Chat attack

literary Chinese

文言文

(wényánwén) 

A: Recently a story about Iron Man written by a teacher using literary Chinese went viral on Sina Weibo. 

最近一个老师写的有关钢铁侠的文言文在微博上火了。

(zuìjìn yīɡè lǎoshī xiě de yǒuɡuān ɡānɡtiěxiá de wényánwén zàiwēibóshànɡ huǒle.) 

B: That superhero from the movies?                        

那个电影里的超级英雄？

(nàɡè diànyǐnɡ lǐ de chāojí yīnɡxiónɡ?) 

A: Yup, the Marvel one. It was written by a middle school teacher in Shenyang.   I heard she likes to write articles.                

对,就漫威的那个。沈阳的一个初中老师写的。据说平时她就爱写文章。

(duì, jiù mànwēi de nàɡè. shěnyánɡ de yīɡè chūzhōnɡ lǎoshī xiěde. jùshuō pínɡshí tājiù ài xiěwénzhānɡ.)  

B: Writing in literary Chinese is really incredible. I didn't read anything written in literary Chinese after graduating from high school. I probably wouldn't be able to understand the story if I read it.                        

写文言文这可厉害了。我离开高中以后,就再也没读过文言文了。估计看到了也读不懂吧。

(xiěwényánwénzhèkělìhàile。wǒ líkāi ɡāozhōnɡ yǐhòu, jiù zàiyě méidúɡuò wényánwén le. ɡūjì kàndào le yě dúbùdǒnɡ ba.) 

A: That's probably true for me too.                        

我可能也是。

(wǒ kěnénɡ yěshì.)

Illustration: Xia Qing/GT