Chinese words in daily life

last SG · 2011-06-17T12:31:08+00:00

Came across a few words in Chinese. How do we say the following:Blossom (like a flower)To settle down (feelings)Concrete (wall, pavement etc)Trying to be unc...

BanguIzai SG

Taken from last night's 爱：

含饴弄孙

尘年往事

坚定

包容

水涨船高

呼风唤雨,威震八方

原地踏步

矜持

按奈不住

运作

不入虎穴,焉得虎子

过河拆桥

强人所难

大恩大德

唯恐天下不乱

子虚乌有

包厢

Great effort that you take note and transcribe the terms for us. I think other people just enjoy show, only you the hardworking one, take pen and writing furiously:

含饴弄孙 - ah gong, ah ma, no need work, enjoy sweet fruits of labour and play with grandchildren, 飴(a kind of sweet in olden days)

尘年往事 - old memorable story

坚定 - immovable, used in 堅定的意志

包容 - accomodate, used in 包容不同理念/信仰/信念/思想的人

水涨船高 - water rise, boat higher, but hehe, 我不懂 meaning

呼风唤雨,威震八方 - immensely powerful person until can do anything one wants

原地踏步 - on the same spot, not progressing

矜持 - 女性的矜持, reservation

按奈不住 - cannot control one's bursting emotions anymore

运作 - 整個系統的運作

不入虎穴,焉得虎子 - no venture, no gain

过河拆桥 - 兔死狗烹

强人所难 - pressuring and troubling people for the sake of one's wants

大恩大德 - (古裝片：王爺啊，您的大恩大德，奴才這輩子感激不盡！）

唯恐天下不乱 - only worry society no havoc, but hehe, 我不懂 meaning

子虚乌有 - nothing left at all

包厢 - but hehe, 我不懂 meaning, but sounds like book a karaOK room, guess from 廂房 leh

BanguIzai SG

Yeh, mum in law stopped learning mandarin when she was very young. Dad in law's mandarin is non existent either but he often says "好吃" during meals haha.

Too bad, Chinese always faced harsh treatments when preserving our cultures in Southeast Asia, only Vietnam does not have aggressive assimilation policies, Thailand, Philippines, Myanmar all have in the past, now their Chinese also cannot speak Mother Tongue like those in Java lidat. But notice that even in Singapore, the government also aimed at dialect-genocide to reduce to one main dialect - the mandarin chinese dialect, which is not our real mother tongue, but is the mother tongue of the northerners who were ruled by the northern barbarian for over a thousand years.

BanguIzai SG

Kahwin is from 结婚？No? Tongkat is bahasa? Haha confused liao.

Not sure about manteng....could be manten too.....oh just remembered another word....potehi (figurine puppets show). I just watched one not too long ago in the local temple. And the temple has quite a bit of history. There's this plaque which was endorsed by a Qing dynasty official and shipped over. Then there are tiger footprints in the temple which are still around even today. Okok, before i drift into no man's land...will stop here lol.

交姻 kau-22 in-24 (marriage / marry) in Hokkien is a loanword from the Bahasa Melayu "kahwin" (before it was standardized into Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia respectively) via the Peranakans / Straits Chinese. Similarly 洞葛 tɔŋ-11 kat-2 (walking stick) in Hokkien is also a loanword from the Bahasa Melayu "tongkat" via the Peranakans / Straits Chinese.

Manteng, manten, I cannot figure out aniting which makes sense at the moment. Shall wait. I think you know potehi is Hokkien for 布袋戲 ba. No need to stop, interesting, u can continue.

BanguIzai SG

Thanks dude...interesting... but can we take their analysis for it?

You are Cantonese, you decide.

BanguIzai SG

Saw that.....but too technical for me liao lol. Doubt the ordinary joe would understand too......

I believe everyone in sgforums is not ordinary loh.

Which part you have difficulty in understanding? Do lemme know, I can explain to you.

I have uploaded it into the cyberspace, so you can just download it and read it offline:

【 CHINESE - Sino-Tibetan Languages (No Diagrams) 】

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V7O2HQ2Q

BanguIzai SG

Magnanimity?

Great. That is the word.

BanguIzai SG

The yogya theory I can't be sure.....but 日喏 really does sound like the cantonese version of yogya. Cantonese in central java is new to me...I thought this place is a hokkien dominated area. It still baffles me why surabaya is called 泗水，jakarta 夜晨 (i'm not sure but they say "ye chen"), medan 眉蓝（not sure too but I hear it as "mei lan") etc etc. Anyway...

