" The ship, a fragment detached from the earth,went on lonely and swift like a small planet. " - Conrad

11. Where are you from ?

a note


" Nĭ shi Nărgu Rn ?"
or 
" Nĭ shi Năli Rn ? " 
literally means " You are which
country person ? " or " which 
place person are you ? ". The 
replies take the follow the form: 

[ Wo shi ] +[ place ] +[ ren ]
e.g..
Sh角nghăi R谷n=Shanghainese
N芍nj貝ng Ren= Nankingnese 
Bĕij貝ng Ren = Pekingnese 
Àom谷n Ren = Macanese 
Mĕigu車 Ren = American 
Égu車 Ren = Russian 
T角igu車 Ren = Thai 
R足bĕn Ren = Japanese 
H芍ngu車 Ren = Korean etc.

" Nĭ cng Năr la ? ", on the other
hand, can be answered follow-
ing the pattern: 
[ Wo cong + place + lai ]

a tidbit


The Chinese People:

We have the northern Chinese, acclimatized to simple thinking and hard living, tall and stalwart, hale, hearty and humorous, onion -eating and fun-loving, children of nature, who are in every way more Mongolic than the conglo meration of peoples near Shanghai...down the southeast coast, south of  the Yangtze, one meets a different type, inured to ease and culture and sophisti-cation, mentally developed but physically retrograde, loving their poetry and their comforts, sleek under-grown men and slim neurasthenic  women....
- Lin Yutang

 the text
1.  Nĭ sh足 Năgu車 R谷n ?

2.  Wŏ sh Zhnggu Rn.

3.  Nĭ cng Năr li ?

4.  Wŏ cng Bĕijng li.

[ Which country are you from ? ]  

[ I am Chinese. ]

[ Where're you from ? ]  

[ I am from Beijing. ]

 new words
1.  Năgu車

2.   R谷n

3.   Zhnggu車 R谷n

4.   c車ng ... l芍i

5.   Bĕij貝ng

[ noun ] which country   

[ noun ] person 

[ noun ] Chinese 

[ prep. ] come from 

[ noun ] Beijing