drencrom Posted February 9, 2012 at 03:28 PM Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 at 03:28 PM This is a list of words i jotted down as having wanted to say at the time, but couldn't. power strip feather duster Android - 安卓，对不对？ 颜福 - I had this written down, but no idea why. Translator gives no help. Sorry, I wasn't listening - I have to be actively listening to Chinese to hear what people are saying. Sometimes I'll hear the dreaded "tingde dong ma" and have no idea what was going on because I just plain wasn't listening. However, 9 times out of 10 they think I didn't understand and it's frustrating not being able to explain this. down the drain, wasted money, sunk costs - however you explain this concept in Chinese the line starts back there - this is what you say in English when someone tries to cut in line ahead of you. How do you express this in Chinese? panda hugger - people who are a bit too friendly with the CCP. volume so-so - Chinese people never say 马马虎虎 so what should you say instead? it's too loud - explaining to people on a long train trip that their mobile phone games need to be set on mute mode mute - the instruction from remote controls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEye Posted February 9, 2012 at 04:35 PM Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 at 04:35 PM 不好意思，我沒注意你說的話。 Sorry, I wasn't paying attention to what you said. 浪費錢 to waste money 在那邊排隊喔。 Line up over there. (the final 喔 here might be a little more Taiwanese Mandarin or Southern Mandarin usage, I'm not sure, but it indicates a mild imperative that the speaker wants the listener to pay attention to) 還好 so-so 聲音太大了。 The sound is too loud. 無聲 or 靜音 silent/mute The others I'm not sure about. In Taiwan some older people call CCP members and supporters 共匪. Not sure if that's a common term on the Mainland, but I'm sure it would get the point across, if in a rude way. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludens Posted February 9, 2012 at 07:38 PM Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 at 07:38 PM I think power strip is 电插板. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooironic Posted February 9, 2012 at 10:56 PM Report Share Posted February 9, 2012 at 10:56 PM power strip - 接线板 jiēxiànbǎn feather duster - 鸡毛帚 jīmáozhǒu (but I've never seen them in China so don't know if this word is commonly known) Android - both 安卓 and occasionally 安致 are used, but I'd say just "Android" is more common 颜福 - is this someone's name? so-so - 一般般 yībānbān Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdavid Posted February 10, 2012 at 12:27 AM Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 at 12:27 AM I've always said 插排 for power strip, as have my (Chinese) colleagues. "Panda hugger" is one of those words which doesn't appear to have a one-for-one equivalent (that I know of). If the objective is to describe someone who worships the CCP, something like 崇党者 may work. (Btw, I just made that up). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted February 10, 2012 at 12:32 AM Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 at 12:32 AM Although not an exact equivalent, I would go for 五毛党. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drencrom Posted February 10, 2012 at 12:42 PM Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 at 12:42 PM Thanks for all the replies everyone! If you haven't seen a feather duster in China before, then how do you know what the name for it is? FWIW, they look like this: 一般般 doesn't that just mean "half"? For power strip, I've got: 插排 chāpái 接线板 jiēxiànbǎn 电插板 diànchābǎn I suppose I'll have to do a poll around the office. I hate learning a "correct" word but then finding out nobody around here says it that way. So much wasted brainpower, and I have little enough to spare as it is. For panda hugger, it means a foreigner. Wumaodang are tools, but they are Chinese. 共匪 is awesome, I'm totally learning that one, but it does refer to a mainlander in the context of a Taiwanese. Does Chinese have a phrase like 'useful idiots'? What did Mao call people like Edgar Snow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted February 10, 2012 at 01:46 PM Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 at 01:46 PM I like 共匪. Once a friend of mine who can speak the minnan dialect said Taiwanese people did not like hearing HK people speak the dialect. Then I called him 共匪, and we had a good laugh because it was so comical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEye Posted February 10, 2012 at 02:28 PM Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 at 02:28 PM If you haven't seen a feather duster in China before, then how do you know what the name for it is? FWIW, they look like this: I think most people here know what a feather duster is. And you don't have to have seen something in country to know what it's called. I've never seen a an owl in Taiwan, but I know the Chinese word is 貓頭鷹. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooironic Posted February 10, 2012 at 08:56 PM Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 at 08:56 PM @drencrom All I was saying is that I've never seen them used in China. I found the translation on jukuu.com, and like anything found on there, it should be taken with a grain salt until it's verified by a native speaker. And 一般般 is a very common way of saying "so-so" (ugh, hate that word) or "average". Same as 还可以, 还好, 还行 and 还成 (common in Northern Mandarin). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imron Posted February 10, 2012 at 09:05 PM Report Share Posted February 10, 2012 at 09:05 PM @drencrom, don't confuse 一般 with 一半 (they are different tones also). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heifeng Posted February 11, 2012 at 03:20 AM Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 at 03:20 AM Wait! Back up, where are these words coming from? Anyway... feather duster:as the picture above says 鸡毛掸 or 鸡毛扫. I actually have heard this term a few times...I'm drawing a blank on what final character I heard more often...but the chicken feather part sticks. Especially b/c it was usually during stories of friends getting spanked with em...hehe did you hear颜福...or 眼福? As in有眼福了... 排插座 or even shorter still 排插 For so-so, it depends on your tone & what you want to describe. 凑合 can be used to say something is so so as in it's passable （～～还凑合） , or will make due （～～～凑合用） You can reference iciba here and see how it's used online as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooironic Posted February 11, 2012 at 10:00 AM Report Share Posted February 11, 2012 at 10:00 AM If you want to express "passable" or "acceptable", 说得过去 and 就那么回事 are two other options. @drencrom, don't confuse 一般 with 一半 (they are different tones also). I didn't even make the connection that that could have been the character @drencrom was thinking about. :o (It seems bān and bàn are completely different things in my mind.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animal world Posted March 11, 2012 at 03:54 PM Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 at 03:54 PM Panda hugger is a great word. I had never heard of it before. Reading the posts here I'm confused about its true meaning . Does it mean foreigner or someone who's a little too cozy with the Party? Can't seem to find in this thread a good translation of the word in Chinese. If it means Party-aficionado the word in Chinese offered here is 共匪. Unless, i totally misinterpret this, this has a negative connotation whereas Pandahugger is deceptively positive. Anyone can shed some light on this word? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gato Posted March 12, 2012 at 03:57 AM Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 at 03:57 AM If it means Party-aficionado the word in Chinese offered here is 共匪. Unless, i totally misinterpret this, this has a negative connotation whereas Pandahugger is deceptively positive. 共匪 means Communist bandit. Where did you see that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animal world Posted March 12, 2012 at 05:32 AM Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 at 05:32 AM I know "共匪 means Communist bandit." The comments at post 7 (last paragraph) and 8 threw me off the trail of the panda hugger. Panda hugger IS a great word. Now, if only I knew what it meansand what is it in Chinese??? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted March 12, 2012 at 06:29 AM Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 at 06:29 AM Perhaps you can consider 擁華者 or 擁華躉 for panda hugger. I made them up. 擁 can have dual-meanings (support and hug) here. Also learn the term 擁躉 - http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?wdrst=1&popup=1&wdqchid=%E6%93%81%E8%BA%89 http://book.sina.com.cn/longbook/liv/1109834226_zhengbanyuwen/52.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xiaocai Posted March 12, 2012 at 10:52 AM Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 at 10:52 AM The Chinese name for feather duster is right on the picture you found... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animal world Posted March 12, 2012 at 03:20 PM Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 at 03:20 PM I never asked for the Chinese name of feather duster; the answer was provided quite a while ago. Thanks for the help and suggestions, Skylee. I assumed that there was a "fixed expression" in Chinese for panda hugger and I seemed to be wrong. So, is "panda hugger" an expression in English? I had never heard of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gato Posted March 12, 2012 at 03:37 PM Report Share Posted March 12, 2012 at 03:37 PM You've heard of "tree hugger"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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