Elementary - Instant Noodles

他们说的很快！

They speak very quickly!

Some very handy vocab though.   (How could I say that in Mandarin?  Could I use 方便词汇 -fang1bian ci2hui4 ?

Besides "spicy", what other flavours of 方便面 are common in China?

chiongzibide,

Agree the dialogue is a little fast, but this is conversation speed in China. 

Some of the teaching tools I've used in the past babied me.  There is no babying on this lesson. 

I'm coming to realize that listening ability is probably the most important ability. 

Sorry I don't have an answer for your question.

regards, Bill M.

Hi. 方便面 (fang1bian4 mian4) is quite a mouthful to say. Here in Singapore, instant noodles are marketed by the noodle companies as "快熟面" (kuai4shu2 mian4). Literally, "quick-cook noodles". Writing the characters is a pain -- that 熟 ! --, but I think it's easier to say!

方便碗面 (fang1 bian4 wan3 mian4)... cup noodles
Just saying 碗面 would also be OK.

I think that the most popular flavour of instant noodles in China may be 红烧牛肉 (hong2 shao1 niu2 rou4), or stewed beef with brown sauce, though I don't like it very much.

The price range (bag) here in China is 1 ～ 4 yuan (say 0.15 ～ 0.6 USD), and I usually buy 2 - yuan instant noodles made by 康师傅 (kang1 shi1 fu), a famous Taiwan manufacturer.

碗面 is of course more expensive, but it is a very important meal when you travel on a train. And if you wish, 狗肉(gou3 rou4)方便面, dog meat instant noodles, is also available here.

狗肉方便面 must be a winter favorite.  I have a long but funny story about gou3rou4 that I'll save for later.

No, don't save it! Spend it now, so we can share it!

Auntie,

Help me with my "heaty" question on an earlier post and I'll do the story justice when I wake up in 6 or 7 hours.  Regards, Bill M.

Yeah, "heaty" is impeccable Singlish. Now go catch your beauty-sleep, and I'll be expecting the dog meat story in about 7 or 8 hours... Thanks! 

Any major differences between 无所谓 and 方便你? Never really heard the former before.

Also, would this make sense - 我喜欢穿这个牌子的衣服

@evasiege: My little dictionary gives two definitions for无所谓. They're in Chinese only, so here is my own translation:

One is essentially the same as 方便你 ie. "whatever you wish". The other meaning of 无所谓 means something like "regardless" or "having no relevance to". I think it's best if I just give you the examples for this other meaning, with my own rough translations; I apologize for not pinyin-izing it:

这只是个人爱好，无所谓对不对。

＝This is simply a matter of personal preference, nothing to do with being right or wrong.

我只是认识他，无所谓朋友不朋友。

＝ I just know who he is, it's not a question of being friends with him.

我不过是比较熟练，无所谓精通。

＝ I've simply had more practice; it's not like I'm so good at it.

我吃饭只要能吃饱就行，无所谓爱吃不爱吃。

= I just eat to fill my stomach, whether I like the food doesn't enter the picture.

HTH, evasiege!

This stuff is always in the hotel rooms. I will have it if I don't want to go out...not so bad and better than candy or chips. Useful lesson as usual. I liked the speed in which they talked. The guy ordering the noodles sounds just like my friend in Wuhan.

Ok thanks.

i'm hearing the chipmunks on the radio quality mp3

The world’s first commercial product of instant noodle, チキンラーメン(Chicken Ramen), was invented by the Japanese company 日清食品 (Nissin Foods) in 1958, and its founder is a Taiwanese-Japanese, 安藤百福（Ando Momofuku, 呉百福）、who passed away last year.

Nissin Foods, the biggest instant noodle manufacturer in Japan, also invented the Cup Noodle in 1971. The world’s largest instant noodle company today is 康师傅 (kang1 shi1 fu) in Taiwan, which is fairly understandable considering the history of instant noodle.

