<![CDATA[Comments on: Who is that?]]> 2008-06-14 18:00:00 <![CDATA[By: michele]]> thanks John, everything works fine now, but I have to say that I even did'nt realized there was something wrong...

I would like to say something that may appears odd said from an user, or a customer who pays for a service...

did you ever think there should be some right, for you all of the CP staff, both academic, technical, or of any sort else, to have some little weekly... rest, like most of the people in word usually have. I know, I know... modern life, fear for other possible business competitors, the will to do more and more, and better and better.... that's all true, but I have to say that, sometimes, I feel a little worried about you...

After all, this is not an hospital, or an electric generator station, or even a blast furnace! isnt'it?

I remember the old times of CP when on saturday there was no lessons, but Aric's Saturdays'show, and on sunday nothing at all... well, this seemed to me quite normal, even useful for everyone, for you and for me too.

Yes, I'm wondering if what I'm saying now has something to do with the fact that, wrongly, I'd like to follow too much levels and too much lessons. In this perspective, a little break in this (precious, beautiful and rich, I reckon..) waterfall of lerning material would not be somehow.... healthy? Perhaps, sometimes, less could be better.

OK guys, don't take this too much seriously, only if you like it tell me what you think about. At any rate, it's clear, it is useful to warn you about some malfunction, and I've already done,  nevertheless, on sunday, I feel somewhat empathetic with you, that must rush to fix some bug under pressing request...

ciao Michele.

]]> thanks John, everything works fine now, but I have to say that I even did'nt realized there was something wrong...

I would like to say something that may appears odd said from an user, or a customer who pays for a service...

did you ever think there should be some right, for you all of the CP staff, both academic, technical, or of any sort else, to have some little weekly... rest, like most of the people in word usually have. I know, I know... modern life, fear for other possible business competitors, the will to do more and more, and better and better.... that's all true, but I have to say that, sometimes, I feel a little worried about you...

After all, this is not an hospital, or an electric generator station, or even a blast furnace! isnt'it?

I remember the old times of CP when on saturday there was no lessons, but Aric's Saturdays'show, and on sunday nothing at all... well, this seemed to me quite normal, even useful for everyone, for you and for me too.

Yes, I'm wondering if what I'm saying now has something to do with the fact that, wrongly, I'd like to follow too much levels and too much lessons. In this perspective, a little break in this (precious, beautiful and rich, I reckon..) waterfall of lerning material would not be somehow.... healthy? Perhaps, sometimes, less could be better.

OK guys, don't take this too much seriously, only if you like it tell me what you think about. At any rate, it's clear, it is useful to warn you about some malfunction, and I've already done,  nevertheless, on sunday, I feel somewhat empathetic with you, that must rush to fix some bug under pressing request...

ciao Michele.

]]> <![CDATA[By: changye]]> Here is a well-known Chinese saying 女大十八变 (nv3 da4 shi2 ba1 bian4), which means “As a girl grows, her appearance and personality undergo a significant change.” Some people say 十八 suggests “to change eighteen times”, and others say “to change until eighteen years old.”

Anyway, its basic connotation is the same, which usually hints “a girl becomes beautiful when she grows up.” Do you think so? And as far as my female dog concerns, I must say this saying contains a truth. She has become very chubby (and pretty) with growth and is still changing..........

]]> Here is a well-known Chinese saying 女大十八变 (nv3 da4 shi2 ba1 bian4), which means “As a girl grows, her appearance and personality undergo a significant change.” Some people say 十八 suggests “to change eighteen times”, and others say “to change until eighteen years old.”

Anyway, its basic connotation is the same, which usually hints “a girl becomes beautiful when she grows up.” Do you think so? And as far as my female dog concerns, I must say this saying contains a truth. She has become very chubby (and pretty) with growth and is still changing..........

]]> <![CDATA[By: michele]]> hi changye,

do you think is there any chance to get some hint for the best possible translation, looking at the order of the five charcters?

I'm thinking about  大十八变 . I'm wondering why 大 and 变 ,that is "the big change" has to be splitted, separated by 十八. 

