floor 'ground'

W Brewer brewerwa at GMAIL.COM
Fri Sep 26 13:32:50 UTC 2014


WB:  Confusion of English _ground_ ~ _floor_ is common among Chinese
EFL speakers. Because, for the pertinent English meanings:
English _ground_ is Mandarin _di-4_ (ground, land, soil, the earth).
English _floor_ is Mandarin _di-4 ban-3_ (lit. ground-board, -plank).
My English-Mandarin bilingual kids make confuse the English; I think
it is that _floor_ is used in either meaning. I now find myself doing
it, too, sometimes.

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