Chinese Popular Colloquialisms (Latest Version) (Includes Disc)

Author: Li Jiequn
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: This book is based on Chinese culture, featuring English-Chinese parallel expressions, with the topic of "face" as its focus for discussion. The book categorizes phrases related to face into four major types: giving oneself face, giving others face, not giving oneself face, and not giving others face. Each major category is further divided into three subcategories: active situations (i.e., in a dominant position), general situations (i.e., in an equal position), and passive situations (i.e., in a subordinate position). Each phrase is analyzed from two perspectives. One is the discourse context, which lists archaic expressions, elegant language, dialogues, and similar expressions under the same semantic context. The other is the discourse situation, which attempts to vividly depict a specific atmosphere through dialogue, followed by a detailed interpretation of the thinking patterns, motivations, and interests in the Chinese cultural psychology within that context. This results in a "six-in-one" format model comprising: discourse items, dialogues, contexts, archaic expressions, elegant language, and similar expressions. It follows the approach of contextual teaching and emphasizes mastering fixed phrases. Once foreign friends fully grasp the entire background of this phrase, they can select different styles of expressions in similar life situations to achieve the same communicative purpose and appreciate the humor in the Chinese language.