Neil-san Posted January 29, 2006 at 04:32 AM Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 at 04:32 AM Shàng (上) appears to be used in Pimsleur III Unit 4 to mean "study" as well as for "last" in "last week." It makes sense as "previous" but I don't understand how it works for "study." What contextual connections am I missing? Neil-san Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted January 29, 2006 at 04:40 AM Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 at 04:40 AM Have you got a sentence or phrase? I can see how a usage such as 上课, or 上大学- attend class, attend university - might cause confusion, but I can't imagine using it directly as study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferno Posted January 29, 2006 at 04:51 AM Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 at 04:51 AM Okay I found what he's talking about.. Narrarator: He's planning to study... Speaker: Ta1 da3suan4 shang4 Narrarator: He's planning to study at a Mandarin langauge school. Speaker: Ta1 da3suan4 shang4 yi1 suo3 pu3tong1hua4 xue2xiao4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted January 29, 2006 at 04:58 AM Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 at 04:58 AM Hmm, the 上 doesn't really mean study here, at least not until you have the ‘school' bit to relate it to. Until you hear that, he could be going to the toilet, upstairs, etc. It would be less confusing if they used 'go to' or 'attend' rather than study. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferno Posted January 29, 2006 at 05:03 AM Report Share Posted January 29, 2006 at 05:03 AM yeah they kind of translate things holistically - sometimes they explain the literal meaning ie that shang4 di4tie2 is literally "on the subway" maybe they didn't mention it in the context of attending school Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil-san Posted January 30, 2006 at 12:53 PM Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2006 at 12:53 PM Thank you! To "go" or "attend" meshes better with the definitions in Wenlin - and it works in the Pimsleur sentences as well. The insistance on "study" was confusing however. I am beginning to realize that this sort of translation problem can come up quite a bit when approached from the English side. Neil-san Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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