Anyone speak Mandarin?

[TheEarl]

Could do with a translation if anyone's about that speaks more Mandarin than me.

The Earl

 

[3113]

Can't help you with the Mandarin, Earl...but I've just seen your new AV and I'd LOVE to help you with your reading

Got lots of books. Whole library of 'em....

 

[sincerely_helene]

And here I thought the "book worm" was a mythical creature. Be sure to have someone lick it before it tries turning the pages!

 

[TheEarl]

I'll repeat what I said in the mood thread - I'm not 100% sure I'm not jail-bait for your country in that photo. It was taken back in my very early days at Lit.

The Earl

 

[3113]

I'll repeat what I said in the mood thread - I'm not 100% sure I'm not jail-bait for your country in that photo. It was taken back in my very early days at Lit.

Ooo. Prison movie. We can do that, too.

Why not re-take the photo now that you and Mr. Bookworm are nice and legal?

 

[ElizabethWest]

Could do with a translation if anyone's about that speaks more Mandarin than me.

The Earl

I only know the oranges.

 

[hyulhyulhyul]

Could do with a translation if anyone's about that speaks more Mandarin than me.

The Earl

How extensive a translation do you need? Idon't mind translating the odd phrase, but I'm not interested in translating an entire story or article.

 

[TheEarl]

How extensive a translation do you need? Idon't mind translating the odd phrase, but I'm not interested in translating an entire story or article.

Just a couple of phrases from English to Mandarin pinyin.

"Are you awake?" for which I currently have "Ni xǐng"
"Your worried face worries me." for which I currently have "Ni chou lian, wah dan qin."
"You are beautiful and strong and you will be okay." for which I currently have "Ni jiàn měi, jiang hui mei hao"
"You are not alone" for which I currently have "Ni bù qióng"

Can you help?

The Earl

 

[cantdog]

Yes! I can help with the first one right off the mark! This is so cool, because I was fairly sure I was going to be useless.

There's a particle, ma, with no tone, or "fifth tone", meaning a null, schwa kind of tone (so it'll have no accent in Pinyin). It's used like a sort of spoken question mark.

Another way to make a question, in yes-no kinda situations like that, is to say "you awake not awake."

Assuming you have a righteous word for "awake", then, you can say either

"Nĭ xǐng bù xǐng?"

or "Nĭ xǐng ma?"

I like the first, because it sounds more idiomatic to me.

I'll get on this. This will be fun.

 

[cantdog]

Note, your Ni for you is spelled "nĭ"

also, the accent on lian meaning face is "liăn".

But the word for facial expression is supposed to be "liănsè"

I'm still workin! Hang on!

 

[Xelebes]

Have you asked GustyWind or bg23 if they know?

 

[TheEarl]

Have you asked GustyWind or bg23 if they know?

Kinda need it right away. Deadline looming, hence the whole up-at-4'o-clockness.

Xie-xie ni, Cant. Really appreciate this.

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

Any chance of anyone translating "You are not alone" for me as well? I could really use the help. Thank you.

The Earl

 

[cantdog]

I think the best for your worried look would be "Nĭ de chóuméi".

 

[TheEarl]

Anyone around?

The Earl

 

[SensualCealy]

My sister in law is Manderine,

I can email her with the questions and get the reply, just not sure how fast she will be at translating.

Are the questions being asked from a man to woman, man to man, woman to woman etc?

Is the person younger or older that the person they are speaking to?

It is my understanding this is important in translation.

Let me know,
C

 

[TheEarl]

Thank you all for your help and offers of help. Would probably take you all up on it just to make sure my Mandarin isn't accidentally ordering fried eggs, but the deadline for the writing competition's today, so I've had to wrap it up.

Thank you all again.

The Earl

 

[cantdog]

Sorry. I got called away and couldn't get back in time. I was hoping hyulhyulhyul would kick in with the definite answers, you know, or someone, but it couldn't be helped. Regrets. Hope it worked out all right.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Don't speak Mandarin, only Orange. And a few words in Lemon.

 

[hyulhyulhyul]

Just a couple of phrases from English to Mandarin pinyin.

"Are you awake?" for which I currently have "Ni xǐng"
"Your worried face worries me." for which I currently have "Ni chou lian, wah dan qin."
"You are beautiful and strong and you will be okay." for which I currently have "Ni jiàn měi, jiang hui mei hao"
"You are not alone" for which I currently have "Ni bù qióng"

Can you help?

The Earl

Are you awake? Ni xingle meiyu? Or Ni qi laile meiyu? The first would be spoken to someone who may still be in bed by someone who may or may not be in the same room. The second, which means "have you arisen?" or "have you gotten up ?" would be spoken by someone who is elsewhere, perhaps on the telephone, or outside the door and can't see for themselves if the person is still in bed.

I despise the Chinese Pinyin system of romanization which is both ugly and confusing. I would recommend that you use either the Wade Giles system which has been in standard use in the West for decades, or the even clearer Yale system if you want your readers to have some idea of how the words are actually pronounced. You can find comparisons at this web site: http://www.pinyin.info/romanization/hanyu/index.html

The above phrases in Wade Giles are: Ni hsingle meiyou? and Ni ch'ilaile meiyou?
In the Yale system, they are: Ni syingle meiyou? and Ni chilaile meiyou.

Your worried face worries me: Nide chou lien rang wo bu fang xin

You are beautiful and strong: Ni hen mei, you chian chiang
You will be okay: ni hui mei shi

You are not alone: Ni bushi dandu yige ren

Sorry, I'm on the other side of the world from you and didn't realize there was any time pressure. Hope this isn't too late to help.

 

[TheEarl]

Thanks mate. Turns out the competition deadline was put back without anyone telling me, so I've still got a week in which I can finish my Mandarin bits.

Thanks for the help.

The Earl

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I only know two sentences in what I think might be Mandarin - is that the Chinese spoken in Beijing? They are very useful, though:

Nee hao = good morning, good day, hello.
Maw tiyah = no money, "I'm broke", ie "don't bother selling me any souvenirs, I can't afford to buy them".

The last one worked as a magic spell for getting rid of salesmen.

 

[TheEarl]

I only know two sentences in what I think might be Mandarin - is that the Chinese spoken in Beijing? They are very useful, though:

Nee hao = good morning, good day, hello.
Maw tiyah = no money, "I'm broke", ie "don't bother selling me any souvenirs, I can't afford to buy them".

The last one worked as a magic spell for getting rid of salesmen.

That is indeed Mandarin. Try this one:

Ching-wah cow de liou-mahng - Frog-humping son of a bitch.

Useful should you see your ex again.

The Earl

 

[Svenskaflicka]

That is indeed Mandarin. Try this one:

Ching-wah cow de liou-mahng - Frog-humping son of a bitch.

Useful should you see your ex again.

The Earl

"Jubeni scho-ee" worked well against him.

(Only perdita would understand this joke *sigh*)

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Should perhaps explain that he was Russian, and that sentence means "you damned dick!" in Russian. Only slightly worse, but it's hard to call someone "a fucking cock" in a way so that you AH'ers will understnad that it's a BAD thing, not a GOOD thing.

You pervs...