Can anyone translate this please?

**BeNe** · Feb 16, 2006, 05:24

I got this letter http://benexvi.be.funpic.de/brief_chinese.jpg from a chinese penpal, i wrote him that i just can understand a little bit chinese, but he worte me this letter, and I'm sorry but I cannot understand it.

could anyone translate it for me?

**Glenn** · Feb 16, 2006, 06:23

I'll give it a shot, but we should wait for a native Chinese speaker to check this.

"Hello, Benedukt!
I'm very happy to have received you letter! I will take this back with me to China. (???) (Something about not thinking your Chinese writing is good, but I'm not sure what he's saying there) Germany is a beautiful and friendly country, and I really like it (here). I come from Guangdong (Canton), China. Guangdong is a large city (region?) in southern China, and it's very close to Hong Kong. I have to go back to China on Feb. 20th, but I hope we can stay in touch. This is my e-mail: (blurred out).
Let's see your studies advance! (???)"

Alright, so there are some spots I'm really not sure about in there, but I think that's the basic idea of the letter. I'd like to know where I went wrong here, so to our native Chinese speakers よろしくお願いします (sorry, I don't know how I would say that in Chinese

)!

**BeNe** · Feb 17, 2006, 03:14

thank u a lot. now i have at least an idea what he says ... *happy*

**ookubo** · Feb 18, 2006, 18:35

Hello, Benedukt!
I'm very happy to have received you letter and I will take this back with me to China.I am very surprised that you could write Chinese so well.
Germany is a beautiful and friendly country, and I really like here. I come from Guangdong (Canton), China. Guangdong is a large city in southern China, and it's very close to Hong Kong.
I have to go back to China on Feb. 20th, but I hope we can stay in touch. This is my e-mail: (blurred out).
Hope you will make progress in your studies.

**ookubo** · Feb 18, 2006, 18:38

Glenn,
your Chinese is subarashii ,to be honest.

**BeNe** · Feb 19, 2006, 03:20

i see i have to learn a lot... i've learned 2 lessons yet...

**Glenn** · Feb 20, 2006, 21:38

Originally Posted by ookubo

Glenn,
your Chinese is subarashii ,to be honest.

Really, it's not all that good. This was pretty basic and I'm still embarassed for my lack of knowledge.
I did learn something new today, though. Apparetnly when you use 了 with stative verbs (or adjectives) you don't use 很. For example, 我很累 is "I am tired," but you wouldn't say 我很累了 for "I have become tired"; instead you would say 我累了 (疲れてきた）. I guess that's only for the "sentence-final 了," though, and perhaps if you're using the aspect marker 了 it's a little different. Anyway, that's just one more small piece of the puzzle that became clear to me today. Anyway, thanks for the compliment! 道賀謝謝 (was that even close?)!

**ookubo** · Feb 21, 2006, 17:01

Originally Posted by Glenn

Really, it's not all that good. This was pretty basic and I'm still embarassed for my lack of knowledge.
I did learn something new today, though. Apparetnly when you use 了 with stative verbs (or adjectives) you don't use 很. For example, 我很累 is "I am tired," but you wouldn't say 我很累了 for "I have become tired"; instead you would say 我累了 (疲れてきた）. I guess that's only for the "sentence-final 了," though, and perhaps if you're using the aspect marker 了 it's a little different. Anyway, that's just one more small piece of the puzzle that became clear to me today. Anyway, thanks for the compiment! 道賀謝謝 (was that even close?)!

Hmmm...Now I think that I am too weak in grammar.......

In my opinion,the meaning of 我累了 is I am tired,and 我很累 is to show that you are VERY tired.We always use 我已经很累了 to express that I am already too tired.....Anyway,hope you can understand.I found my English is poor....GOD

**Glenn** · Feb 21, 2006, 19:02

Haha, well, that just goes to show how little I know about Mandarin. I wouldn't have thought to use 已經.

Just to be sure, though, the original sentence was 現在石油貴了 (I think). In English it was "gas has become expensive." So maybe by ignoring the presence of 現在 I hurt myself, but again my knowledge is pretty weak. Anyway, the example that I gave was my guess as to how to say that in Mandarin, and it wasn't the example that was given me earlier by someone who knows better.

Aside from that, I thought that 我很累 would just mean "I'm tired," because the 很 is necessary to make the sentence sound complete and doesn't necessarily mean "very" in this instance. To further clarify, would you say that 我已經很累了 is like もう疲れてる?

**TwistedMac** · Feb 21, 2006, 19:10

it's like watching dragons the size of buildings being modest about their destructive power to each other.

"nono, really. you could easily tear down that building, while my tearing powers are still only at a first graders level!"

**Glenn** · Feb 21, 2006, 19:21

Thanks for the comparison with a dragon, but really, as the thread will show, I know next to nothing about Manarin. Trust me, I'm not just being polite. There's at least one person who will definitely agree with me here.

**Supervin** · Feb 22, 2006, 08:09

Most of you have the bulk of the letter right in a rough translation, however this is the complete translation.

Chinese to English translation:

"Hi Benedukt!

I'm very happy to receive your letter! I will bring it back to China. I didn't think that you can write Chinese that well, which amazed me!

Germany is a very beautiful and developed country. I really like it there. I come from Guangzhou, China. Guangzhou is a large city in Southern China, which is near Hong Kong.

I will be returning to China on February 20th. Hope we can always keep in touch.

This is my E-mail: ...

