The place to ask China-related questions!
Beijing Shanghai Guangzhou Shenzhen Chengdu Xi'an Hangzhou Qingdao Dalian Suzhou Nanjing More Cities>>

Categories

Close
Welcome to eChinacities Answers! Please or register if you wish to join conversations or ask questions relating to life in China. For help, click here.
X

Verify email

Your verification code has been sent to:

Didn`t receive your code? Resend code

By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .

Sign up with Google Sign up with Facebook
Sign up with Email Already have an account? .
Posts: 9192

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Q: How to 'get' Chinese language structure?

I write to someone and use 3 online translators to write to her. It seems like I do not understand the Chinese language structure,because the translations come out wrong, Even when I translate back to check I notice it will say something different next time for the same characters. How do I learn at least the structure or whatever,, I don't know what I'm missing or asking really.

12 years 29 weeks ago in  Teaching & Learning - China

 
Answers (5)
Comments (2)
Posts: 371

Shifu

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Simplify your English as much as you possibly can. Translators will change the context when you translate too much. If it is short and simple it will have a better success rate.

TedDBayer:

How simple? me tarzan you jane? this my car? simple

12 years 29 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
12 years 29 weeks ago

Tired of dirt and lies.

 
Posts: 2587

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Also, commas sometimes change the whole translation. After much trial and error, I can communicate effectively using a translator but I had to get a lot of feedback from my Chinese friends . After some time, you will get a feel for it.

Report Abuse
12 years 29 weeks ago
 
Posts: 67

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Write English I also wanted to use youdao translation and the resuits like yours

Report Abuse
12 years 29 weeks ago

Life is cruel funrn

 
Posts: 1076

Emperor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

Talk like a caveman speaking like Yoda from Star Wars.

That's not meant to be demeaning. It's how the language is structured. Chinese is very simplistic and most foreigners find it difficult to simplify their speech.

Think about it. In English you would say "Would you like something to eat?" Try to Google translate that and you'll get something like "ni xi huan chi de dong xi ma?" which no Chinese person would ever say. Here, it's "chi bu chi?" "eat no eat?".

Keep in mind that there are many things in the Chinese language that people just don't say because, well, people don't say it. You can say "ting budong" (I hear but don't understand or really "hear no understand"), "kan budong" (I see but don't understand), but you can't say "wen budong" (I smell but don't understand) or "chang budong" (I taste but...) simply because "you just don't say it". Even though it follows the same structure and is a sense.

"Huai dan" is a term to say which literally means "bad egg" but you can't say "hao dan" because it's just not used in the lexicon of Chinese language. People may sort of understand what you are trying to mean, but it's not a "term" used in Chinese.

Anyway, if you need to use translators, be a simple as possible. Drop tenses if you can, ie instead of trying to translate "I am going to go to the store" use "I go store". Drop future tenses in favor of actual time - "I will go to the store later" instead try "13:00 I go store".

TedDBayer:

thankyou,, I did have ac omment asking if I should say Me Tarzan you Jane, this my car (exactly) and its gone,,don't know why my stuff gets rubbed out, who'd be offended by that?

12 years 28 weeks ago
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
12 years 28 weeks ago
 
Posts: 12

Governor

0
0
You must be a registered user to vote!
You must be a registered user to vote!
0

its better to go shcool in china and learn more than its easy to know

Report Abuse
12 years 28 weeks ago

god will bless all

 
Know the answer ?
Please or register to post answer.

Report Abuse

Security Code: * Enter the text diplayed in the box below
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <img> <br> <p> <u>
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Textual smileys will be replaced with graphical ones.

More information about formatting options

Forward Question

Answer of the DayMORE >>
A: Add-it: Getting into the recruiters ... You could also research a
A:Add-it: Getting into the recruiters ... You could also research any school/job offering posted by the recruiters ... as an example:First job offering this AM was posted by the recruiter 'ClickChina' for an English teacher position at International School in Jinhua city, Zhejiang Province, China...https://jobs.echinacities.com/jobchapter/1355025095  Jinhua No.1 High School, Zhejiang website has a 'Contact Us' option ...https://www.jinhuaschool-ctc.org ... next, prepare your CV and email it away ... Good luck! -- icnif77