Chicken Ramen
http://www.nissinfoods.co.jp/product/lineup/brand_1.html

Cup Noodle
http://www.nissinfoods.co.jp/product/lineup/brand_2.html

Hi auntie68,

＞　方便你 ie. "whatever you wish"

Let me butt in. I think it is 随便你 (sui2 bian4 ni3), or 随你的便, but not 方便你 (fang1 bian4 ni3). The phrase 方便你 means "accomodate you" or something like that, though I myself have never used the expression before. Your explanations on 无所谓 is very helpful, thank you!

Oops. You're right. I think 方便你 is better translated as, "Whatever is more convenient for you". And like you, I've only used 随便你 or 随你的便 before. Thanks, changye. Hope evasiege got that... 

P/s: I don't know if my guess is correct, but 方便你 seems to be perfect for a situation where you totally leave the choice up to the other person, because you don't want to put them out. Whereas 随你的便 / 随便你 is often used in the sense of willingly conceding to a suggestion or wish already made by that person (Eg. sort of, "if that's the way you want to go, then sure"). ?

Ando Momofuku believed that the world would have peace if everyone had enough to eat.  He claimed this is why he dedicated his life to the instant noodle.

Of course, his family owned a salt factory : )

Hi a1pi2,

You are right. And they say that Ando Momofuku didn't get a process patent for his invention because of the belief. Just a great guy.

方便面 is really a godsend for us in the UK as we can't get quick good soupy noodles cheaply and quickly. Just make sure you don't go for the 本地牌子！ The 口味 is awful!

How do you say comfort food in Chinese? 方便面 is definitely my comfort food after a trip.

Oh, I hasten to add, my favourite are the Korean ones, especially the 辣口味，Kimchi flavoured ones.

ha, auntie68 and changye, you two are very helpful user here on cpod.^_^

About“方便你”， yes it means "accomodate you" or "make you feel convenient".

统一100% ，康师傅，面霸are my favorite brands of instant noodles.  And my favorite flavour is海鲜味sea food flavour.^_^

auntie68,

there are three ways to call instant noodles, 方便面，快熟面and泡面。 I always use the third one, it it more colloquial.

I think that “随便你” and “随你的便” almost equal to “suit yourself, so be it” in English, and it is probably not necessarily (and always) a friendly way of suggesting, so it might be more appropriate to say 你决定吧 or 你自己决定吧 when you would like to mean “It’s up to you”. You can say “全靠你了” to mean “It all depends on you.”

自己决定 zi4 ji3 jue2 ding4
全靠你了 quan2 kao4 ni3 le

 Here’s the dog meat story. Changye, of all people ， brought up the subject of 狗肉方便面， which reminded me of a situation we had in Xi’an. Auntie asked for it, so here goes.  (sorry about the fonts..can't seem to fix it)

We had a business meeting with our Manager Qin, two tax consultants in from Shanghai (Chinese born, US educated, fluent in Mandarin and English), Chip our corporate vp of tax (laowai, lawyer, cpa), and I. The previous week the purchasing manager, Dave asked for dog (he‘s one of these salty old seaman dudes that wants to try everything). They said sorry, no dog this week, but when we get one we’ll call you.

The next week, it turns November in Xi’an and dog is on the menu. Dave is no where to be found, off to somewhere else on his SARs world tour. The restaurant calls up Qin and says we have your dog, come on over. So Qin asks us, do you guys want to try dog meat? Chip and I looked at each other shrugged and said, I guess we gotta try it. We assumed the guys from Shanghai would be ok with it.

We get to the restaurant and continue our meeting. The first dish comes out, it’s slivers of dark meat, served with

red chili sauce on the side. I asked Qin if that was the dog meat, he said yes. I said to myself, fantastic, I can eat anything with 辣椒酱 on it. So we ate the dog meat with chili sauce, and I thought, well that’s out of the way, we’ll get on to some of the standard dishes.

