<p><strong>按</strong> (<em>verb</em>: press) <strong>年份</strong> (<em>noun</em>: year) <strong>後</strong> (after)</p>

<p><strong>當年</strong> (<em>noun</em>: that year) <strong>的</strong> (<em>possessive particle</em>) <strong>流行</strong> (<em>adjective</em>: popular) <strong>曲</strong> (<em>noun</em>: song)<sup>*</sup> <strong>就</strong> (will) <strong>出來</strong> (<em>verb</em>: appear) <strong>了</strong> (<em>end of action particle</em>) </p>

<p><strong>一</strong> (<em>adverb:</em> upon) <strong>按</strong> (<em>verb</em>: press) <strong>即</strong> (<em>adverb:</em> immediately) <strong>點</strong> (<em>verb:</em> select)</p>

<p><sup>* note: 流行曲 (流行歌曲) means "pop songs".</sup></p>

<hr>

<p>Regarding <code>點唱機</code>, when you break it down the phrase becomes <strong>點</strong> (<em>verb:</em> order [as in ordering a drink at a bar]) <strong>唱</strong> (<em>noun:</em> music, song) <strong>機</strong> (<em>noun:</em> machine, device). From that, we can deduce it is a jukebox, since you normally can't <em>order</em> music on a radio or musicbox. It helps to know that radio is <code>收音機</code> and musicbox is <code>音樂盒</code>, but unfortunately there's no shortcuts around that.</p>

<p>Note that <code>唱</code> is far more commonly a verb.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-09T16:56:40.017Z
出來 implies the song playing, it's hiding the character in "(唱)出來" with "了". Nice deduction by the way!
Unihedron
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-09T14:13:02.793Z
2014-08-09T14:39:58.313Z
2014-08-09T14:39:58.313Z
Semaphore
<p>A Chinese family relative sent me this message (I am not Asian). I need some help deconstructing the message because at times the word sequence or implied idea is lost on me (even when I know most of the grammar rules). So, I have a series of related questions in this post that I hope will help me become a better student of Chinese language. Your patience is appreciated.</p>

<p><strong>The original message</strong></p>

<p> 點唱機 (Diǎn chàngjī) </p>

<p>按年份後，當年的流行曲就出來了，一按即點</p>

<p>àn niánfèn hòu, dāngnián de liúxíng qǔ jiù chūláile, yī àn jí diǎn </p>

<p><a href="http://thenostalgiamachine.com/index.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://thenostalgiamachine.com/index.html</a></p>

<p>Google Translate is not that good but delivers the following:</p>

<p> jukebox </p>

<p>By year after year of pop songs came out, a press that point  </p>

<p><strong>My attempt at deconstructing the message with questions (in yellow)</strong> </p>

<p> 點唱機 (Diǎn chàngjī) - </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Ok, I get this idea as an electric singing machine but what happens when an idea (like this one - 點唱機) can belong to more than one thing? At least to one who has not heard this word before, could there be other interpretations? When I look at the words I thought of radio (not quite right, has news and talk), music-box (not quite, doesn't sing), etc. Jukebox was at the far-end of my list.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>按年份後，當年的流行曲就出來了，一按即點</strong></p>

<p>àn niánfèn hòu, dāngnián de liúxíng qǔ jiù chūláile, yī àn jí diǎn </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>àn niánfèn hòu, dāngnián  - not sure how this one means "By year after year", I see fèn hòu but I don't follow the thread completely. I read àn nián 按年 as something to be contrasted with dāngnián 當年. Although again with (按年), I'm a bit lost on the implicit meaning. What comes to my mind is two ideas of "pushing down + year." In this case, I'd appreciate some help on this meaning? </p>
</blockquote>

<p>Finally, although I can see that 的流行曲就出來了 refers to something popular (流行) came out (出來了), </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>But I don't quite understand the notion of songs here. Could someone identify what I may be missing?</p>
</blockquote>

