Archive for the ‘Vocabulary’ Category
Sunday, January 14th, 2007
To round out my little series on relationship terms, here are common ways of addressing strangers in Chinese. (See also Chinese Family Tree, Terms of Endearment, and Mates)
All terms are general neutral unless specified.
Restaurant/shop
fúwùyuán 服务员 = waiter/waitress/worker
lǎobǎn 老板 = boss/owner
*xiǎojiě 小姐 / xiǎo gūniang 小姑娘 = girl
*huǒji 伙计 = guy
Workers ...
Posted in Vocabulary | 5 Comments »
Thursday, January 11th, 2007
Talking about family members in Chinese is very complicated due to the Confucian emphasis on relationships and hierarchy. (See also Mates, Terms of Endearment, and Addressing Strangers).
For example, the English word "cousin" has 8 different Chinese translations depending on mother's side or father's side, older or younger, boy or girl. ...
Posted in Vocabulary | 21 Comments »
Monday, December 25th, 2006
The Chinese, as well as other "rújiā wénhuà" 儒家文化 ("Confucian cultures"), are very conscious of the types of relationships between people. Here are some of those "chēnghū" 称呼 ("terms of address") that they use all the time. I've come across all of these in daily conversation.
NOTE: all of ...
Posted in Vocabulary | 7 Comments »
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