The next dish comes out, flat small squares of some meaty substance in a brown sauce with veggies. I asked Qin, what’s that? He replied, oh that’s dog skin. OK, I guess we’ve got to try dog skin. The next dish comes out, it is a stew pot with chunks of meat. I said Qin, what’s that, oh that’s dog meat also. I looked over at the guys from Shanghai. One of them was not eating any of it. The lead guy was born in Guangdong and was ok with it.

The soup comes out and I asked Qin, what’s the meat in the soup. He replied, oh that’s dog meat. The guys from Shanghai were horrified. The lead guy said, hey why is every dish dog? Where’s the Sweet and Sour Pork? Qin replied, the chef thought that since we had requested dog meat the week before, we were dog meat oficionados and wanted dog meat prepared in all it‘s various forms.

So, yes, I do believe dog can be prepared in many ways and 狗肉方便面 may even be a popular flavor. 

Hi billm,

I hope you enjoyed having a full course dog dinner. Did you have dog meat 饺子 (jiao3 zi) then? It is not so bad. I know that dog eating is a somewhat controversial issue in Western society, but at least I think that man-eat-dog should be more civilized than “dog-eat-dog”. And in that sense, dogs might be much more civilized than human beings, because in reality dog generally does NOT eat dog!

Hi changye,

I found some of the dishes to be very good.  In fact, the following winter I had dog stew a couple of times when I was feeling run down.  I found it to be a very hearty food.

It's not clear that eating dog is wide spread in China.  The guys from Shanghai were not happy about it.

My wife, from the Philippines, was upset when I told her I ate dog meat.  Seems they had to sell a family pet to the lasenggo (drunken people) when they were short of money.  I guess dog meat is popular with the bug drinkers.

My wife also believes other dogs know when you've been eating dog meat.  It's plausible give their keen sense of smell.

@cassie: Thanks for the explanation! We really miss you here on CPOD, now that you don't have time to post so much! Take care...

@billm: That "dog meat" story was certainly worth waiting for. Thank you very much. Imagine that... you ate your way through a full dog meat "dégustation" menu. At the risk of upsetting our friend changye, the "profile" of dog meat as described by you sounds like: Tender and very flavourful red meat. Not too gamey. Not sure if I could do it, although it does sound good. Again, thanks! 

I'm thankfully  getting over my initial frustration at hearing the lesson's actors speaking so fast, (I now think its going to help me when I move from the states to Chengdu in September), and like billm, I'm glad I'm getting pushed.  

   But my new frustration as a newbie/ elementary is my dismay whenever I look up a new character and see that there are  often something like  2 -7 different meanings for the same "word" (i.e. same sound, same tone).  Case in point - wei4 - when I look it up in Wenlin, I see, count 'em, 為, 位, 未 , 衛 , 味 , 謂 , 遺 , 慰 , 喂 , 胃  10! different common meanings for the sound "wei4".  Someone more advanced please give me hope that I'm going to be able to sort this out conversationally in my already addled 40-something brain ! 

   Ai ya ! 

Hi sideshowbob,

Please look up "ji", "qi", and "xi" in your dictionary. I guarantee that you will feel VERY happy about learning Chinese!

So what breed of dog is generally eaten? I have to bring some of those dog noodles home. I can think of many uses for those. :-) 

Changye,

Yea I meant to ask the difference between 无所谓 and 随便你 not 方便你

SideshowBob, take heart! While it's true, there are many synonyms in Chinese (words that sound the same but have different meanings), the huge advantage of learning the language via ChinesePod is that you will learn the words in nice manageable lessons, in the context of their common usage, as whole phrases, rather than just learning the words and trying to figure out which one goes where.

And since you said "sort it out conversationally," I'll point out that when you say "ta1" no one will ever know if you were thinking "他"  "她" or "它"

  ;-D 

rjberki,

The dogs are farm raised.  The ones I saw at the markets were small to medium size.  My understanding is they are under 1 year.  The breed look like mutts to me may be part Chow Chow (might explain the name).

