Titles & forms of address in wuxia drama

[Suet Seung]

More questions.

Once or twice in reading XAJH I've run across a phrase I'm curious about. Of course, now that I want to ask about it I can't find an example.

A character will say or think "I'll thicken my face" in reference to accepting something humiliating or embarrassing. It sounds like an idiom, but I'm not sure I quite understand what it means. Is it referring to "face" in the sense of personal dignity and self-image, i.e. "losing face"?

Sniffles:

From my informal understanding of the expression of someone having a "thick-face" or "thin-face"...let me use it in a context so I can better explain and you can understand it as well. Yes, it sort of does have to do with social reputation.

Let's take for example, this guy is pursuing this girl, but she had already express disinterest in him. However, he continues to follow her and a bunch of her friends around because they go to the same school or whatever. No matter what her friends or even what she would say to him--insult him or mock him, so that he'd understand he's not wanted and move on. But he continues to pursue her. They would refer this guy as a guy with a "thick-skinned face". He shows no shame in being rejected or disliked. I mean, these insulting comments are probably said in a indirect way but it is said so he can hear them, so even after hearing them, he does not seem to care, then he's quite thick faced.

Therefore, if a character would say "I'll thicken my face", it would be said in a very cheeky manner. As it is a cheeky comment, no one would say that unless it is in a joke.

Now a thin-skinned face would refer to someone who is easily affected and easily embarrassed by people's comments or looks upon them. In other words, a very sensitive drama-queen or king.

[sniffles]

Yale Press has The Lady in the Painting (300 characters) and Traditional Chinese Tales (600 characters) for people learning to read Chinese. Both books are also available in traditional characters. I'm currently working my way through The Lady in the Painting. It's a fantasy story.

There's also this Journey To The West comic I've not seen which has Simplified Chinese and pinyin.

I've found it's a big help when learning to read to have a program in which you can write the character so you can look up the meaning. Some versions of the MS Vista OS support this, as does http://www.wenlin.com , http://pleco.com , and probably some free software as well.

Thanks! I'll look for those books. I think I'd like the Journey to the West comic. I'm already familiar with that story and enjoy it. I'm a big Monkey King fan. I have paintings and statues of Sun Wukong all over my house.

I have a word processor called NJStar that I can type the pinyin and see the characters with the definitions. I need to practice with it more. I usually just use it for getting the characters I type into posts here, or if I'm trying to search something online. I also bought a "character-a-day" pad to practice on.

[Suet Seung]

Sniffles:

I guess my explanation did not suffice?

For a more in-depth explanation about "losing face, thick-faced, thin-faced" you can read this article "Guilt, Shame, and Embarrassment: Revelation of Face and Self" by David Yau-Fai Ho, Wai Fu, and S.M. Ng. You'll find it on page 67.
http://www.humiliationstudies.org/do...arrassment.pdf

[sniffles]

Sniffles:

I guess my explanation did not suffice?

For a more in-depth explanation about "losing face, thick-faced, thin-faced" you can read this article "Guilt, Shame, and Embarrassment: Revelation of Face and Self" by David Yau-Fai Ho, Wai Fu, and S.M. Ng. You'll find it on page 67.
http://www.humiliationstudies.org/do...arrassment.pdf

Ah, thank you! The concept of "face" is a little unfamiliar to me. Western culture just doesn't have anything quite the same.

Oh, and I just ordered The Lady in the Painting from Amazon. Thanks for the link!

[xianzai]

Ah, thank you! The concept of "face" is a little unfamiliar to me. Western culture just doesn't have anything quite the same.

Oh, and I just ordered The Lady in the Painting from Amazon. Thanks for the link!

Great; just be careful you don't get the old version which doesn't have the grammar notes and additional vocabulary definitions of the new edition and is hand written. Also, a program which can do definition lookup by writing the character is very helpful. In addition to the programs I mentioned before, there's a free one I've not tried: Pablo. There's also a topic on another forum for discussing the book.

[sniffles]

Great; just be careful you don't get the old version which doesn't have the grammar notes and additional vocabulary definitions of the new edition and is hand written. Also, a program which can do definition lookup by writing the character is very helpful. In addition to the programs I mentioned before, there's a free one I've not tried: Pablo. There's also a topic on another forum for discussing the book.

