This is a question for readers with knowledge of Chinese. How do
you say "water chestnuts" in Cantonese and in Mandarin?

More generally, does anybody know of a webpage aimed English speakers
listing the *Chinese characters* (or at least the phonetically
transcribed words) for typical Chinese cooking ingredients such as
fermented black beans and Szechuan peppercorns?

Thanks in advance,

Jill

P.S. I know that there's a book out there on "demystifying the
Asian grocery store", but I think that if I could just find the
Chinese characters for the ingredients, I could get along fine.

In > J Krugman > writes:
>More generally, does anybody know of a webpage aimed English speakers
>listing the *Chinese characters* (or at least the phonetically
>transcribed words) for typical Chinese cooking ingredients such as
>fermented black beans and Szechuan peppercorns?

There used to be a Chinese ingredients glossary somewhere at
www.hellochina.com, but unfortunately that site appears to be dead
now. :/

Irv

"J Krugman" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> This is a question for readers with knowledge of Chinese. How do
> you say "water chestnuts" in Cantonese and in Mandarin?
>
> More generally, does anybody know of a webpage aimed English speakers
> listing the *Chinese characters* (or at least the phonetically
> transcribed words) for typical Chinese cooking ingredients such as
> fermented black beans and Szechuan peppercorns?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Jill
>
> P.S. I know that there's a book out there on "demystifying the
> Asian grocery store", but I think that if I could just find the
> Chinese characters for the ingredients, I could get along fine.
>
Head on over to alt.food.asian and ping Peter Dy. He (amongst others, but
he posts the most regularly) would be able to help you.

Try http://www.asinah.net/chinese.html , a mirror site of
http://www.mandarintools.com/ (which has many useful tools, including a name
finder, but its Chinese-English dictionary is down for a while) for an
on-line dictionary. I think it gives only Mandarin pronunciations, though.

rona

--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***

J Krugman wrote:
>
> This is a question for readers with knowledge of Chinese. How do
> you say "water chestnuts" in Cantonese and in Mandarin?
>
> More generally, does anybody know of a webpage aimed English speakers
> listing the *Chinese characters* (or at least the phonetically
> transcribed words) for typical Chinese cooking ingredients such as
> fermented black beans and Szechuan peppercorns?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Jill

Try this site and see if that helps: http://www.mandarintools.com/

Use the dictionary function and search by English.

>
> P.S. I know that there's a book out there on "demystifying the
> Asian grocery store", but I think that if I could just find the
> Chinese characters for the ingredients, I could get along fine.

Sob... I lost that book when I moved! It is very useful.. the Eater's
Guide to Chinese Characters by James McCawley.
Wish it would get reprinted; the used copies available are vastly
overpriced.

"Arri London" > wrote in message
...
>
> Sob... I lost that book when I moved! It is very useful.. the Eater's
> Guide to Chinese Characters by James McCawley.
> Wish it would get reprinted; the used copies available are vastly
> overpriced.

Hey! I just (a couple of hours ago) posted on alt.food.asian about this
very book. I've also been looking for a cheap (much less than $69) copy of
the book and found that it's being reprinted! I don't know if it's just a
second printing, or if it is a new edition, but it's only $16.78 Canadian!
Due out May 2004. It's not on amazon.com's site, only on amazon.ca but I
assume since it's being published by University of Chicago Press, it will be
on amazon.com eventually.

rona

--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***

In > Arri London > writes:

>Try this site and see if that helps: http://www.mandarintools.com/

Wow, this is great. There I found this absolutely superb mirror
to the mandarintools dictionary:

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

Top-notch stuff! One can get large enough pictures of the characters
for the uninitiated to copy down.

Also, my local library happens to have "The Eater's Guide...";
thanks for the tip. I think I'll photocopy "the naughty
parts". I think I'm in business.

Thanks! (and to Rona too!)

Jill

Rona Yuthasastrakosol wrote:
>
> "Arri London" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Sob... I lost that book when I moved! It is very useful.. the Eater's
> > Guide to Chinese Characters by James McCawley.
> > Wish it would get reprinted; the used copies available are vastly
> > overpriced.
>
> Hey! I just (a couple of hours ago) posted on alt.food.asian about this
> very book. I've also been looking for a cheap (much less than $69) copy of
> the book and found that it's being reprinted! I don't know if it's just a
> second printing, or if it is a new edition, but it's only $16.78 Canadian!
> Due out May 2004. It's not on amazon.com's site, only on amazon.ca but I
> assume since it's being published by University of Chicago Press, it will be
> on amazon.com eventually.
>
> rona
>
> --
>

You are a marvel and a half! Thanks so much that just cheered me right
up.
When I realised the book was in the box that disappeared somewhere in or
over the Atlantic, it was devastating. Especially when I saw how much it
was selling for...it was bought for me by a friend in an Oxfam shop for
pennies. I felt bad that the gift was lost as well as the fact I
couldn't afford to replace it!

J Krugman wrote:
>
> In > Arri London > writes:
>
> >Try this site and see if that helps: http://www.mandarintools.com/
>
> Wow, this is great. There I found this absolutely superb mirror
> to the mandarintools dictionary:
>
> http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php
>
> Top-notch stuff! One can get large enough pictures of the characters
> for the uninitiated to copy down.

That is good too! My friends in China keep writing poetry to me. At
least I can start to get some sense of it.

>
> Also, my local library happens to have "The Eater's Guide...";
> thanks for the tip. I think I'll photocopy "the naughty
> parts". I think I'm in business.
>
> Thanks! (and to Rona too!)
>
> Jill

LOL! Naughty naughty.
My library system doesn't even have the book

"Arri London" > wrote in message
...
>
> You are a marvel and a half! Thanks so much that just cheered me right
> up.
> When I realised the book was in the box that disappeared somewhere in or
> over the Atlantic, it was devastating. Especially when I saw how much it
> was selling for...it was bought for me by a friend in an Oxfam shop for
> pennies. I felt bad that the gift was lost as well as the fact I
> couldn't afford to replace it!

Believe you me, I was tickled pink when I saw that it was coming out again!
Of course, I then wrote to the publishers to verify. I'm going to be very
upset if they write back saying it's not true!

rona

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