Hello! good lesson!

How do you say "thank you for giving us this good lesson"?

谢谢你们 "for" 给我们这个很好的课 ??? or should it be said in a completely different way?

thanks!

Dag

billm,

thanks. One of my friends in SH is from up north and they eat dog. I had agreed to try it once but that has never happened yet. So what does this dog taste like? Similar to beef? I understand donkey is supposed to be good also. Have you ever eaten donkey?

Sideshow bob>

You can also have a look at this classic example. It might not be so helpful for understanding, but there is a link to a reading, so that you can listen to  the text.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-Eating_Poet_in_the_Stone_Den

rjberki,

The closest thing I've had to dog is deer meat. It has a stronger flavor than beef.  A little gamey.  I've tended to have it in relatively heavily spiced stews where it was probably slowly cooked to soft tenderness.

hey sideshowbob, chinese is all about context (IMO)

Sideshow Bob.  I have to warn you, Chengdu hua (or is it Si Chuan Hua?) is going to be quite different from the pu tong hua you learn here.  I studied mandarian for over 2 years and when I went to Chengdu last month I was at a loss listening to almost everyone.  They'll understand you, but unless they modify their everyday speak to putonghua you'll be in for a bit of a learning curve.

Great lesson with 辣的方便面

chiongzibide how did you write 方便词汇 -fang1bian ci2hui4 with MouseEvent on it. When you pass the mouse on the characters, a window appears.

Any difference with 方便面 and 跑面 or just synomyn for instant noodles ?

Changye, you're right about "dog does not generall eat dog."  The English expression "dog eats dog" is based on the earlier expression "dog does not eat dog."  But someone wanted to describe how vicious and terrible the world has become, so they took the old expression and turned it around.  For more, see http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/dog_eat_dog/

Hi Rash - 

Yeah, I know - I was in Chengdu last summer for 3 weeks - Granted, my chinese wasn't what it is now, since I couldn't understand anything anyway. But with a little practice, I think the sichuanese is understandable, at least at a very simple level. I'm sure I'll get nowhere when the locals put it on thick, but maybe around the university it will come out o.k. Friends who have studied there seem to have developed an internal translator that allows them to go back and forth between sichuanese and putonghua. We'll see how it goes for me.   The food in Chengdu alone makes it worth it ! 

Sideshow

When we were in Shanghai, we made frequent trips to the convenience store down the street from our hotel, often after a night out.  The fang1bian4mian4 方便面 was a standard purchase item, but at the time I didn't know the word for it.

The speed of today's dialogue, although difficult for me to follow, is typical of the natural pace.  Until I visited China, I figured that my comprehension would be stronger than my ability to speak it.  As it turns out, I was often able to make myself understood with my simple sentences, but many times could not understand the response.

Mmm. Dog. Had it a couple of times in Korea, the farm-raised type. It was a bit like venison (deer) with the wide grained fatty-ness of corned beef.

As for the one sound, many meanings discussion: I think I remember reading that there are roughly 400 vocal syllables in Mandarin, without distinguishing tones. With all five tones, that makes 2,000 vocal syllables in total. Given 6500 simplified characters in general useage (in your wordprocessors font list), you can see that repitition is inevitable.

Off topic but I've really been dying to know how to say "whats up". I've searched all over and literally all the versions I have heard only apply to certain situations and have to be used carefully. Is there something that I can use all the time.

@evasiege:

I would use zěn me yàng, 怎么样 

Really means something like "how about it?"
When I see one of my professors I haven't visited in a while, it usually goes something like this:

啊！你好，伊毕力。怎么样？

Hope that helps.

hi chongzibide,

Handy vocab:

日常词汇  (Rìcháng cíhuì) daily-use vocab
实用词汇  (Shíyòng cíhuì) practical vocab

Here are some other popular flavours of instant noodles:

香菇炖鸡 (Xiānggū dùnjī) mushroom chicken stwew
红烧牛肉 (Hóngshāo niúròu)  hongshao beef
海鲜 (Hǎixiān)  seafood

hi evaseige,

Yes, this sentence is correct, good job:

我喜欢穿这个牌子的衣服.
Wǒ xǐhuan chuān zhège páizi de yīfu.