Does this  sequence  could be read as the will of constructing a single strong chunk, like "is to be expected  a big change when eighteen years old is reached"? or even better, "it's great the change that happens on the eighteen years" In other words, how would you express this concept in currently spoken Chinese?

At any case I don't mean here to destroy the beutiful liquid uncertainty of a Chinese saying, in order to get an improbable definitive translatione!

 

 

]]> hi changye,

do you think is there any chance to get some hint for the best possible translation, looking at the order of the five charcters?

I'm thinking about  大十八变 . I'm wondering why 大 and 变 ,that is "the big change" has to be splitted, separated by 十八. 

Does this  sequence  could be read as the will of constructing a single strong chunk, like "is to be expected  a big change when eighteen years old is reached"? or even better, "it's great the change that happens on the eighteen years" In other words, how would you express this concept in currently spoken Chinese?

At any case I don't mean here to destroy the beutiful liquid uncertainty of a Chinese saying, in order to get an improbable definitive translatione!

 

 

]]> <![CDATA[By: kesirui]]> Did China always have the words " 女朋友 (nǚ péng yǒu)" and "男朋友 (nán péng yǒu)" or was that added later as a result of western exposure?

]]> Did China always have the words " 女朋友 (nǚ péng yǒu)" and "男朋友 (nán péng yǒu)" or was that added later as a result of western exposure?

]]> <![CDATA[By: changye]]> Hi michele,

I really love your analysis on 大(十八)变！I couldn’t come up with this idea. It’s very interesting. Actually, some Chinese words often separate, for example, the word 结婚 (jie2 hun1, marry) changes this way；结了三次婚 (married three times). And in this case, the verb 结婚 has the structure “结 (V) ＋ 婚 (O)”.

How about 大变 (da4 bian4)？I’m afraid this word doesn’t have “V + O” structure. Probably it is translated as “change drastically” and its structure is “adverb (大) + verb (变)”. As far as I know, this type of Chinese verbs don’t separate like 结婚, perhaps. Let me try to translate 女大十八变 into modern Chinese.

女孩子长到十八岁就变漂亮。
女孩子长大时有十八次的变化。

I believe that a lot of Chinese people would agree with your translation "is to be expected a big change when eighteen years old is reached". Anyway, there seems to be still no accepted interpretation for this famous saying in China.

]]> Hi michele,

I really love your analysis on 大(十八)变！I couldn’t come up with this idea. It’s very interesting. Actually, some Chinese words often separate, for example, the word 结婚 (jie2 hun1, marry) changes this way；结了三次婚 (married three times). And in this case, the verb 结婚 has the structure “结 (V) ＋ 婚 (O)”.

How about 大变 (da4 bian4)？I’m afraid this word doesn’t have “V + O” structure. Probably it is translated as “change drastically” and its structure is “adverb (大) + verb (变)”. As far as I know, this type of Chinese verbs don’t separate like 结婚, perhaps. Let me try to translate 女大十八变 into modern Chinese.

女孩子长到十八岁就变漂亮。
女孩子长大时有十八次的变化。

I believe that a lot of Chinese people would agree with your translation "is to be expected a big change when eighteen years old is reached". Anyway, there seems to be still no accepted interpretation for this famous saying in China.

]]> <![CDATA[By: michele]]> thanks a lot changye,

your reply introduces more interesting stuff about the splitting in two parts of a two character word.

I  also guess that, even though this seems not to  be a particularly tricky one, a saying, not perfectly following all the current grammar rules, perhaps has some good poetical, phonetic purpose; it's always acceptable a poetic licence!

]]> thanks a lot changye,

your reply introduces more interesting stuff about the splitting in two parts of a two character word.

I  also guess that, even though this seems not to  be a particularly tricky one, a saying, not perfectly following all the current grammar rules, perhaps has some good poetical, phonetic purpose; it's always acceptable a poetic licence!

]]> <![CDATA[By: suburbanite]]> Q: did anybody else have difficulty with the pronounciation in the last half of the dialog?

(zhen v. jin and tiao v. piao) I thought that made the lesson a little more challenging from a listening perspective. A good challenge none the less.

]]> Q: did anybody else have difficulty with the pronounciation in the last half of the dialog?

(zhen v. jin and tiao v. piao) I thought that made the lesson a little more challenging from a listening perspective. A good challenge none the less.

]]> <![CDATA[By: user8877]]> I think that when there is a posting of a technical error, that posting should be removed after the error is  fixed.

After all, the goal is the study of the language, not of the gliches.

]]> I think that when there is a posting of a technical error, that posting should be removed after the error is  fixed.

After all, the goal is the study of the language, not of the gliches.

]]> <![CDATA[By: shanyisheng]]> Since e have the new CP layout I do not see chinese characters any more . Just: 

ä¸€åœºçªå¦‚å…¶æ¥çš„åœ°éœ‡å¤ºåŽ»äº†å¤šå°‘äººçš„ç”Ÿå‘½ï¼Œæ‘§æ¯äº†å¤šå°‘ä¸ªå¹¸ç¦å®¶åº ï¼Œæ¯ç äº†å¤šå°‘å¹¢å»ºç­‘ï¼Œç‰µåŠ¨äº†å¤šå°‘äººçš„å¿ƒï¼ç¤¾ä¼šå„ç•Œï¼Œå›½å†…å›½å¤–éƒ½å‘ç¾åŒºä¼¸å‡ºäº†æ•‘æ´ä¹‹æ‰‹ï¼Œå›½å®¶é¢†å¯¼ä¹Ÿäº²ä¸´ç¾åŒºï¼Œç»„ç»‡æ•‘æ´ã€‚ä»Šå¤©æˆ‘ä»¬èŠ‚é€‰äº†ä¸€æ®µæ¸©å®¶å®æ€»ç†çš„è§†é¢‘ï¼Œçœ‹çœ‹å¬å¬è¿™ä½å¹´é€¾èŠ±ç”²çš„è€äººï¼Œæ€Žä¹ˆç»™ç¾æ°‘å’Œå®˜å…µé¼“åŠ²ï¼Œç»™å¤§å®¶å‹‡æ°”å’Œä¿¡å¿ƒã€‚

Who has this same problem ? Its only in Safari, not in Firefox.

]]> Since e have the new CP layout I do not see chinese characters any more . Just: 

ä¸€åœºçªå¦‚å…¶æ¥çš„åœ°éœ‡å¤ºåŽ»äº†å¤šå°‘äººçš„ç”Ÿå‘½ï¼Œæ‘§æ¯äº†å¤šå°‘ä¸ªå¹¸ç¦å®¶åº ï¼Œæ¯ç äº†å¤šå°‘å¹¢å»ºç­‘ï¼Œç‰µåŠ¨äº†å¤šå°‘äººçš„å¿ƒï¼ç¤¾ä¼šå„ç•Œï¼Œå›½å†…å›½å¤–éƒ½å‘ç¾åŒºä¼¸å‡ºäº†æ•‘æ´ä¹‹æ‰‹ï¼Œå›½å®¶é¢†å¯¼ä¹Ÿäº²ä¸´ç¾åŒºï¼Œç»„ç»‡æ•‘æ´ã€‚ä»Šå¤©æˆ‘ä»¬èŠ‚é€‰äº†ä¸€æ®µæ¸©å®¶å®æ€»ç†çš„è§†é¢‘ï¼Œçœ‹çœ‹å¬å¬è¿™ä½å¹´é€¾èŠ±ç”²çš„è€äººï¼Œæ€Žä¹ˆç»™ç¾æ°‘å’Œå®˜å…µé¼“åŠ²ï¼Œç»™å¤§å®¶å‹‡æ°”å’Œä¿¡å¿ƒã€‚

Who has this same problem ? Its only in Safari, not in Firefox.

]]> <![CDATA[By: moniqueferreras02]]> elow, i'm a newbie, i find the language quite easy to understand, but some of the pronounciations are hard to do and even the characters itself, i don't know where to start studying about it...

]]> elow, i'm a newbie, i find the language quite easy to understand, but some of the pronounciations are hard to do and even the characters itself, i don't know where to start studying about it...

]]>