Yes, 日惹's pronunciation of Yogyakarta will automatically exclude the possiblity of a Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, Hainanese, Hockchew, Hockchia, Henghua origin. Because 日, standard Cantonese yat-2, and 惹, standard Cantonese ye-23, while non-standard Cantonese do still pronounce it as ya-23 which is even closer to the 2nd syllable of "Yog-ya-kar-ta".

So where did all or any of the remaining Cantonese go ? a) Overwhelmed, thus assimilated b) Fled, due to yet unknown reasons c) Theory wrong in the 1st place X-p

The first syllable of "Su-ra-ba-ya" is the Hokkien literary pronunciation for 泗，四 etc. Chinese don't like to call place names that sound as long as 4 syllables which sound awkward. And coupled with the rivers/shores/seas there, it is named 泗水。 (cf。Makassar was originally translated as 望加錫，as time goes by, it became 錫江)

Jakarta, written with an initial "J", retains the old Dutch-spelling of the Nederlands Indies times, refer to old spelling Jogjakarta, now respelled as Yogyakarta. Jakarta is the most famous city capital and with all the recognition it attains, warrants it to keep it's old spelling when all other cities with J has been reformed as Y already. Therefore, by right, it should be pronounced as "Ya-kar-ta", therefore the first syllable is "Ya". Most Chinese transliteration follows this correct pronunciation, thus translates to 椰加達 (old) and 雅加達 (new). 椰 corresponds to the Hokkien pronunciation ya-24 while 雅 corresponds to the Mandarin pronunciation yé. Thus, by taking 椰, and coupling it with a 城 (city), Jakarta is known to the Hokkiens as 椰城 ya-22 sĩã-24, when pronounced in Mandarin, is yéchéng.

Medan, is 棉蘭. (In your "Indonesia Cities Dialect Names" paper, pg 118)

BanguIzai SG

ok bro, I read thru tml.....get back to u again.

Hope the articles can be of relevant value to you.

Knowing that you are strong in lexicology, I have thus uploaded a paper dealing with the topics which we have been dealing with (loanwords) and your dialect group (Cantonese) and which is something near to us (Malaysia).

For your reading pleasure:

【 Lexical Importation in Malaysian Cantonese 】 Wang Xiaomei , 2005

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E1ITMGJS

may you need the International Phonetic Alphabet convention again, it's here :

http://www.sgforums.com/forums/8/topics/369470#post_9268844

Rock^Star SG

Great effort that you take note and transcribe the terms for us. I think other people just enjoy show, only you the hardworking one, take pen and writing furiously:

含饴弄孙 - ah gong, ah ma, no need work, enjoy sweet fruits of labour and play with grandchildren, 飴(a kind of sweet in olden days)

尘年往事 - old memorable story

坚定 - immovable, used in 堅定的意志

包容 - accomodate, used in 包容不同理念/信仰/信念/思想的人

水涨船高 - water rise, boat higher, but hehe, 我不懂 meaning

呼风唤雨,威震八方 - immensely powerful person until can do anything one wants

原地踏步 - on the same spot, not progressing

矜持 - 女性的矜持, reservation

按奈不住 - cannot control one's bursting emotions anymore

运作 - 整個系統的運作

不入虎穴,焉得虎子 - no venture, no gain

过河拆桥 - 兔死狗烹

强人所难 - pressuring and troubling people for the sake of one's wants

大恩大德 - (古裝片：王爺啊，您的大恩大德，奴才這輩子感激不盡！）

唯恐天下不乱 - only worry society no havoc, but hehe, 我不懂 meaning

子虚乌有 - nothing left at all

包厢 - but hehe, 我不懂 meaning, but sounds like book a karaOK room, guess from 廂房 leh

Haha tks....I'd wanted to translate the following day. Posting these things here is not just for everyone's benefit, to promote the chinese language and accuracy but also to remind myself of the words that I don't normally use. So cheers :)

水涨船高 - water rise, boat higher, but hehe, 我不懂 meaning

Haha, it simply means "to rise". For eg: 你的身价水涨船高。Or any other relevant example to say something has risen.

矜持 - 女性的矜持, reservation

Yes, I think it's the same as 拘谨 as mentioned in an earlier post.