However, there is no such thing as 方便你 (fāngbiàn nǐ).  There is 随便你 (suíbiàn nǐ) which means 'it's up to you'.

hi raychenon,

方便面 (fāngbiànmiàn) and 泡面 (pàomiàn) are the same thing.

hi dagah,

You can say:

谢谢你们给我们这个很好的课。
Xièxie nǐmen gěi wǒmen zhège hěn hǎo de kè.

Hi, everyone! I still want to know how to say "comfort food" in Chinese, if any of you can help. 谢谢！

hi，pinkjeans

zhe ge yinggai shuo kuaican

这个应该说“快餐”

hi，everyone

I'm a chinaese。

我是一个中国人。

woshiyigezhongguoren。

but I'm not good at Engish.

但是我不太会英语。

danshiwobutaihuiyingyu。

HI pinkjeans,

You are asking for the moon. I don't think that there is the concept of "comfort food", or its exact counterpart, in Chinese. But if you insist, let me show you "安慰食品" or "爽心美食" I've found on the Internet, which I think are just translations from "comfort food".

Cool Amber, thanks!

In this context is the 给 referring to "for" or "give" ? It seems like it's referring to "to give".

This is a bit unclear to me.. Seems like sometimes the word for "for" is ommitted?

Dag

Is 方便麺 the same as the Korean 짬뽕? Or is there some certain difference?

Great lesson guys! Very helpful vocab! :)

Finally found out how to say convenience store, for the longest time, we called it 二十四小时店

hi Dag,

Good observation.  Here is a sort of literal translation of that sentence:

谢谢你们给我们这个很好的课。
Xièxie nǐmen gěi wǒmen zhège hěn hǎo de kè.
Thank you for giving us this very good lesson.

In Chinese, there aren't as many prepositions as English, so often, as in this case,给 (gěi) encompasses the 'for' and 'to give'.

Ok Amber,

谢谢你的解释,

Thanks for the explanation!

for billm

I was upset to when I heard you eat dogs, I have some dogs and I love dog! They really understand you! My dog always follow me everywhere around the house. He sit next to me now, his face so cute and innocent! How could you eat it ?

Your  wife believes other dogs know when you've been eating dog meat.

It's true, my mom said dog meat is good medicine, it can cure injury faster. When my cousin got accident, my mom buy dog meat for him. When she brought it home, one of our dog was  barking all the time, she acted like she meet another dog! my mom give our dog the dog meat a little bit, the barking dog didn't want eat it and the other dog ate it!

You know,not all chinese people likes to eat all kind of meat, the southern part of chinese do, such guangdong, or xiang gang (hong kong).  They eat monkeys, snake, kind of turtle etc. The other part of China I don't think so, because mine is not.

and changye in Elementary - Hungry Traveler: Hong Kong post this :

中国人是什么都敢吃。天上飞的除了飞机，地上跑的除了汽车，水里游的除了潜艇，四条腿的除了桌子，两条腿的除了梯子，一概通吃。中国人不但敢吃，还很会吃。

so, chinese dare eat everything. Everything that can fly except airplane, everything that can run on earth's surface except car, everything that can swim on the water except submarine, everything that have four legs except table, everything that have two legs except ladder and sweep the deck. Chinese not only dare to eat , they really really can eat !

I hope this is close translation.

Dear siciliazhang:

I understand your sentiments.  My family has a dog that is treated as a member if the family.  I would never eat a family pet.

Fact: certain animals are raised for food.

In some countries, dogs are raised for food.

I happened to be in a place and a time where it made sense to eat dog a few times. 

