蒙學漢文初階 第一百二十三課 Beginning Chinese - Entry Level Lesson #123
家養貓犬 home rear cat dog
犬為貓曰 dog for cat said
我防賊 I prevent theft
爾防鼠 you prevent mice
各司其職 each take_charge its job
一日賊 one day thief
竊物去 steal things go
貓為犬曰 cat for dog said
爾大於我 you big than me
而曠職 and neglect job
得無愧乎 have no shame?
There was a family who kept a cat and a dog. The dog said to the cat,
"I prevent theft, you prevent mice. Each of us take charge of our jobs."
One day, a thief came and stole some things and escaped. The cat said to the dog,
"You are bigger than me. You have neglected your job. Have you no shame?"
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 2
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Actually the simplified of 爾 is 尔 but modern Chinese like to put the "man" radical to emphasis it is used for humans and so it becomes 你 (a new creation when Chinese first came into contact with western languages along with 他, 她, 牠 and 它 to differentiate the sex. In Classical Chinese, like in English "You", the sex is determined by context) putting the "heart" radical under is used for more formality and warmth 您.
There also other synonyms like 汝 or 余 . They are no longer used in modern life. This series that I am translating is Classical Chinese. You can think of it as very formal writing like in academic essays, legal writing etc.
Understanding Classical Chinese is a way to improve one's writing as many idioms and expressions are still used today.
I hope I am not confusing you. One reason is that Koreans are now re-studying Chinese for greater understanding of their language since 60-70 of their terms used everyday are Chinese based.
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why is 爾 used instead of 你？
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