# I am Jewish, and I keep the Sabbath.



## iyavor

Hello everone..

Again I need help in explaining something relatively obscure to the Chinese people I meet. Here it is:

I am Jewish, and I keep the Sabbath. Therefore, on the Sabbath, I can not carry outside (of buildings), I do not use electricity, I can not cook or write, and I do not use money. 

Thanks! Plz in traditional/simple hanzi.

Ilan


----------



## On Retrouve a Paris

我可能会这么说:
我是犹太人,我们有安息日(这个节日)，在安息日,我们不能外出,不能用电,不能做饭或写字,也不能花钱...


----------



## Martindehk

On Retrouve a Paris said:


> 我可能会这么说:
> 我是犹太人,我们有安息日(这个节日)，在安息日,我们不能外出,不能用电,不能做饭或写字,也不能花钱...



这样会不会简单一点?

我是犹太人,要守安息日.那天,我们不能外出,用电,做饭,写字或花钱...


----------



## Yvoone

我是个犹太人,我严守安息日.因此,在那天,我不能出去,不用能电器,不能做饭或写东西,当然也不能用钱


----------



## DavidCornell

不能说“我是个犹太人”，应该说“我是犹太人”，有没有“个”差别非常大。没有“个”是一个中性句子，加了“个”就略有贬义。


----------



## Yvoone

啊?!~~~~有这种差别么
那好吧...


----------



## samanthalee

DavidCornell said:


> 不能说“我是个犹太人”，应该说“我是犹太人”，有没有“个”差别非常大。没有“个”是一个中性句子，加了“个”就略有贬义。



Really?! I've never heard of this before. It could be a regional usage issue. 是有地域性的吧？DavidCornell，你是哪里人呀？


----------



## DavidCornell

I might be too sensitive. LOL. But indeed, in this case, if you add 个 it sounds quite different. I don't know why. 



samanthalee said:


> Really?! I've never heard of this before. It could be a regional usage issue. 是有地域性的吧？DavidCornell，你是哪里人呀？


----------



## On Retrouve a Paris

可能有"个"较口语化,没"个"更正式吧


----------



## viqkhn

犹太人要守安息日，安息日不能劳作，当然不能花钱。但我奇怪的是，为啥不能用电？


----------



## kareno999

samanthalee said:


> Really?! I've never heard of this before. It could be a regional usage issue. 是有地域性的吧？DavidCornell，你是哪里人呀？


No, I don't think it has anything to do with region.
Actually, I think you can sense the same difference between the English sentences "He is Chinese" and "He is a Chinese" if you want to.
Maybe pragmatics can tell us why.


----------



## DavidCornell

你说得很对。有一次我听到一个中国女生问一个美国男生 are you a Jew? 我觉得有点奇怪，因为这句话听起来似乎不是很友好，至少如果是我，我会问 are you Jewish？我觉得这个和中文里面的大概不是一回事，但是至少可以说明一个小小的词就可能有很大的影响。在中文里如果让我问，我只会说"你是犹太人吗"，而不会说“你是个犹太人吗”，不过我觉得这些区别的确非常细致但是也非常重要，非母语的人大概很难体会和理解得到。



kareno999 said:


> No, I don't think it has anything to do with region.
> Actually, I think you can sense the same difference between the English sentences "He is Chinese" and "He is a Chinese" if you want to.
> Maybe pragmatics can tell us why.


----------



## kenny4528

samanthalee said:


> Really?! I've never heard of this before. It could be a regional usage issue. 是有地域性的吧？DavidCornell，你是哪里人呀？


 
我也沒聽過。我讀這句子好幾遍，實在分辨不出有沒有 ''個'' 差在哪裡。


----------



## kenny4528

> 你是虔誠的基督徒嗎?---
> 
> 是的，我是虔誠的基督徒。
> 是的，我是個虔誠的基督徒。
> 
> 你是個虔誠的基督徒嗎?---
> 
> 是的，我是虔誠的基督徒。
> 是的，我是個虔誠的基督徒。


 
加 ''個''聽起來有點加重語氣而已。


----------



## kareno999

DavidCornell said:


> 你说得很对。有一次我听到一个中国女生问一个美国男生 are you a Jew? 我觉得有点奇怪，因为这句话听起来似乎不是很友好，至少如果是我，我会问 are you Jewish？我觉得这个和中文里面的大概不是一回事，但是至少可以说明一个小小的词就可能有很大的影响。在中文里如果让我问，我只会说"你是犹太人吗"，而不会说“你是个犹太人吗”，不过我觉得这些区别的确非常细致但是也非常重要，非母语的人大概很难体会和理解得到。


I didn't say that I agree with your generalization here.
你是个犹太人吗 sounds OK to me. It may be perceived differently in different contexts or by different persons. This doesn't mean that this sentence conveys racism in absolute terms.


