Qs about the meaning of some words or sentences~
Help will be highly appreciated!!
The first 4 Qs are from the article Japanese Gamers Tired Of The Pummeling-- Can once-mighty Japanese video game makers end the rout by US rivals? (from Businessweek, April 25,2005)
1. Worse, Japan's game makers underestimated the importance of creating games for a maturing audience.
--here, “maturing audience” means the players who are growing up, and maybe their taste are changing gradually, or simply means the adult players
2. While most Japanese developers continued to create impressionistic, family-friendly fare, rivals offer plenty of blood, bullets, guts, and gore to satisfy the gunslinger in every game player.
--what does “impressionistic, family-friendly fare” means? Especially, the meaning that “impressionistic” carries here~
--what does “guts” particularly mean here?
--“gore” means the blood that sprinkled on the ground or wall?
3. Whereas EA, Take Two, and other US companies have set up studios around the world to better understand consumers' tastes, the Japanese have largely kept their resources at home, coming up with offbeat products such as Sony's Mad Maestro-about an orchestra conductor-and Mr Moskeeto, where the player is a mosquito trying to suck blood without getting itself swatted.
--in the dictionary, LONGMAN DICTIONARY OF CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH (English-English & English-Chinese, the first version in January, 2002), the only meaning of “offbeat” is “unusual;’ not CONVENTIOAL”, is it what “offbeat” means here? Or does “offbeat” contains the meaning of “out of date”?
4. the meanings of FRANCHISE in the following sentences:
(1) EA has made Harry Potter, James Bond, and Lord of the Rings games into solid, bankable franchises year after year,…
(2) The company sold 3 mn copies of Dragon Quest VIII for the PlayStation 2 in the first three days after its November release in Japan, while its Final Fantasy franchise has sold over 35 mn copies worldwide.
(3) "Intense graphics is not the only path," says Satoru Iwata, Chairman of Nintendo. "In this industry, there are still many franchise characters."
The following Qs are from Sukhumvit Soi 33, Bangkok-- Yes, this Soi deserves its own page (from www.bangkokbob.net)
--I have to say that the author of this article might be a Thai, with a good command of English, but still there might be some grammar mistakes.
5. Soi 33 on Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, has long been an expatriates hang out. Since the early '90s it has been popular, especially in Happy Hour, but the last few years have seen an explosion of new bars and restaurants. You will find a more laid-back atmosphere, polite well-dressed girls usually with a fair command of English, altogether a more up-market area where you can either start your night, or just drift from bar to bar.
--here, due to my understanding, the author might want to say “an expatriates’ hangout”. But, does “expatriate” only mean a person living in a foreign, or it can also contain the meaning of a tourer to a foreign country?
6. The theme here is usually that of a hostess bar, some have waiters, Christie's has doormen in bizarre uniforms! You will be ushered in and given either a hot or cold towel. The first bar here was Renoir, then followed Christie's, Napoleon, Van Gogh, Degas, Manet (now Monet due to a sign writing error!) Leo Club (now Santana), then a few more appeared. Recently, in 2004 the "painter" theme has been continued with Gauguin.
--what is a “hostess bar”? and I’m not very clear about the structure and meaning of the first sentence.
--how do the first two sentences relate to the rest part of this paragraph? What’s the main idea of this paragraph?
7. …These are mostly hostess bars, and offer a more refined and laid back ambiance. The girls are basically the same as those you find in other places, just enjoy the illusion, they play the part quite well.
Most, if not all, have danced round a chromium plated pole at some time, and may well do again in the future! If you have visited Hong Kong, Japan, or Taiwan, you will know how much it costs to frequent these types of bars, so you will really appreciate the service and especially the prices in Soi 33.
-- Does the sentence in bold means that though the girls in the bars seem no difference from the common girls, but actually they have all do the dance service? And is there any underlying meaning that they might have just done a dance and will probably do it again as long as you pay?
MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE!! :-)
Marrisa^^
Re: Qs about the meaning of some words or sentences in my translating assignments~
Sorry. We do not do homework assigments. Have you tried dictionary.com? It's a great on-line source.
Re: Qs about the meaning of some words or sentences~
Sorry, maybe i should change my title, becuase the problems have little to do with the "assignment"~
I have almost done my assigntment, but there're still some sentences that i can not figure out the correct meaning,
and it's not because that i didn't look up into any dictionaries, but because that some cultural difference, or some lack of the sense of how a native-speaker use some words~~
cuz, i'm a Chinese, and i'm pretty interested in learning English, and really want know to more exactly about the usages and the meanings there~~~~
Even if there're not any assignments, i'll still come up with these Qs, ~~~
Looking forward to your help~~
Thanks A Lot~~
Re: Qs about the meaning of some words or sentences~
Quote:
1. Worse, Japan's game makers underestimated the importance of creating games for a maturing audience. --here, “maturing audience” means the players who are growing up, and maybe their taste are changing gradually, or simply means the adult players.
mature audience means, an audience that has matured; they are mature.
maturing audience means, an audience that is in the process of maturing; e.g., ". . . for an audience that's growing up, getting older and wiser."
