一下学，就跑去玩儿游戏，老不回家。

小张：那不是很耽误学习吗？

小李：不光耽误学习，如此下去，连身体也会变坏的。

小张：可不是吗。

小李：不过，最终我还是控制住了自己，玩儿过几次后就不再玩儿了。

小张：多危险，要不就该去看心理医生了。

小李：是啊，幸亏当时还没那么严重。

 

Possibly the Chinese text is ambiguous wrt the exact sequence of events (?)

 

There's no more context - the next chapters are about using the internet to book trips, find jobs, find housing for sale etc.

[somethingfunny]

I feel like (1) would make more sense if the Chinese was something like 再玩了几次就不再玩了.  In other words, the first 再 would indicate that he did it again a few more times.  I'd lean more towards (2) if it wasn't for the fact that it doesn't really line up with being addicted.  I'd be tempted to take 上瘾 with a pinch of salt here and suggest its maybe not being used in as much of a serious sense as we're thinking.  So he played really intensely for a little bit, realised he was (becoming) addicted and then didn't play anymore.

[陳德聰]

edit: ... Well that's not 上癮 to me haha, yeah it's the total number of times the guy went and played video games instead of going home that is being referred to by 玩過幾次

[anonymoose]

Well, now that we have more context, I'm more inclined to believe my interpretation is correct.

 

I assume the game being talked about is one of those long games that takes days/weeks to play. Thus, even playing 几次 is a long time. So the 几次 is the entirety of his game playing, after which he managed to 控制住 himself.

 

Interpreting it this way, the language is perfectly natural and unambiguous.

[陳德聰]

Anonymoose isn't your interpretation just OP's (2)? The added context makes the use of 上癮, while hyperbole, "natural", and clarifies that it is (2), that the 幾次 refers to the total number of times played, and that in the end, rather than continue to be "addicted", the protagonist simply "controlled himself". If only Pedroski were here to question that China logic.

[anonymoose]

Essentially, yes.

[edelweis]

well, I tend to take everything at face value, but if they use hyperboles...

Thanks for the help

[Altair]

I am confused at where the group consensus has arrived.  When I read the sentence, I interpret it in a habitual sense.

 

不过，最终我还是控制住了自己，玩儿过几次后就不再玩儿了。

However, finally I managed to control myself, after having played a few times, I don't play any more.

 

In other words, the control is not that he doesn't play, but rather that he is able to stop after playing for a reasonable time as opposed to just playing all day.  I interpret the 过 not as the 后 that indicates a past experience, but rather as the 后 that reinforces the meaning of completion implied by 后.

 

Is this interpretation not possible or not consistent with the context?

[anonymoose]

If it's habitual, then surely there shouldn't be a 了 at the end.

[Altair]

Are the two always incompatible?

 

E.g.:

 

"I won't go there any more"

我再也不去了

[anonymoose]

I think so. 我再也不去了 isn't habitual.

[Altair]

 

我再也不去了 isn't habitual.

 

I agree that it is hard to talk about negative habitual, but isn't this like a new vegetarian saying "I don't eat meat (any more)."  The converse would be something like "After having played a few times, I lose track of time and keep playing through the night."

 

Similarly, couldn't  you say:

 

那家房管不干净，去过几次后，再也不去了

那家房管不干净，去过几次后，就不再去了

?

 

That restaurant isn't clean.  After having gone there a few times, I don't/won't go there any more.

[陳德聰]

Yeah I think habitual is a weird word to use here but I understand it to be a lasting condition.

 

Also, if not a 了, then what would you put there? 就不再玩儿 sounds a bit off.

[somethingfunny]

I like this new interpretation from Altair in that it lines up nicely with 控制住自己 as in, he can play, but he is able to control how much he plays, rather than 老不回家.