It's definitely a new edition of the book. I checked that before ordering. I've been using www.yellowbridge.com to look up some things by character. Their dictionary is pretty handy, but unfortunately it can only search one character at a time, so I can't look up phrases or sentences.

[Suet Seung]

It's definitely a new edition of the book. I checked that before ordering. I've been using www.yellowbridge.com to look up some things by character. Their dictionary is pretty handy, but unfortunately it can only search one character at a time, so I can't look up phrases or sentences.

Have you used the dictionary at mandarintools.com? I used it to look up more than one character at a time and it worked. Though, I'm not sure about phrases.

[sniffles]

Have you used the dictionary at mandarintools.com? I used it to look up more than one character at a time and it worked. Though, I'm not sure about phrases.

I don't think I've seen that site. I'll give it a try.

[sniffles]

I went to Mandarin language class this morning. Yesterday my teacher emailed the class and told us that if we wanted to we could meet him at a coffee shop before class. My husband and I went and were the only ones present. We had a nice chat. It turns out my teacher knows Jin Yong stories pretty well. He likes 天龙八部.

[Suet Seung]

He likes 天龙八部.

Oh, you must've written the simplified character of long. I'm so used to seeing as 天龍八部.

[sniffles]

Oh, you must've written the simplified character of long. I'm so used to seeing as 天龍八部.

I used what is in my word processor.

[sniffles]

Great; just be careful you don't get the old version which doesn't have the grammar notes and additional vocabulary definitions of the new edition and is hand written. Also, a program which can do definition lookup by writing the character is very helpful. In addition to the programs I mentioned before, there's a free one I've not tried: Pablo. There's also a topic on another forum for discussing the book.

I received my copy yesterday. I've been having fun trying to puzzle out the first page. I wish I could just work on that all day instead of being at my desk at work.

[xianzai]

Hi sniffles, I replied here as that thread is probably a better place for talking about this book.

[sniffles]

My teacher is giving us all Chinese names. He says that if we should ever visit China, people will like it if we have Chinese names.

我的姓是袁, 叫美华

He also told me today that I'm doing really well in class. Thanks to all the kind folks here who have been helping me!

[HuangYushi]

My teacher is giving us all Chinese names. He says that if we should ever visit China, people will like it if we have Chinese names.

我的姓是袁, 叫美华

He also told me today that I'm doing really well in class. Thanks to all the kind folks here who have been helping me!

袁美华，你好！

That's a good name.

btw, the sentence is better put: 我姓袁, 叫美华.
The 的 and 是 are not required.

---

I'm happy that you're doing well! Keep up the good work!

Have you tried composing a short paragraph about yourself, something like you might have done in elementary school? Example:

我姓袁，叫美华，今年 __ 岁。
我来自 ___，是一名 ___ (insert occupation here)。
我的嗜好包括 ___ 、___ 、___ 和 ___ 。

Then, go on by expanding on one or two of your hobbies.
Use it for speech practice ... and you can always omit the 今年 __ 岁!

HYS

[sniffles]

袁美华，你好！

btw, the sentence is better put: 我姓袁, 叫美华.
The 的 and 是 are not required.

I我姓袁，叫美华，今年 __ 岁。
Use it for speech practice ... and you can always omit the 今年 __ 岁!

HYS

Thanks for the pointers.

I don't have any problem with filling in that sentence. In fact, I have a birthday next week. 今年 四十八 岁。

[Han Solo]

Thanks for the pointers.

I don't have any problem with filling in that sentence. In fact, I have a birthday next week. 今年 四十八 岁。

Happy be-earlied birthday sniffles.

[HuangYushi]

In fact, I have a birthday next week. 今年 四十八 岁。

袁美华，生日快乐！
祝您福如东海，寿比南山！

[JamesG]

Have you used the dictionary at mandarintools.com? I used it to look up more than one character at a time and it worked. Though, I'm not sure about phrases.

I even found an explanation of 'aiyo and aiya there. It was nice to see that my guesses about them, based on the context in a series situation, was darn close. They're even spoken the same as an English equivalent would be.