User Comments - danmacleod
danmacleod
Posted on: The Neutral Tone
February 11, 2008 at 3:22 AMI notice that "xihuan" in the pdf file for the lesson on Likes and Dislikes does not have any tone marker for "huan." Does that mean it's neutral?
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
February 21, 2008 at 1:03 AMGreat topic and posts. Thanks Amber and all for providing help. I've been trying to find a Chinese name for some time. 丹 seems like a good start since it's exactly my first name Dan. I sometimes call myself 老丹 because I'm usually so much older than everyone I work with in China. But people often giggle when I say it, and maybe it's not a real name, so I don't know. . . My first Chinese teacher 40 years ago called me Mr. Ma 马, since that was the start of my surname and so common in China. When combined with 老丹, it ends up being a rough transliteration of my name 马老丹. One of my clients once suggested 老子聃, but I don't know if that is presumptuous (although I AM an old master, with my own 道). Actually, maybe there's a good name in my 道. I'm a founder of the field of workplace ergonomics and have been visiting China to teach and consult (I'm doing a half-day class on office ergonomics and three-day class on industrial ergonomics in Shanghai late March if anyone is interested). In North America, I often get called ErgoDan, so maybe there's something there to play on here. We're translating ergonomics as 人机工效学, so the equivalent would be 工效丹, but I have no clue if that works as a name. What do you think? I would appreciate any thoughts. Dan