# I live south of (city name).



## yuechu

大家好！

I was wondering, how do you say "I live south of (city name)" in Chinese? Would it be 我住在(渥太华)的南边？我住在(渥太华)的以南？(I just used "Ottawa" as an example)
Thanks!


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## SimonTsai

yuechu said:


> How do you say "I live south of (city name)" in Chinese?


我來自英格蘭北部。
我住愛荷華州北區。
我的家鄉在華北。
我來自中國西部。
我家住基隆南部。
我來自南利物浦。


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## Skatinginbc

yuechu said:


> "I live south of (city name)" in Chinese? Would it be 我住在(渥太华)的南边？


我家在渥太華的南邊.

If you live in Richmond, you may say "I live south of Vancouver." (我家在溫哥華的南方).  If you live in 山海關內, you may say "I live south of the Great Wall." (我家在長城的南方).

those who live south of the border 住在邊境以南的人


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## yuechu

Thank you both for your replies! I am still a bit confused though about how to differentiate "I live south of..." (as in, not within, but south of) and "I live in the south of..." (as in, part of the same city and in the south) in Chinese.


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## SimonTsai

yuechu said:


> I am still a bit confused though about how to differentiate "*I live south of...*" (as in, not within, but south of) and "*I live in the south of...*" (as in, part of the same city and in the south) in Chinese.


I beg your pardon!

I sincerely apologise for failing to notice the lack of the definite article '*the*' in your original example sentence and thus providing you with incorrect Mandarin expressions.

Now I just want to make sure whether my understanding is correct:

If you live in Scotland, you *live north of* England.
If you live in Waterford, you *live in the south of* Ireland.
If yes, then the Mandarin expressions would be

我住在英格蘭以北 / 我住在英格蘭北邊。
我住在愛爾蘭南部 / 我住在南愛爾蘭。


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## yuechu

Oh, no need to apologize! Thanks for your reply, SimonTsai!



SimonTsai said:


> Now I just want to make sure whether my understanding is correct:
> 
> If you live in Scotland, you *live north of* England.
> If you live in Waterford, you *live in the south of* Ireland.
> If yes, then the Mandarin expressions would be
> 
> 我住在英格蘭以北 / 我住在英格蘭北邊。
> 我住在愛爾蘭南部 / 我住在南愛爾蘭。


Your understanding is correct! So "我住在英格蘭北邊。" means that the person lives north of England (in Scotland, for example), and not in the north of England, right?
I also just wanted to check: is "我住在英格蘭以北" more formal than "我住在英格蘭北邊。"?

Thanks again!


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## SimonTsai

yuechu said:


> So "我住在英格蘭北邊。" means that the person lives *north of* England (in Scotland, for example), not *in the north of* England, right?


Yes.


yuechu said:


> I also just wanted to check: is "我住在英格蘭以北" more formal than "我住在英格蘭北邊。"?


Yes. But the first is not that formal; both can be used in everyday conversations.


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## yuechu

謝謝！


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## Skatinginbc

我住漢城南 (I live south of Seoul)，君住漢城北 (You live north of Seoul), 日日思君不見君，共飲漢江水 (sharing water from the Han River)。


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## SuperXW

我家在_____的南邊。
I think the sentence is often ambiguous. It could mean either of the two meanings.


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## SimonTsai

SuperXW said:


> 我家在_____的南邊。
> I think the sentence is often ambiguous. It could mean either of the two meanings.


This is possibly true.

(1) 我家在基隆：台北的北邊。
(2) 我家在基隆：在暖暖，基隆的南邊。
(3) 我家在基隆：在暖暖，在基隆的南半邊。

You may hear any of the three from native Taiwanese in casual conversations. But, note that, to me, (2) is somewhat substandard because, as I said in post 6, '住在 (地名) 的北邊' normally means 'live north of (a place)'.

Many would find (2) acceptable because, I guess, they already know where 暖暖 is; it is a district of the city of 基隆. And they omit 半.

See the map below:







(It is agreed that '我住在 (地名) 以南' cannot be ambiguous.)


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## Skatinginbc

城南在城外, 譬如:
(1) 臺北城南: 臺北城以南, 包括南門町、龍口町、佐久間町、兒玉町、千歲町、新榮町、古亭町、川端町、馬場町、水道町、富田町. 不在城內 (Note: 臺北城內包括本町、京町、大和町、榮町、乃木町、書院町、文武町、明石町、表町).
(2) 安徽城南镇 (位於六安市以南的一個镇); 韓國城南市 (位於首都首爾以南的一個新城市); 日本城南區 (位於福岡市舊城以南的新市區).

市南在市外, 譬如:
(1)「這可是劉邦出巡雲夢(湖北省安陸市南)的陰謀」==> 雲夢縣，屬湖北省孝感市, 縣境北接安陸市.
(2) 「河北省定州市南的绳油村发生一起惨绝人寰的事件。」


SimonTsai said:


> 在暖暖，基隆的南邊。


...in Nuan-nuan, south of Downtown Keelung.
暖暖(荷蘭文獻: Perranouan)是「阻隔淡水與基隆之間的障礙」==> 暖暖(Perranouan)不在「基隆」(i.e., Downtown Keelung or 基隆舊城)內, 而在其南邊.  The 邊 here refers to "direction" (方), not "part" (部).