入乡随俗。

Gotta go with the flow.

Best regards, Bill M.

Selamat sore, siciliazhang,

I understand well how you feel, and my chubby dog also fully agrees with you. I love your translation, terima kasih banyak-banyak!

x

My bf is from Taiwan and I sent him an IM saying 我要方便面 since we had just eaten instant noodles last night. He said he thought I meant 我要方便, which apparently means "I have to go to the bathroom." in Taiwan. LOL

billm says
3 days ago

It's not clear that eating dog is wide spread in China. 

When I was in Qinhuangdao, there was a Korean restaurant close to our campus and several of professors would go there for lunch frequently. But the there was one professor, the Dean of the Department, whould absolutely was abhored that we would go there. He said they eat dog!

And he was a true dog lover: If you rode in his car, there were several stuffed toy dogs (not the real dogs stuffed, mind you,) on the back window and on the back seats. I don't don't know whether he placed them there or his wife did but it was clear that they revered dogs.

siciliazhang,

People who have a problem with dog-eating need to look closely at what they eat.  Why are dogs somehow superior to other animals, like cows or chickens?  Indeed, pigs have been shown to be smarter than dogs (actually, as smart as the average five-year-old!). 

Before we judge what other people eat, we might want to take a good hard look at our own plate.

As far as eating dog goes, to my knowledge humans don't generally eat carnivores.  It also seems that dog is a kind of delicacy like eating lion or hippopotamus.

Nanjing,

What difference does it make whether or not the animal itself is a carnivore?  That seems like a distinction without a difference to me...

This lesson has great examples of "de"

shenme paize de?

buyao tai gui de.

shenme kouwei de?

la de.

I probably would have only used "de" with the last, "la de"  Any mini explanation about when to use "de"?

I was just speculating on why some people would find the idea of eating dogs not particulaly appealing. Perhaps, we are more apt develop a food prejudice against eating something like dog if it is not part of our experience.

And raising carnivores to be eaten is not exactly efficient. Why not just eat the meat you would need to feed the carnivore, though I suppose in the case of dogs at least, you could raise them on a non-meat diet. Temple food for dogs? :-)

dear,  billm

It's ok. whatever you eat, it is your right. this is just discussion, a comment only. never mind.

dear,    pulosm

i am not sentiments to someone who eats dog, i didn,t judge either. i just give a comment, i know maybe little bit over react (i am sanguine).you no need act like that too.  if i have chance become a vegetarian, i love vegetables ,i rather choose a vegetarian (for me, it is look like a choosy-eater, it will be not convenient).

and based on research, human should be an herbivore, because we have long intestine. so i hope we eat more  vegetables  than meat.

for our earth now, better plantation than farming.(i am sorry, i am concern about our enviroment)

i hope this debate about "the dog meat's eater" will stop here. Go back to the discussion about "Instant Noodles".

I *love* the voice acting on this lesson.  I just attended a month-long conference in CO where my roommate was a grad student who grew up & attended undergrad in China, (非常好的练习说中文!), and the person ordering the noodles in this lesson talks exactly like he did.  I think it's sort of a college-aged male way of speaking in China; the bursts of rapid words.  Anyways, it brought back good memories and I commend you on your realism!

putty,

whe told the actors to do just that, act like they are in a dorm room, with one guy was running off to the store, which is why one voice is more distant than the other. glad you liked it!

test

The packages of fāngbiànmiàn seem to have similar characters on the front. Can someone tell me what the labels in the picture say? I seem to see those brands often. Thanks

Dear all,

I've had a problem with the Chinese for "English (ying1wen2)" for a while and one of the expansion sentences for this lesson reminded me of it.

Why is the pinying for the first character "ying1" but when it's spoken it sounds more like a "yong1"?  I've listened back to the expansion sentence audio over and over again, and it definitely sounds like "yong1" to me.

Is it an error in the audio, or am I simply just not getting it?!