----------



## viqkhn

kenny4528 said:


> 加 ''個''聽起來有點加重語氣而已。


 
我认为描述自己的时候都差不多，但描述他人的时候就有区别了。加"个"确实有轻微的鄙视的意思。


----------



## kenny4528

viqkhn said:


> 我认为描述自己的时候都差不多，但描述他人的时候就有区别了。加"个"确实有轻微的鄙视的意思。


嗯...我還是覺得跟個人觀感有關吧



> 那個人是壞人嗎?
> 
> 對啊，他是壞人
> 對啊，他是個壞人


對我來說差異是微乎其微


----------



## viqkhn

kenny4528 said:


> 嗯...我還是覺得跟個人觀感有關吧
> 
> 
> 對我來說差異是微乎其微


 
是啊。这个只有当事人的感觉最准确。旁观者不一定能准确分辨出来。 不过貌似英文里加不加 a 却是语言规范与否的差别，倒没什么鄙视不鄙视之说吧？


----------



## coconutpalm

This 个 doesn't sound right in my ears. 
Actually, I would expect a 吧 instead of a 吗 with this "个"?
你是个犹太人吧？, and this, either, doesn't sound friendly in my ears. Perhaps it is asked out of mere curiosity, but it's the kind of curiosity directed for some alien, strange things.
On the other hand, without 个, both 你是犹太人吧　or　你是犹太人吗？ can sound friendly. Of course, if you want to be unfriendly, both can be said unfriendly as well. However, adding 个 certainly sounds not so "welcoming" in my ears.


----------



## kenny4528

coconutpalm said:


> This 个 doesn't sound right in my ears.
> Actually, I would expect a 吧 instead of a 吗 with this "个"?
> 你是个犹太人吧？, and this, either, doesn't sound friendly in my ears. Perhaps it is asked out of mere curiosity, but it's the kind of curiosity directed for some alien, strange things.
> On the other hand, without 个, both 你是犹太人吧　or　你是犹太人吗？ can sound friendly. Of course, if you want to be unfriendly, both can be said unfriendly as well. However, adding 个 certainly sounds not so "welcoming" in my ears.


Hi, coco. ''你是犹太人吧''這句對我來說就不像是個''問句了''，比較像是說者心裡已經對其對話者有一定程度上的認知，比如你聽到一個人說著你知道的方言，你可能會說:



> A: 你是揚州人吧?
> B: 你怎麼知道?
> A: 聽你的口音啊。


 
聽起來很平常，不會奇怪。(這個有''吧''的例子跟前幾個不一樣，所以我同意你的看法，加''個''很怪)


----------



## kenny4528

話題好像從之前的直述句(我是/個/xx人) 轉變到問句了(你是個xx人嗎/吧)


----------



## coconutpalm

If I say 我是个犹太人, I'd add something after this, like我是个犹太人，我不能……. Here, it's equal with 我是犹太人, without any pejorative connotation, because 个 works to emphasize "my" identity, as in a question sentence, where, however, it has quite a different effect.


----------



## Mediteranean

我个人认为作为自我介绍，有没有“ 个 ”没有太大问题。
加上“个”以后，最主要的区别就是把所指的族群，种族或民族抽象化了，而在特定的地区和特定的历史环境下，这种抽象化会联系到某些种族意识，比如racism。在中国，Jews是很中性甚至还有点褒义的词，但是到有antisemitism的地方这种用法就要小心。同样，在中国，有些族群也最好不要用个，比如我们提及少数民族就会避免这么讲。 



kareno999 said:


> I didn't say that I agree with your generalization here.
> 你是个犹太人吗 sounds OK to me. It may be perceived differently in different contexts or by different persons. This doesn't mean that this sentence conveys racism in absolute terms.


----------



## DavidCornell

这都哪儿跟哪儿啊？who says it has anything to do with racism, let alone "racism in absolute terms"? that's just such a gross exaggeration. what I said is only that the sentence with 个 is slightly pejorative, or unpolite.



kareno999 said:


> This doesn't mean that this sentence conveys racism in absolute terms.


----------