按奈不住 - cannot control one's bursting emotions anymore

I think it can also be like 招架不住 which means difficult to stop someone's influence or a bad situation from occuring.

大恩大德 - (古裝片：王爺啊，您的大恩大德，奴才這輩子感激不盡！）

Need it be olden days? haha i think it's applicable even today.

唯恐天下不乱 - only worry society no havoc, but hehe, 我不懂 meaning

Means hoping for things to go wrong and take advantage. Similar to 混水摸鱼。

子虚乌有 - nothing left at all

This as extracted from an ancient Han dynasty writer, 司马相。He wrote about two people, 子虚 and 乌有 who talked about how great they were but were actually nothing. Meaning to say that it's empty talk. I'd think it's similar to 口说无凭。

包厢 - but hehe, 我不懂 meaning, but sounds like book a karaOK room, guess from 廂房 leh

Yeh, in Singapore, we refer to those rooms as 厢房。 Well, an alternative word.

Rock^Star SG

So where did all or any of the remaining Cantonese go ? a) Overwhelmed, thus assimilated b) Fled, due to yet unknown reasons c) Theory wrong in the 1st place X-p

Medan, is 棉蘭. (In your "Indonesia Cities Dialect Names" paper, pg 118)

Very logical. Tks for the detailed endeavour.

Rock^Star SG

Hope the articles can be of relevant value to you.

For your reading pleasure:

【 Lexical Importation in Malaysian Cantonese 】 Wang Xiaomei , 2005

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E1ITMGJS

may you need the International Phonetic Alphabet convention again, it's here :

http://www.sgforums.com/forums/8/topics/369470#post_9268844

Read every single word of that PDF.....very enlightening. Very refreshing perspective too since it came from an ang mo. And quite a no. of those words we have mentioned in this thread before.

The writer's right; learning idioms is not just learning mandarin but an entire civilisation. The history and story that went into these proverbs and idioms have come about due to the intrincasies of culture, history and behaviour all meshed together.

Rock^Star SG

Taken from last night's 爱：

口沫横飞

伙伴

寝食难安

放荡

拿枪押着你

白皙细嫩

乌漆抹黑

扳倒

隔墙有耳

胡扯

掩护

先后不分

天方夜谭

后盾

聪名绝顶

多虑

劳师动众

破局

刀光剑影

BanguIzai SG

水涨船高 - water rise, boat higher, but hehe, 我不懂 meaning

Haha, it simply means "to rise". For eg: 你的身价水涨船高。Or any other relevant example to say something has risen.

矜持 - 女性的矜持, reservation

Yes, I think it's the same as 拘谨 as mentioned in an earlier post.

按奈不住 - cannot control one's bursting emotions anymore

I think it can also be like 招架不住 which means difficult to stop someone's influence or a bad situation from occuring.

大恩大德 - (古裝片：王爺啊，您的大恩大德，奴才這輩子感激不盡！）

Need it be olden days? haha i think it's applicable even today.

唯恐天下不乱 - only worry society no havoc, but hehe, 我不懂 meaning

Means hoping for things to go wrong and take advantage. Similar to 混水摸鱼。

子虚乌有 - nothing left at all

包厢 - but hehe, 我不懂 meaning, but sounds like book a karaOK room, guess from 廂房 leh

Yeh, in Singapore, we refer to those rooms as 厢房。 Well, an alternative word.

Thank you for the corrections. I have learnt the new phrases now.

Now I understand that 按奈不住 has a wider usage. Also, only now then I really know the meaning of 唯恐天下不亂。 I didn't know 子虛 & 烏有 were 2 persons name in a story at all ！ I had always thought of the meaning as in "nothing left at all", eg. "大火災過後，整個村子的房子燒得子虛烏有", how wrong am I. And lastly, I thought 包廂, 包 is the verb, meaning "to book" and 廂 is the shortform for 廂房, but it turns out that "包廂" is a phrase itself which is a noun (inseparable).

BanguIzai SG

Taken from last night's 爱：

口沫横飞

伙伴

寝食难安

放荡

拿枪押着你

白皙细嫩

乌漆抹黑

扳倒

隔墙有耳

胡扯

掩护

先后不分

天方夜谭

后盾

聪名绝顶

多虑

劳师动众

破局

刀光剑影

口沫橫飛 - talk until saliva splatter everywhere = very good talker

夥伴 = (business) partner

寢食難安 = so uneasy as to sleep badly and eat badly

放蕩 = dunno how to use appropriate meaning; i guess means sexually liberal ?

