The Quest for “Anyway” II: Success!
It’s all thanks to Jenny at Chinesepod, in the upper intermediate lesson called Group Photo. She and John go off on a little tangent talking about “làngfèi gǎnqíng” 浪费感情
and then Jenny wants to get back back to their previous topic, which is the dialog they just listened to.
At 7:39 in the MP3 file, Jenny and John have his exchange:
Jenny: John, nǐ jīngcháng zhèiyàng làngfèi dàjiā de gǎnqíng, shì ba?
你经常这样浪费大家的, 感情?
John, you often waste everyon’e emotion like this, right?John: xièxie.
谢谢.
Thanks.Jenny: (laughing) Búguò, wǒ juéde jīntiān de duìhuà hěn yǒu yìsi. wǒmen zài tīng yì biān.
不过, 我觉得今天的对话很有意思. 我们在听一遍.
Anyway, I think today’s dialog is very interesting. Let’s listen again.
I had to ask a Chinese friend to confirm that’s what Jenny actually said because it’s reduced to what sounds like “buo.” But there’s no doubt: that’s what she said, and that’s what she means. I’ve added “anyway” as a definition for “buguo” in the online dictionary.
If you want to know what all that talk about “wasting emotion” is, you’ll have to listen to the whole Chinesepod lesson.
I can’t wait to go out and start saying “anyway” all the time in Chinese.
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7 Responses to “The Quest for “Anyway” II: Success!”
'alice
said:
我们在听一边.—–“我们再听一遍”
Comment date: Mar 28, 2008
Albert
said:
Thanks Alice. I corrected it. [embarrassed blushing smiley face emoticon here]
Comment date: Mar 28, 2008
KF
said:
Unless an actual chinese person could declare you completely correct. I’m going to stick with my previous understanding..,
That buguo, means “however” (slightly negative)
Similar to KeXi..,
Anywhoo..,
Comment date: Mar 28, 2008
Albert
said:
KF,
I agree completely. I’d love the real live Chinese people to chime in and confirm or deny what I’m saying. The only problem is that they may understand exactly what buguo means to them, but not what “anyway” means to us. It’s a kind of a catch 22.
By the way, when you say “similar to kexi” do you mean kěshì 可是 = but, however. If so, maybe this “buguo” here should be translated as “But anyway…”
Comment date: Mar 28, 2008
KF
said:
Correct (my turn to turn away blushing.., )
the shame of it..,
Comment date: Mar 29, 2008
郭慕白 （Erick ）
said:
I just want to say: Hooray for Chinesepod! I love them.
Comment date: Apr 3, 2008
Daniel
said:
I asked two chinese natives well educated in english, and they told me that there is no word like “anyway” in chinese, and that “BuGuo” means more like “DanShi” 但是.
To switch subject they would use “LingWai” 另外，for example 另外你的工作是怎么样？ ”LingWai Ni De Gongzuo shi zenmeyang？“
But, keep on searching, I might be wrong!
Comment date: Apr 9, 2008