SimonTsai said:


> 暖暖，在基隆的南半邊。


半邊 = 半部 ≠ *半方.  「暖暖，在基隆(City of Keelung)的南半邊。」 半邊的"邊" refers to "part" (部), not "direction" (方).


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## SimonTsai

Skatinginbc said:


> 「暖暖，在基隆(City of Keelung)的南半邊。」 半邊的"邊" refers to "part" (部), not "direction" (方).


Absolutely true.


Skatinginbc said:


> 暖暖(荷蘭文獻: Perranouan)是「阻隔淡水與基隆之間的障礙」
> ==> 暖暖(Perranouan)不在「基隆」(i.e., Downtown Keelung or 基隆舊城)內, 而在其南邊. The 邊 here refers to "direction" (方), not "part" (部).


Actually, I have never heard of 基隆舊城; I live in 基隆, and I do not know that.


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## Skatinginbc

By 基隆舊城, I meant Old Keelung (i.e., 基隆郡, 轄屬範圍包含今基隆市的中山、中正、仁愛、信義、安樂等5個區). 暖暖不在基隆郡內.

暖暖 was south of 基隆(舊城) but is now in the south of 基隆(今城).
城南 was south of 福岡(舊城) but is now in the south of 福岡(今城).
As time goes by, a city expands its boundaries.

城市可視為一個「點」.  斗南位於斗六以南，故稱斗南, 在斗六市這個「地點」的南方(在斗六之外).
省、國、海洋、大陸可視為一個「域」. 「臺南」在臺灣這個「區域」的南部(臺灣之內). 「華南」在大陸南部(之內),「海南」在南海中(之內), 「歐南」在歐洲南部(之內).

我住在中國南方. ==> 住在中國南部. 中國是一個「域」.
我家在漢城南方. ==> 不住在漢城. 漢城是一個「點」.

「線」(e.g., 以江為線) 也是「以南」, 譬如「江南」(長江以南).  我住在長江南方 ==> 不住在江中.


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## retrogradedwithwind

别搞太复杂不利于学习啊。

北京以南，south of Beijing and not in Beijing
北京南部，in the south of Beijing
北京南边/北京南面，both of the above two

南北京，没有这种"南+地名"的说法。只有一个例外，南中国，the south part of China.


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## Skatinginbc

好奇, 住在北京東城區天安門附近的人, 會說自己「住在北京南邊」嗎?  我查地圖，東城區似乎在北京市的南半邊.


retrogradedwithwind said:


> 没有这种"南+地名"的说法


翻譯地名倒是常見:
南韓 (South Korea): 南邊的韓國
北韓 (North Korea): 北邊的韓國
「南中國」(Southern China) 如「南加州」(Southern California).


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## SuperXW

Skatinginbc said:


> 好奇, 住在北京東城區天安門附近的人, 會說自己「住在北京南邊」嗎?  我查地圖，東城區似乎在北京市的南半邊.


什么叫“南半边”？东城区就在旧北京城的东半边，城市中心是天安门广场，又不是以现在行政面积的几何中心来算的……
另外，你之前点啊域啊的，想说明什么？


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## retrogradedwithwind

skating说得还是有道理的……就是有点钻牛角尖，考虑的太仔细了。生活中没有人说得那么严谨啊。

关于北京东边这些说法，约定俗成。就我感觉，人们会把一个城市划分为"东南西北中"几部分。每部分之间有那么一个确定或不确定的界限。但市中心的位置一般是确定的，比如北京就是天安门了。在这个基础上，人们会说我住在北京北边等等。

就是习惯说法，实在严谨不起来……


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## Skatinginbc

SuperXW said:


> 你之前点啊域啊的，想说明什么？


"地名+南" ==> 若把地名看成一個「地點」或「分界線」, 「南」(南邊/南面/南方)是指「以南」. 若把地名看成一個「區域」, 「南」(南邊/南面/南方)是指「南部」.
我家在天壇的南邊 ==> 天壇是一個「地點」, 所以「南邊」是指「以南」. 不在天壇內.


SuperXW said:


> 不是以现在行政面积的几何中心来算的


那正是我想強調的: 這個「點」不是幾何中心, 而是市中心(Downtown).
A: 你住哪兒？
B: 我住在北京南邊. ==> 除非故意含糊, 應是北京附近 (首都經濟圈內, 而不是上海、臺北那樣離北京很遠的地方), 而且是傳統概念中的市區(i.e., 北平 = 西城區、東城區、朝陽區、海淀區、石景山區、豐臺區)之外, 或市中心四環之外.
百度知道: 北京南边有哪几个区？房山区，大兴区. (在四環或傳統市區之外).
我住在北京南邊 I live south of Downtown Beijing.
我住在暖暖，基隆的南邊。I live in Nuan-nuan, south of Downtown Keelung.


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