Re: Teaching by Translation: to take

From: Lee Sau Dan (danlee_at_informatik.uni-freiburg.de)
Date: 03/29/05 

Date: 30 Mar 2005 01:26:55 +0800

>>>>> "phippsmartin" == phippsmartin <phippsmartin@hotmail.com> writes:

    phippsmartin> Of course, you realize that students confuse "bring"
    phippsmartin> and "take" in Chinese, right?

No. One can use <na2> or <qu3> for "take".

    phippsmartin> The verb in both cases is "dai41" with the
    phippsmartin> difference being the direction ("dai41 lai14" =
    phippsmartin> "bring here" but "dai41 qu41" = "take away").

I'd say <na2 qu4> or <qu2 zou3> or <na2 zou3>.

    phippsmartin> There are similar problems with can and will (both
    phippsmartin> being translated as "hui41"),

You can say <xiao3de> for "can", which doesn't mean "will". But you
have to distinguish <xiao3de> or <hui4> (know how to) and <ke2yi3> or
<neng2gou4> (be able to).

    phippsmartin> find and look for ("zhao214 dao41" = "find",
    phippsmartin> "zhao214" = "look for")

Good.

    phippsmartin> and borrow and lend (both being translated as
    phippsmartin> "jiao44" = "exchange").

No. That should be <jie4>. To distinguish between them, we can say
<jie4ru4>/<jie4lai2> vs. <jie4chu1>. But we usually simply say <jie4>
because the context is sufficient to disambiguate. 

-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     §õ¦u´°                          ~{@nJX6X~}
E-mail: danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee
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