拿槍押著你 - point gun at you

白皙細嫩 - fair and soft smooth skin

烏漆抹黑 - pitch black

扳倒 - win the opponent in a match

隔牆有耳 - eavesdropper may be around

胡扯 - tok cok

掩護 - cover up the situation

先後不分 - not in order of preference

天方夜譚 - unimaginable story

後盾 - backup

聰明絕頂 - smartest

多慮 - too worried

勞師動衆 - activate too many people to settle a small matter

破局 - uncover a plot

刀光劍影 - dunno meaning at all

BanguIzai SG

Torromow is thai elections. Thaksin's chinese....so is his sister, Yingluck. Even abshit (spelt correctly I hope) looks very much chinese.

So sad. Chinese people is $$ people. But still a lot of people went back to China, those that were welcomed back to their hometown were good, those were the people who brought back the Bahasa loanwords to the China Hokkien, like lui, and other vocabs. Those who not welcomed back to their hometown, settled in 華僑茶村 constructed for them such as those in Kwangtung (people of all dialect groups settled there, not oni the Cantonese but all kinds, Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew etc).

I don't know about Abshit ancestry, definitely can read from wikipedia one, i read next time. The last time I read about the Thaksin family, the ancestor was a Hakka who married a local Thai woman.

My Filipino friend used to quote the Limahong story to me too, but after reading other things, I digested the facts and pointed out to myself it could be an exaggeration. We can bring the discussion again in detail if you want to. I did not read about Marcos ancestry, only heard from my secondary school Chinese teacher last time told us Corazon went back to Fujien province to pay respect to ancestors.

BanguIzai SG

Read every single word of that PDF.....very enlightening. Very refreshing perspective too since it came from an ang mo. And quite a no. of those words we have mentioned in this thread before.

Ang mo's are great writers of Chinese Linguistics.

The book that brought me into chinese linguistics, is written by an Ang mo:

Rock^Star SG

口沫橫飛 - talk until saliva splatter everywhere = very good talker

夥伴 = (business) partner

寢食難安 = so uneasy as to sleep badly and eat badly

放蕩 = dunno how to use appropriate meaning; i guess means sexually liberal ?

拿槍押著你 - point gun at you

白皙細嫩 - fair and soft smooth skin

烏漆抹黑 - pitch black

扳倒 - win the opponent in a match

隔牆有耳 - eavesdropper may be around

胡扯 - tok cok

掩護 - cover up the situation

先後不分 - not in order of preference

天方夜譚 - unimaginable story

後盾 - backup

聰明絕頂 - smartest

多慮 - too worried

勞師動衆 - activate too many people to settle a small matter

破局 - uncover a plot

刀光劍影 - dunno meaning at all

Tks :) All are correct except just want to clarify a few points:

口沫橫飛 - talk until saliva splatter everywhere = very good talker

Based on the 爱 show, I think it means talking non-stop?

夥伴 = (business) partner

This 伙伴 can simply mean partner. If you say sex partner, then it's 性伙伴 haha. Fishing buddy - 钓鱼伙伴。Business partner would be 生意伙伴。

扳倒 - win the opponent in a match

Not just in a match, I believe. It actually means to topple. For eg: 这个奸诈的人，我一定要把他扳倒。

天方夜譚 - unimaginable story

A story so fascinating that it can be discussed from day to night. For eg: 说起当时的经验，可算是天方夜谭，三天三夜都说不完啊！

破局 - uncover a plot

Actually means that the plan cannot proceed anymore. For eg: 如果申请不到准证，这份计划也就破局了。

刀光劍影 - dunno meaning at all

Did some research and it actually means to be situated in a dangerous and explosive environment, as if constantly battling with knives and swords. For eg: 在这间公司上班等于是处在一个刀光剑影的环境里，无时无刻都得提防陷阱。

Rock^Star SG

Ang mo's are great writers of Chinese Linguistics.

The book that brought me into chinese linguistics, is written by an Ang mo:

Can you tell me in brief, what this ang mo wrote? lol

Susanteo2011 SG

Aw Lan Chao Hor Fun = fuck ! i'm/you're screwed !

« Previous Page Next Page »