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街

English translation: street

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Chinese term or phrase:街
English translation:street
Entered by: Roddy Stegemann

02:44 Jan 23, 2004
Chinese to English translations [Non-PRO]
/ 言語
Chinese term or phrase: 街
他問：「黑水街離白水街有多遠？」我說：「三條街左右。」

Please consider the above sentence. I have rendered the phrases 黑水街, 白水街, and 三條街 as:

1) 黑水街 Black Water Street
2) 白水街 White Water Street, and
3) 三條街 three streets

My question has to do with the use of the character 街. Although the meaning is likely clear in the third instance, it is not so clear in the first and second. Could the first and second items not also mean "Black Water Market" and "White Water Market"?

What are your thoughts?
Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 12:30
street, block
Explanation:
I bet you were thinking of the touristy markets (街市) of HK which are often located on pedstrian-only streets (花園街,女人街,etc). But no, here it refers to "street" only. In HK, markets are referred colloquially as 街市 even though it may not be on a street. Ask anyone shopping in 上環市場 for example (which is located in a building) and they will tell you they are in a 街市.

And yes, I would render it as "three blocks" as oppose to "three streets".

In HK at least, street names are rendered in a rather systematic fashion:
Street - 街; ex. Argyle Street - 亞皆老街
Road - 道,大道 ; ex. Lai Chi Kok Road - 荔枝角道, Queen's Road Central - 皇后大道中
Lane - 里; ex. Theatre Lane - 戲院里
Walk - 徑; ex. Lambeth Walk - 琳寶徑
Terrace - 地臺; ex. Leung Fai Terrace - 梁輝臺
Place - 廣場; ex. Edinburgh Place - 愛丁堡廣場

Avenue and Boulevard are not used in HK (not that I know of) for some reason.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs 43 mins (2004-01-23 07:27:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

correction: Terrace - 臺

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs 20 mins (2004-01-23 08:04:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

sorry i was actually thinking of 中環街市.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 5 hrs 31 mins (2004-01-24 08:15:55 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Of course here, i refer \"market\" as the ones where they sell groceries and/or novelties by individually operated vendors with cash-only transaction. This maybe open-air or operated by the municipal government in a designated building. I don\'t believe open air market -- the traditional, classic, HK-style 街市 -- exist in most New Towns. The open-air 街市 are not known to be \"up-scale\" really. Many are dirty (from raw food scraps), smelly (usually from animal blood) and crowded. That\'s why they are not zoned for in New Towns. At most they would put a building in just for that kind of activities. But people will still refer them as 街市 colloquially just because of the types of stuff they can get from there.

A typical example of a 街市 can be found in 廣東道 in Mongkok. This one they don\'t put in the guidebooks because one can only find groceries there. :)
Selected response from:

Kvasir
Canada
Local time: 13:30
Grading comment
As is so frequently the case, one wishes one could split the points, but one cannot. As Kvasir did the best to clear up my confusion about the use of 街 as street or market, I am awarding him the points. I now understand the difference between 街 and 街市. As a resident of Ma On Shan and Shatin I have known the use of 市場 for some time.

No, Kvasir I was not thinking of the upscale tourist streets of downtown Hong Kong. I was simply trying to cope with the sketchiness of my grammar book. I do thank you for the guide to street names, however. It was very helpful. Especially the uses of 里 and 徑.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3猜想
Lu Zou
5Street - you are right
matias
5Street - you are right
matias
5street, block
Kvasir


  

Answers


33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
猜想


Explanation:
黑水街和白水街里的街是街名，可以是Street or avenue

三条街左右的街是街区，应该是block

Market多指市场和集市

Lu Zou
Australia
Local time: 05:30
Native speaker of: Native in ChineseChinese
PRO pts in pair: 2180

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  HymnLau: Yep.
3 hrs
agree  Kvasir: yep, "block" is more commonly used in speech.
4 hrs
agree  darkeol
15 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

37 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Street - you are right


Explanation:
If 1) and 2) are "Black Water Market" and "White Water Market", then the translation will probably be “黑水市场”and “白水市场”。Unless it is doing on purpose to use different meaning Chinese and English street names.

matias
PRO pts in pair: 28
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

37 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Street - you are right


Explanation:
If 1) and 2) are "Black Water Market" and "White Water Market", then the translation will probably be “黑水市场”and “白水市场”。Unless it is doing on purpose to use different meaning Chinese and English street names.

matias
PRO pts in pair: 28
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
street, block


Explanation:
I bet you were thinking of the touristy markets (街市) of HK which are often located on pedstrian-only streets (花園街,女人街,etc). But no, here it refers to "street" only. In HK, markets are referred colloquially as 街市 even though it may not be on a street. Ask anyone shopping in 上環市場 for example (which is located in a building) and they will tell you they are in a 街市.

And yes, I would render it as "three blocks" as oppose to "three streets".

In HK at least, street names are rendered in a rather systematic fashion:
Street - 街; ex. Argyle Street - 亞皆老街
Road - 道,大道 ; ex. Lai Chi Kok Road - 荔枝角道, Queen's Road Central - 皇后大道中
Lane - 里; ex. Theatre Lane - 戲院里
Walk - 徑; ex. Lambeth Walk - 琳寶徑
Terrace - 地臺; ex. Leung Fai Terrace - 梁輝臺
Place - 廣場; ex. Edinburgh Place - 愛丁堡廣場

Avenue and Boulevard are not used in HK (not that I know of) for some reason.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs 43 mins (2004-01-23 07:27:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

correction: Terrace - 臺

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs 20 mins (2004-01-23 08:04:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

sorry i was actually thinking of 中環街市.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 5 hrs 31 mins (2004-01-24 08:15:55 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Of course here, i refer \"market\" as the ones where they sell groceries and/or novelties by individually operated vendors with cash-only transaction. This maybe open-air or operated by the municipal government in a designated building. I don\'t believe open air market -- the traditional, classic, HK-style 街市 -- exist in most New Towns. The open-air 街市 are not known to be \"up-scale\" really. Many are dirty (from raw food scraps), smelly (usually from animal blood) and crowded. That\'s why they are not zoned for in New Towns. At most they would put a building in just for that kind of activities. But people will still refer them as 街市 colloquially just because of the types of stuff they can get from there.

A typical example of a 街市 can be found in 廣東道 in Mongkok. This one they don\'t put in the guidebooks because one can only find groceries there. :)

Kvasir
Canada
Local time: 13:30
Native speaker of: Native in ChineseChinese
PRO pts in pair: 123
Grading comment
As is so frequently the case, one wishes one could split the points, but one cannot. As Kvasir did the best to clear up my confusion about the use of 街 as street or market, I am awarding him the points. I now understand the difference between 街 and 街市. As a resident of Ma On Shan and Shatin I have known the use of 市場 for some time.

No, Kvasir I was not thinking of the upscale tourist streets of downtown Hong Kong. I was simply trying to cope with the sketchiness of my grammar book. I do thank you for the guide to street names, however. It was very helpful. Especially the uses of 里 and 徑.
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