Would you help me with a sentence

Following is an excerpt of a news report titled 'Snow pressed China to float yuan':

"We are stepping up our diplomatic efforts as well. Soon I expect to announce the appointment of a high-level emissary in Beijing who can start work in early spring," Snow told the House Financial Services Committee.

A full-scale diplomatic approach was the best path, he said. "It can also help address exchange-rate inflexibilities throughout the Asian region."

I don't understand the sentence in blue, especially the meaning
of 'address' here. I can only see in a dictionary that 'if you address a problem, you start trying to solve it', which seems not fit into the sentence in blue. Could you please explain the sentence or the meaning of 'address' here? Thanks very much.

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It can also help address exchange-rate inflexibilities throughout the Asian region.

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address (v.) - to direct attention to an issue so as to talk about it e.g. "Let's address the issue" means, Let's talk about the issue.

:)

It's not exactly of non-native speaker friendly phrase, is it?

Thanks, Teachers. And tdol, what do you mean by that? Do you mean that 'address' is not a friendly word there?

The meaning is obvious to native speakers, but because most non-native speakers would be far more likely to know the postal address meaning, they might well be confused as to what it meant. ;-)

It can also help address exchange-rate inflexibilities throughout the Asian region.

'if you address a problem, you start trying to solve it',


I think the word "address" in this two sentence is the same meaning!

If you translate this two sentences into Chinese, you will find it's the same !

If you have any other comment, please let me know!

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by tigerszheng

It can also help address exchange-rate inflexibilities throughout the Asian region.

'if you address a problem, you start trying to solve it',


I think the word "address" in this two sentence is the same meaning!

If you translate this two sentences into Chinese, you will find it's the same !

If you have any other comment, please let me know!

Thanks!

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I think you are right. :D

I'm glad nobody has asked about exchange rate inflexibilities. :wink:

(Say: those two sentences)

:)

[Edited to correct a misspelling.]

Indeed, tdol, this kind of 'unfriendly phrases' are big barriers for our ESL learners. But sometimes, we may encounter 'friendly phrases' that seem so similar in both English and Chinese that we may doubt that if they are 'Chinglish', though maybe in fact they aren't. Beside that we share some common things in our way of thinking, I think maybe that is because a lot of modern Chinese words were directly brought from other languages like English in the New Culture Movement happened in 1910s. Oh, maybe some other Chinese don't agree with me on this.

And, tigerszheng, nice to meet you here. I wonder if you put those two sentences into our mother language, what word would you use to 'replace' the word 'address'(you may type it in PinYin).

I believe that 'long timeno see' and 'no can do'are the most common Chinglish expressions. There are also words we have borrowed from Chinese. As society becomes more international, this language exchange will grow enormously. ;-)

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It's not exactly of non-native speaker friendly phrase, is it?

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tdol, I'd like to ask some more questions. I'd never seen the sentence pattern like 'it is of +noun+adjective+noun', which is an 'unfriendly pattern' for Chinese ESL learners. Could you give me another example of this sentence pattern?

Can most native speakers accept expressions like 'long time no see' or 'no can do'? If they can, can we say that they have become 'idiomatic English'?