Thanks, Chris

johns: 綠色的方便麵： 大骨麵

           紅色的方便麵:上湯大骨麵

can you use fang4 and jia1 interchangeably? both mean add. xiexie ni

Hi xinjiapo2703,

放 (fang4) and 加 (jia1) are sometimes used interchangeably. For example, you can say both "放点盐" and "加点盐"　(add salt) when you are cooking. That said, the basic meanings of "放" and "加" are "put/release" and "add" respectively, so there are a lot of cases that you can't use them interchangeably.

长夜老师您好！

今天偶然看到你在今年六月二十一日关于方便面的留言

才知道原来方便面是日籍台湾人安藤百福( 吴百福 )创办的。

一向我们都知道公仔面 ( 香港人对方便面叫法 )是日本制造

现在才知道竟然是个台湾人呢。

可以说我们和即食面 一同长大，什么牌子的都吃过

我还记得小时"出前一丁"那个电视广告 有个可爱日本娃娃那个呢。

老师，出前一丁 是什么意思？

陈博士

Hi wchan,

I hear that the instant noodle "出前一丁" is very popular in Hong Kong. They say that it has about 50% market share in instant noodles in HK. "出前一丁" is one of the longest-lasting and the most popular brands of an instant noodle product in Japan. It came to market in 1968.

"出前" (de-ma-e) is the name of a traditional Japanese catering service especially developed in noodle shop business. "一丁" (i-cchou) means "one order", so "出前一丁" means "to deliver one order", which is often used by people who work at noodle shops.

长夜老师您好！

多谢指教。

我马上会吃一碗 De -ma- e i-cchou 北海道猪骨浓汤方便面

Yummy Yummy

As wchan said, people in Hong Kong call all instant noodles 公仔面 regardless of brand. But the expression  公仔面 originally comes from the cute logo on Nissin's 出前一丁.

嗨 Sebastian 您好！

You are quite right about all instant noodles being

called 公仔面 in HK because of the 出前一丁

「清仔」logo 娃娃图案。

Another reason for that is there is indeed a brand of

instant noodles called Doll 公仔面 by 永南食品

a company now part of 日清食品 Nissin Food Products。

They also sell 公仔点心，Hello Kitty 点心面，杯面等等。

Website: www.doll.com.hk

陈博士

PS 有时间一定要同你讲番下广东话

Hi guys,

The boy is called "出前坊や" (de-ma-e-bo-ya) in Japan. It literally means "a delivery kid". Here are TV commercials broadcast in HK and in Japan.

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=rzBD5MOOqIc&feature

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ou-XvMj_Go

xie xie changye

长夜老师您好！

我要叫你一声叔叔啊

因为昨天在Youtube看过 "出前坊や "广告后

就被带回到我的童年时代 ( 是不太久之前 嘻嘻！)

这两句我也会唱：

家家食出前一丁，有美味有欢笑

祝 叔叔，各位老师和同学元旦愉快！

小博士 (哈哈)

Hi wchan,

What a shame it's very difficult to get "出前一丁" here in northeast China. I've seen them before at supermarkets here, but they don't sell the instant noodle anymore. The most popular brand in China may be "康师傅", a Taiwan manufacturer.

陳博士老友您好！

吾好意思，我近來好忙，無時間同您 keng gai， 好抱歉

杯面我都好中意食，又方便，又快。

其實我對杯面無研究，所以什么品牌都食。

我祝福您同mai您的家人，牛年發大財，身體健康

我的廣東話有無進步啊。如果用錯字，請多多指教。

崇茂

陳博士您好！

阿媽講，細老仔唔好食太多杯面，因為太多味精，食多會死人啊

所以我一睇到有關于杯面的廣告都會想起阿媽講的說話。

祝您元旦快樂

唔無wet得太勁啦！

葉老師您好﹗

新年快樂﹗

同聲同氣 講野真係零世吾同

琴晚我無去 Wet ﹐只係同周公King計﹐你又去左邊度浦呀﹖

陳博士您好！

新年快樂

琴晚我都無去邊度浦，因為無人約我

只好同家人一起睇電視。

In the expansion section, the word  交通 (jiao1tong1) is used.  Can this word be used to talk both about transportation in general (i.e., the transportation system of a city) and traffic more specifically?