<p><strong>EDIT:</strong></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>I can see that my problems center around my not understanding some of the words such as  <strong>點</strong>, with a context of to order or request... I still can't find the proper meaning in a dictionary or translation program. Just wondering if the meaning is related to another word that changes it's default meaning?</p>
</blockquote>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/ak2Gd.png" alt="點"></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-09T16:28:16.513Z
Regarding the edit, like other characters, you'd have to infer `點`'s meaning from its context. It's not a matter of "default" meanings changing. It's simply that none of the other meanings apply to "song/music (唱)" here.
Semaphore
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-08-09T16:52:13.097Z
A jukebox that lets one select a year; Once you request one, it plays the pop songs of the year. (simply) Click to select!
Unihedron
<translation>
Help deconstructing parts of 點唱機 - 按年份後，當年的流行曲就出來了，一按即點
# Help deconstructing parts of 點唱機 - 按年份後，當年的流行曲就出來了，一按即點

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-08-09)

A Chinese family relative sent me this message (I am not Asian). I need some help deconstructing the message because at times the word sequence or implied idea is lost on me (even when I know most of the grammar rules). So, I have a series of related questions in this post that I hope will help me become a better student of Chinese language. Your patience is appreciated.

**The original message**

點唱機 (Diǎn chàngjī)

按年份後，當年的流行曲就出來了，一按即點

àn niánfèn hòu, dāngnián de liúxíng qǔ jiù chūláile, yī àn jí diǎn

<http://thenostalgiamachine.com/index.html>

Google Translate is not that good but delivers the following:

jukebox

By year after year of pop songs came out, a press that point

**My attempt at deconstructing the message with questions (in yellow)**

點唱機 (Diǎn chàngjī) -

> Ok, I get this idea as an electric singing machine but what happens when an idea (like this one - 點唱機) can belong to more than one thing? At least to one who has not heard this word before, could there be other interpretations? When I look at the words I thought of radio (not quite right, has news and talk), music-box (not quite, doesn't sing), etc. Jukebox was at the far-end of my list.

**按年份後，當年的流行曲就出來了，一按即點**

àn niánfèn hòu, dāngnián de liúxíng qǔ jiù chūláile, yī àn jí diǎn

> àn niánfèn hòu, dāngnián - not sure how this one means "By year after year", I see fèn hòu but I don't follow the thread completely. I read àn nián 按年 as something to be contrasted with dāngnián 當年. Although again with (按年), I'm a bit lost on the implicit meaning. What comes to my mind is two ideas of "pushing down + year." In this case, I'd appreciate some help on this meaning?

Finally, although I can see that 的流行曲就出來了 refers to something popular (流行) came out (出來了),

> But I don't quite understand the notion of songs here. Could someone identify what I may be missing?

**EDIT:**

> I can see that my problems center around my not understanding some of the words such as **點**, with a context of to order or request... I still can't find the proper meaning in a dictionary or translation program. Just wondering if the meaning is related to another word that changes it's default meaning?

![點](https://i.sstatic.net/ak2Gd.png)

**Tags:** translation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Regarding the edit, like other characters, you'd have to infer `點`'s meaning from its context. It's not a matter of "default" meanings changing. It's simply that none of the other meanings apply to "song/music (唱)" here.  
> **username_2**: A jukebox that lets one select a year; Once you request one, it plays the pop songs of the year. (simply) Click to select!  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2014-08-09. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

**按** (*verb*: press) **年份** (*noun*: year) **後** (after)

**當年** (*noun*: that year) **的** (*possessive particle*) **流行** (*adjective*: popular) **曲** (*noun*: song)\* **就** (will) **出來** (*verb*: appear) **了** (*end of action particle*)

**一** (*adverb:* upon) **按** (*verb*: press) **即** (*adverb:* immediately) **點** (*verb:* select)

\* note: 流行曲 (流行歌曲) means "pop songs".

---

Regarding `點唱機`, when you break it down the phrase becomes **點** (*verb:* order [as in ordering a drink at a bar]) **唱** (*noun:* music, song) **機** (*noun:* machine, device). From that, we can deduce it is a jukebox, since you normally can't *order* music on a radio or musicbox. It helps to know that radio is `收音機` and musicbox is `音樂盒`, but unfortunately there's no shortcuts around that.

Note that `唱` is far more commonly a verb.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: 出來 implies the song playing, it's hiding the character in "(唱)出來" with "了". Nice deduction by the way!  

---

