1. Look at the picture

2. Answer the question (to yourself)

3. Check the answer below (no peeking!)

Question

This is a picture of graffiti advertising for machine drilling a new well (jī zuàn jǐng 机钻井).  I asked my students why there were so many phone numbers advertising the same exact thing.  Some students said the numbers all belong to the same person.  Other students disagreed.  One student said, in Chinese:

Wǒ huáiyí zhèxiē hàomǎ dōu shì yí gè rén de.
我怀疑这些号码都是一个人的.

And the debate went on.

What is the correct English translation of that sentence?

Feel free to use a dictionary.  Click the hanzi above to use an online one.

Write down or at least say aloud what you think the correct translation should be before reading on.  The answer has nothing to do with the context of the situation.  There is one grammatically correct answer.

Answer

Wrong: I doubt these numbers are all one person’s.

Correct: I suspect these numbers are all one person’s.

The Problem

huáiyí 怀疑 = doubt / suspect.

But “doubt” and “suspect” have opposites meanings in English!

So how do we know what native speakers mean when they use huáiyí 怀疑?  And how do we find know what we really said if we use it?

The Solution

Let’s first look at what you have to say in Chinese if you really want to say:

“I doubt these numbers are all one person’s.”
wǒ huáiyí zhèxiē hàomǎ dōu bú shì yí gè rén de.
我怀疑这些号码都不是一个人的.

So here’s how I suggest dealing with huáiyí 怀疑 in different grammatical situations:

1. huáiyí 怀疑 + Independent Noun Clause (contains Subject and Verb, even if the Subject is implied)

In this case, huáiyí 怀疑 = rènwéi 认为 = “suspect” = “think.”

The original sentence:

Wǒ huáiyí zhèxiē hàomǎ dōu shì yí gè rén de.
我怀疑这些号码都是一个人的.

Basically means:

Wǒ rènwéi zhèxiē hàomǎ dōu shì yí gè rén de.
我认为这些号码都是一个人的.

Which can be translated as:

I suspect these numbers are all one person’s.
- or -
I think these number are all one person’s.

2. huáiyí 怀疑 + (nothing)
- or -
huáiyí 怀疑 + Noun

In this case, huáiyí 怀疑 = “doubt.”

For example:

A: tā shuō tā huì lái.
他说他会来.
He said he’ll come.

B: wǒ huáiyí.
我怀疑.
I doubt it.

- or -

B: wǒ huáiyí tā shuō de huà.
我怀疑他说的话.
I doubt what he said.

3. huáiyí 怀疑 + Phrase containing “Verb Not Verb”

In this case, huáiyí 怀疑 = “doubt” + Verb

For example:

wǒ huáiyí tā huì bú huì lái.
我怀疑他会不会来.
I doubt he’ll come.

So in summary, if huáiyí 怀疑 is used:

1. Before a “complete sentence” (independent clause), like “these numbers are all one person’s,” then it means “suspect” or “think.”

2. By itself or before a “thing” (noun or dependent noun clause), like “what he said,” then it means “doubt.”

3. Before a “verb not verb” phrase, like “tā huì bú huì lái 他会不会来,” then it means “doubt” and you just get rid of the “not verb” (bú huì 不会) part.

If anyone else has a better way of keeping “doubt” and “suspect” straight, I’m all ears.

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• jiè 借 = to borrow / to lend
• ràng 让 = to make / to let / to ask someone to do something

In one of my English classes last week, I ran into two that never got sorted out. Perhaps some of you can shed some light.

Jump / Dive

The student wanted to talk about the Olympic sport of diving. That seems to be:

• tiàoshuǐ 跳水 = to dive / diving (the sport)

The confusion came when I said, “Doesn’t that “tiào” just mean “jump?” Yes it does. So how would you say “jump into the water?”

The class was split. Some of them said something like:

• “tiào jìn shuǐ” 跳进水 = to jump into the water

But others insisted that tiàoshuǐ 跳水 could have both meanings. In the end, the dispute (between the students) came down to the height of the platform the person is diving from. Since I thought that HAD to be irrelevant to my original question, I was reduced to drawing pictures (for which I’ll substitute shamelessly-stolen Google Images here) and saying:

1. If your head touches the water before your feet, that’s diving.

image source

2. If your feet touch the water before your head, that’s jumping into the water.

image source

So how do you say number 1 in Chinese, and how do you say number 2 in Chinese? There still wasn’t agreement. Anyone like to add your opinion?

The Olympic Torch

I was infinitely confused when my students told me that the Olympic torch was in Guangzhou on Wednesday and from there went the top of Mt. Everest on Thursday. The reason this confused me was other students were insisting it was in Huizhou Thursday (many hundreds of miles from the top of Everest). I asked, as anyone would in such a situation, “So you mean there are two torches?”

I was shouted down with a resounding, unison, “NOOOOOO!”

Rather than trying to figure out why they seemed offended at the idea of two torches, I decided to focus on how the torch seemed to be violating the nature of the universe and existing in two places at once. I got nowhere until, again, I drew a picture.

image source

They immediately seemed relieved and eagerly cleared up the misunderstanding.

1. shènghuǒ 圣火 = sacred flame / Olympic flame (which there is only one of)

2. huǒjù 火炬 = torch (which there are two or more of)

And I should have left it there. But I had to ask, “So when I originally asked ‘Are there two torches?’ what word, in Chinese did you think I meant?”

Some tried to deny it, but they all had to admit they thought I was saying huǒjù 火炬.

“So WHY did you say there was only one, but now you’re saying there are multiple huǒjù-s ?!?!?!”

They couldn’t answer that and kept muttering things like, “It’s a cultural difference” and “It’s a language difference” and I simply gave up and went on with the class.

If anyone would like to attempt to explain either of these two confusing convergent concepts to me, but especially what in the world happened in the torch discussion, I’m all–um–eyes.

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