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2. While most Japanese developers continued to create impressionistic, family-friendly fare, rivals offer plenty of blood, bullets, guts, and gore to satisfy the gunslinger in every game player.
“impressionistic, adjectival form of impressionsim
“fare”, range of products
“guts”, entrails
“gore”, blood shed
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3. . . . the Japanese have largely kept their resources at home, coming up with offbeat products . . . ,
“offbeat”, eccentric, unconventional.
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(1) bankable franchises
bankable sequels
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(2) Final Fantasy franchise
Final Fantasy sequel
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(3) franchise characters
sequel characters
The sequels will sell because the first X in the series was profitable. A franchise is a business that is authorized to sell the products of another company; e.g., McDonald's. The business does well because McDonald's did/does well.
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5. Soi 33 on Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, has long been an expatriates hang out.
An 'expatriate' is a person living abroad; renounces their citizenship. 'hang out' is a place where people go to let it all 'hang out', to relax, to let loose. Cf. A tourist is considered to be a foreigner.
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6. The theme here is usually that of a hostess bar, some have waiters, Christie's has doormen in bizarre uniforms! You will be ushered in and given either a hot or cold towel. The first bar here was Renoir, then followed Christie's, Napoleon, Van Gogh, Degas, Manet (now Monet due to a sign writing error!) Leo Club (now Santana), then a few more appeared. Recently, in 2004 the "painter" theme has been continued with Gauguin.
A “hostess bar” is a club where women work as hostesses. Their job is to "chat" with male customers. In Asian society - more so in the past - marriage was considered a business; people usually did not marry for love, so a married couple had little or nothing in common. 'hostess clubs' filled a need for many men - married and single. :cry: There aren't any host bars. :shock:
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how do the first two sentences relate to the rest part of this paragraph?
What is your best guess? ;-) Consider this, in the first sentence 'theme' is used and in the last sentence "painter theme" is used.
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7. …These are mostly hostess bars, and offer a more refined and laid back ambiance. The girls are basically the same as those you find in other [hostess-like establishments], just enjoy the illusion, [they aren't as naive as you think they are, but] they play the part quite well. Most, if not all, have danced round a chromium plated pole at some time, and may well do again in the future!
Before becoming 'hostesses', the girls were dancers; i.e., probably strippers and/or prostitutes, and they'd probably do it again because it's (a) what they know and (b) pays more than an office job - if they have the schooling and experience to get an office job. :-?
Take a look at the parts I added in, [ . . . ].
Re: Qs about the meaning of some words or sentences~
:-D
THOUSANDS OF THANKS!!
Your reply is of GEATE HELP!
You explain every Q in such patience and detais~
Thank you very much!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marrisa
6. The theme here is usually that of a hostess bar, some have waiters, Christie's has doormen in bizarre uniforms! You will be ushered in and given either a hot or cold towel. The first bar here was Renoir, then followed Christie's, Napoleon, Van Gogh, Degas, Manet (now Monet due to a sign writing error!) Leo Club (now Santana), then a few more appeared. Recently, in 2004 the "painter" theme has been continued with Gauguin.
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Originally Posted by Casiopea
What is your best guess? ;-) Consider this, in the first sentence 'theme' is used and in the last sentence "painter theme" is used.
Maybe, the painters metioned here are mostly impressionism, (little bit confused about the metion of Napoleon, is he the Napoleon or aslo a painter with the same name? :-? ), so the action that hostess bars in Soi 33 take
is also kind of like a impressionism--to let waiters or waitress wear bizarre clothes? --not sure, for the structure of the first sentence really confused me~ The theme is "of a hostess bar, some have waiters, Christie's has doormen in bizarre uniforms! "? :?:
Marrisa^^
Re: Qs about the meaning of some words or sentences~
Quote:
Maybe, the painters metioned here are mostly impressionism
. I think it's more along the lines of "face": creating a look that resembles a high class establishment. Renoir, Van Gogh, Degas, and Gauguin's paintings sell for a great deal of money! If you can afford a Van Gogh, you're rich. As for Christie's, it's the name of a very famous auction house that deals in antiques, especially paintings. As for Napoleon, he was French, and he was a famous general? You'll have to look him up.
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waiters or waitress wear bizarre clothes?
It's bizzar because according to its name, the bar appears to be a high class establishment but the staff wear odd costumes - that's not what you'd expect; you'd expect conservatively dressed staff, right?
To make it look like a restuarant; it's not though. It's a hostess bar, where men pay up to $50 a drink to talk to women. It's soft prostitution. ;)
Re: Qs about the meaning of some words or sentences~
:lol:
THANK YOU~~
THANK YOU VERY MUCH~~
Lack of the grateful words~
You are such a great teacher~~
I get all of them~ :lol:
THOUSANDS of THANKS~~ :lol:
