CG: A poor foreigner looking for Wang Jing Li

Difficulty:

*****

(Easy as can be, but a little bit more difficult than the previous text)

CHARACTERS

Knocking on the door:

Elizabeth 伊丽莎白

Opening the door:


Li Hong 李红



LOCATION:

Any residential area in Beijing.

One last note: My translation is a bit... free.

伊丽莎白:
敲门。二门三菱八号。对，就是这儿。

Elizabeth: (Knocks on the door). Door 2, number 308. Right, it’s exactly here.


李红:(开门)

Li Hong: (Opens the door and looks shocked at the blonde foreigner)

>The story continues here








伊丽莎白:
请问，王经理在家吗?
Elizabeth: Excuse me, is Wang Jing Li at home?


李红:
对不起，这里没有 王经理, 您找错了。要关门
Li Hong: Sorry girl, there’s no Wang Jing Li here. You are looking for him at the wrong place! (tries to close the door)


伊丽莎白:劳驾，这不是 二门三菱八室马

Elizabeth: Excuse me, ain’t this door 2, room 308 or what?


李红:对，这是二门三 菱八 室

可是，这. 不是王经理 的家。

Li Hong: Yes, this is door 2, room number 308, but this is NOT Wang Jing Li’s home!

伊丽莎白:
可是，您看，这是王经理给我的地址，
二门三菱八室。

Elizabeth: But, you see, this is the address Wang Jing Li gave me! Door 2, room 308.

李红:
(看了看地址) (笑) 你要找的王经理 是住 在二门三菱八 室。
我也住在二 门三菱八室。

Li Hong: (Looks at the piece of paper) (Laughs at her). Indeed, your Wang Jing Li does live at door 2, room number 308. And so do I.

伊丽莎白:
可是。。。 不解


Elizabeth: But… (confused)


李红:

你找的王经理 住在 十五号楼。
这是十六号楼。

Li Hong: Your Wang Jing Li lives in the building number 15. This is building number 16!


伊丽莎白:真对不起！。 拿过地址。找错楼了。是十五号楼 二门三菱八室，打扰了。

Elizabeth: Oh Gosh! I’m so sorry! (takes back the address). I was looking for him the wrong place, it was building 15, door nº2 and room number 308, I’m sorry to have troubled you!


李红:
没关系。

Li Hong: I will not take this into account, if you are ever to be part of my guan xi wang.

伊丽莎白:
再见。

Elizabeth: Bye!

李红:
再见。

Li Hong: Bye.




Source: Communicate in Chinese, Vol. 1 by China Central Television

---Anything I need to correct, please let me know.---

CG: A typical Chinese family

This is the description of a typical Chinese family (before birth restrictions).

Difficulty:

(easy as can be)

Note: Only literal translation is provided. I guess the meaningful translation can be figured out, in this case.

我的 家庭

wǒde Jiātíng

My family

我是上海人

I am Shanghai-person


我家有六个人：父亲，母亲，爱人，两个孩子和我。

My family has 6 (cl) person: father, mother, love-person, two (cl) children and I.

>>Continue reading



两个孩子 一个是 男的，一个是女的。。
男孩子今年将十岁，
女孩子 八岁。
他们都在学校 埝书

Two (cl) children, one (cl) is male, one (cl) is female.
Male child this year 10 years old, female child 8 years old.
they at school study.


我在一家商店工作。
我爱人 是一个女工。
父亲，母亲年纪大了。
他们身体很好。



I at a (cl) shop work.
my love-person is a (cl) (female) worker.
father, mother age big (le).
they health very good.

Chinese takeaway?

Check out this hilarious Chinese Takeaway phone joke, from an English radio Station.

WARNING: This blog is GAY

Dear Tai:

Thanks for your wise criticism.

I already learnt of the possibility for bloggers to be taken for gays. What I didn't know is that the very blogs we write manifest sexual tendencies.

I might as well make a very clear warning for any possible visitor. DON'T EXPECT A MACHO BLOG. Tai has spoken:

This blog is gay, 同性恋, mariposón, homo!!

Coming to think of it, what is it in a blog that makes it a gay blog, and not a lesbian blog, or nechrophilic? Does it come from using terms such as Nourish/ Delicate? Is it because of the clear phallic elements in the main picture (the chopsticks)?

Can the two chopsticks over the bowl on a broken surface, be an overt reference to onanism?


Anyway... Those of you who think a blog's gayness might get contangious, please get out of this blog, the gayest in the galaxy, preferably by clicking on the adds to the left.




(Thanks to Sinosplice, as always, for the pinyin tip.)

Ct: A Chinese Proverb.

Chinese proverbs are an excellent way to know their culture, while we are told a lesson.

Today I have chosen one of my favourite ones:

塞翁失马

The story begins when an old man of the frontier loses his horse (that's what the proverb recalls). The horse fled into a dangerous area, so it was impossible to bring it back.

However, thought to himself: "Who says this may not be a blessing one day?"

Several months later, the horse came back along with a group of fine horses. The man was congratulated by relatives and friends, but he thought: "Who says this won't turn out to be a misfortune?"

The old man's son loved the new horses so much, he often took a ride on them. Since the horses well not well tamed, he fell off one of them one day, and became crippled. The old man thought: "Who says this may not be a blessing in disguise?".

Some time later, the area were the old man lived was invaded. Most young people living in the frontier regions had to join the army to fight the invaders. About nine out of every ten of the draftees were killed in the battle. As a cripple, the old man's son did not have to fight, so that he survived the border war.

"Therefore, a blessing may turn out to be a misfortune and the contrary also be true".



NOTES：
塞(sài)：frontier. 失(shī)：lose. 马(mǎ): horse
翁(wēng)：ancient Chinese word, meaning "old man".


How many modern examples could we find of this?

CH: dao1 / li4 dao1 pang2

Characters with dao1 (Knife) can refer to cutting, carving, actions which require the use of a knife, etc. Li4 dao1 pang2 is evolved from dao1.

CH: Ren2/ Dan1Li3 Ren2

Characters with this radical refer usually to human beings, or activities related to them.

Thesis/Shanghai Birch/Spam

Warning: Pointless entry.

• I've finished my thesis and it kicks asses! Yay!

• My blog in Blogcult is down, along with the host. They were kind enough to leave w/o saying a word.

However, all through my life on this planet I have learnt not to trust the others, and much less if they offer things for free, which is why I saved all the stuff I had on Shanghai Birch. Most of it is cybernetic rubbish and deserves oblivion, anyway.

• I have received an email:

Subj: Your help is greatly appreciated

First, I thought they would offer be a great deal with a bank account full of bucks in Nigeria. But they didn't:


Date: 6 Mar
From: XXXX
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I've just visited your blog and I truly appreciate it. It gives very valuable information on China. Since I'm very interested in China and the Chinese language, I'll visit your blog from time to time. I've recently made a website dedicated to the beautiful Chinese language. I would appreciate if you can visit my website and add a link to it in your blog's links section. I would like also to have your feedback on my website. As a person with deep knowledge of China, your feedback will allow me to improve my website.
My website : www.mxxxanxxxt.com
A sample link I suggest : Chinese-English dictionary
or better in HTML :
Chinese-English dictionary
I appreciate your help. Thank you.

Whoever
XaXXarXn Xlaxnxt


In my experience as a former Spammer, this is clearly a case of an ass-licking serial email to get a backlink from my humble and scarcely visited site.

Look at the "As a person with deep knowledge of China...". I feel everything but identified with that statement. It was clearly addressed to someone with deep knoweledge of China, and they haven't even changed it to better suit me.

Will I be wicked or good willed?