Wish you progress in your studies!"

Chinese original:

Hope this clears things up.

EDIT: Uploaded an image instead as the Chinese characters weren't displaying properly.

**Glenn** · Feb 22, 2006, 18:38

Whoops... Guangzhou, not Guangdong (廣東). Heh, that's quite a difference. Now the "city" part makes more sense.

**ranko** · Feb 22, 2006, 22:24

wow , it's so fantastic , I can speak Chinese freely , you could add my msn if you wish : fcfchaos@hotmail.com

or my msn space: http://spaces.msn.com/adamwon

Thanx

**BeNe** · Feb 22, 2006, 23:39

qoute: 我2月20号。。。

why does he use "号“ and not "日”??

ps: i've just learnd to lessons of chinese.

**Glenn** · Feb 23, 2006, 15:02

号 is the usual way of saying it; 日 is more formal.

**ookubo** · Feb 25, 2006, 12:43

Originally Posted by Glenn

号 is the usual way of saying it; 日 is more formal.

Well,if you use "我2月20日...",that is OK,but "我2月20号..." is better.

HOWEVER:
"When will you be returning to China?"---->"你几号回中国?",in this sentence you cannot say "你几日回中国?"

**Supervin** · Feb 25, 2006, 19:57

Originally Posted by ookubo

Well,if you use "我2月20日...",that is OK,but "我2月20号..." is better.
HOWEVER:
"When will you be returning to China?"---->"你几号回中国?",in this sentence you cannot say "你几日回中国?"

Yes you can; it's just that the former is much more common.

**ookubo** · Feb 26, 2006, 18:11

たとえば,
"今天是2月26号星期日"--->ただしい
"今天是2月26日星期日"--->ちょっと変

**Supervin** · Feb 27, 2006, 01:32

Like I said, '日' is just less used in general, particularly in speech, but is perfectly acceptable. So, "今天是2月26日星期日" is standard - there is nothing odd about it in any way. In fact, when it comes to the written language, '日' is more preferred as it is more literary and formal.

The two variants are very similar to how the word 'Sunday' is used: it could be either '星期天' or '星期日'. The latter is also used more often in writing.

**ookubo** · Feb 28, 2006, 17:04

Originally Posted by Supervin

Like I said, '日' is just less used in general, particularly in speech, but is perfectly acceptable. So, "今天是2月26日星期日" is standard - there is nothing odd about it in any way. In fact, when it comes to the written language, '日' is more preferred as it is more literary and formal.
The two variants are very similar to how the word 'Sunday' is used: it could be either '星期天' or '星期日'. The latter is also used more often in writing.

Sorry,but I think "礼拜天" is more often used in speech other than "星期天"

Anyway,I assumed you able to speak MADARIN

**Supervin** · Feb 28, 2006, 22:37

Originally Posted by ookubo

Sorry,but I think "礼拜天" is more often used in speech other than "星期天"
Anyway,I assumed you able to speak MADARIN

Look, I'm a native speaker of English, have a mother tongue in Cantonese and have reached native speaker in Mandarin after a number of years. I also have friends in China who grew up there. So I do know what I'm talking about.

On the other hand, you don't know what you're talking about.

Mandarin speakers use '星期天' the most. They also use '星期日', '礼拜天' and '礼拜日'.

Cantonese speakers use only '星期日' and '礼拜日'.

If you carry on with this attitude, I won't waste my time clarifying things for your sake.

**Minty** · Mar 2, 2006, 02:44

Originally Posted by Supervin

Look, I'm a native speaker of English, have a mother tongue in Cantonese and have reached native speaker in Mandarin after a number of years. I also have friends in China who grew up there. So I do know what I'm talking about.
On the other hand, you don't know what you're talking about.
Mandarin speakers use '星期天' the most. They also use '星期日', '礼拜天' and '礼拜日'.
Cantonese speakers use only '星期日' and '礼拜日'.
If you carry on with this attitude, I won't waste my time clarifying things for your sake.

I think 礼拜天 is used most frequently by Mandarin speakers of Taiwan. In countries like Malaysia and Singapore the Mandarin speakers there usually use 星期天 the most. I am not sure about the mainland.
Oh by the way you mentioned that Mona Lisa bridal is expensive due to advertising do you know any value for money wedding photography shop in HK?

**Supervin** · Mar 2, 2006, 05:05

Originally Posted by Minty

I think 礼拜天 is used most frequently by Mandarin speakers of Taiwan.

In countries like Malaysia and Singapore the Mandarin speakers there usually use 星期天 the most. I am not sure about the mainland.

Yeah, it's true that Taiwanese Mandarin speakers use '礼拜天' quite a bit, but I also hear a lot of '星期天' there as well like in China, Malaysia and Singapore.

Originally Posted by Minty

Oh by the way you mentioned that Mona Lisa bridal is expensive due to advertising do you know any value for money wedding photography shop in HK?

I'm afraid I don't, specifically, and Mona Lisa seems to be the only place I've heard of in Hong Kong.

But, there is a whole area - about two streets full - where many wedding shops for photography and fashion are based, so you can shop around and compare before deciding. The place is located in between two districts (i.e. it stretches over both): Tsim Sha Tsui and Jordan.

If you want to obtain specific info beforehand, you could either phone or email the Hong Kong Tourism Board about it:

http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/...ntact_us.jhtml

Otherwise, you could also get info when you arrive at the Hong Kong International Airport, from the Tourism Information Desk.

Hope this helps.