Also, I've notice there are universities in China that have the term  "jiao tong" in their name.  Is this the same jiao tong?  Does anybody know the history behind the naming of universities in this way?

Steve

Hi sballa

Thanks for some interesting questions. Yes, 交通 can be used for both transportation in a city and for traffic. But unlike English, you can't say that 交通很不好 to express the idea of bad traffic. You have to say 堵车了 du3che1le or something like that.

A brief explanation on the website of the prestigious Shanghai Jiaotong University gives three reasons for the origin of the word 交通大学. 

The first is that during the early twentieth century when these schools were first being established, they were part of the Ministry of Transportation (they later fell under the Ministry of Education). The second is that the subject matter at these schools was focused on civil engineering, mainly railroads. Finally, the majority of graduates went on to careers in the transportation field.

Thanks Pete!  I visited Shanghai Jiaotong not that long ago, and a few people mentioned that Jiang Zemin is an alumnus.  They were obviously proud of that fact.

But since I was visiting the relatively new public policy school, they were talking about what a shame it was that the school hadn't been around when Jiang was a student.  He, like many of China's leaders, got his degree in engineering or a related field.  For my part, nothing wrong with this!  It's just that the public policy folks hope they are now training one of China's future leaders, and that some leaders in the future may possess degrees in public policy and other social sciences.

So I guess these universities, if Shanghai Jiaotong is any indication, have expanded their portfolios over time, to become more full service institutions of higher education.

Steve

陳博士您好！

早上吃了一碗方便面，好舒服啊！

真係頂個條仔唔順，扮曬野，唔試學人扮代表

你講得岩，先上山拜師，日后再黎做佢一單

我地真係黎學野嘛，唔係將錢dump落咸水海嘅

佢D咁嘅中文邊度sai得架

又好鐘意講我地自己打自己，聽到都火滾啦

你諗帶邊一個師妹好啊？

Hi sballa,

As you may already know, the names of some major banks in China are worth noting, namely 农业银行 (Agricultural Bnak)，建设银行 (Construction Bank)，and 交通银行 (Bank of Communications).There is even 土地银行 (Land Bank). The names all represent major functions of these banks when they were established several decades ago in China.

師兄您好﹗

係窩　我地有咁多小師妹　都吾知帶邊個去至好

不過呢　我特別喜歡周芷若和岳靈珊

你呢師兄﹖

小師弟

您好師兄！

點解我唔試果個兩位師妹嘅

其實我無人選，無所謂啦，最緊要你鐘意就得啦

唔試可以介紹嘅。

小小師弟

This a very very very useful lesson! Although I'm going to have to listen to it a couple of times to get all that vocab down.

Regarding the Expansion sentence:

这个用起来很不方便。(Zhège yòng qĭlai hĕn bù fāngbiàn.) This is not convenient to use.

Usually, I understand the nuance added to a verb by 起来. Here though, I don't understand the difference between 用 and 用起来. Could someone help out.

Also CPOD, in the Expansion sentence:

我喜欢吃巧克力口味的冰激淋。(Wŏ xĭhuan chī qiăokèlì kŏuwèi de bīngjīlíng.) I like to eat chocolate flavoured ice-cream.

haven't you mixed up the 2 different words for ice-cream? I thought ice-cream was either 冰激淩 (bīngjīlíng) or 冰淇淋 (bīngqílín), but not 冰激淋.

It's bad that simplified Chinese character messes up face(面) with noodle (麵)...

Was wondering if someone could break down the meaning of wúsuǒwèi. It looks like it was done in June of 2008, but its not pinyinized.

Thanks