A noun by any other name...
frank
January 18, 2008, 04:03 AM posted in General DiscussionAll right, so I'm going to Shanghai in a few weeks and I'm going to drop in on the CPod folks of course, but when I'm not in their offices, I'll be on my own out there! I'm an Elementary learner (no matter the name of my blog), and though I'm startling to tickle the edges of Intermediate lessons, Elementary is my home for the moment. That's not likely to change before I leave.
SO! Let's talk nouns. Specifically, what do YOU think is the essential vocabulary I ought to have before I land in Shanghai? I'm okay on basic sentence structure, but it occurs to me that there's probably a very short list of words every traveler ought to know. Off the top of my head, I realize that I don't know the words for "police," "innocent" and "framed." Not that I think I'll need them... *cough*
All kidding aside, what are your suggestions? Feel free to state the obvious. I actually <em>don't</em> know the word for police, come to think of it... :-)
obitoddkenobi
January 22, 2008, 03:04 AMJohn, Three or four days later, and I just realize how you can switch between Chinese and English and drag from station to station to calculate prices on your subway calculator. Way cool. Just need an all seeing virtual camera with audio to go up, and see/hear all the sights and sounds, (I'm not ready for smell-o-vision). I'm amazed. Was Bazza a plant for asking the leading question or what? Thanks
wei1xiao4
January 18, 2008, 08:54 AMFrank, 你可以便宜一点吗？ Ni3 ke3yi3 pian2yi yi1dian3 ma? Can you make it any cheaper? This is crucial!
bazza
January 18, 2008, 09:15 AMIf it would be cool if there was an online Shanghai subway ticket machine simulator that you could practise using in Chinese.
John
January 18, 2008, 09:34 AMBazza, That's a cool idea! Maybe we can do that... In the meantime, practice with this one (in Chinese mode, of course...).
amber
January 18, 2008, 09:39 AMOK Frank, it's not a noun, but it's the most magic phrase I have ever learned in China: 让一下 (Ràng yīxià） Let me through (works better than excuse me, which doesn't work at all)
frank
January 18, 2008, 02:42 PMWORD, Amber! That's awesome! And TaiPan... you just described a pretty normal day around here. I'm going on VACATION! :-P
GreyPhoenix
January 18, 2008, 03:21 PMDon't know if you've ever been to an Asian country before, but if not, the Chinese for "WESTERN TOILET!" could come in handy. Unless of course you enjoy the thought of a "squatty potty" after every unidentifiable food. ;- )
bazza
January 18, 2008, 08:36 AMWow, that would be quite a holiday. lol
frank
January 18, 2008, 05:55 PMI don't think that perspective is limited to the tourist, though. We do that all the time, in all facets of our life. When we encounter things, I think we try to understand them based on prior experiences or knowledge and then identify what's different about them. I do that with languages, too. Italian and Spanish are very similar, but there are very rare cases where I can apply that prior knowledge to my studies in Chinese. It makes the progress slower, but more rewarding.
bazza
January 18, 2008, 08:24 PMHow do you say 'a packet of mints'?
TaiPan
January 19, 2008, 03:37 AMLai qin yi xia! That's a good one when you want some service at a hotel or restaurant.
bazza
January 20, 2008, 10:37 PMBlu-ray is 蓝光光碟 (I've just bought a player. :) )
frank
January 20, 2008, 10:43 PMRock on, Mighty Bazza! I'm still not sure which way that whole next gen DVD thing is going to go. I may get a Playstation 3...
bazza
January 21, 2008, 12:49 AMLooks like it can also be shortened to 蓝光碟.
crazykitty
January 21, 2008, 02:59 AMTai Pan what kind of holidays do YOU go on?....although you never know when adult diaper and vomit might come in handy.
lustchinese
January 18, 2008, 04:47 PMTHis is an interesting discussion and makes me wonder about the advantages of SHanghai both as a place to holiday and as a place to live. I suppose the main attraction of visiting Shanghai are the stark contrasts that the holidaymaker is confronted with. Upon arriving in Shanghai I was immediately struck by the number of people and the poor quality of the air. But those first impressions gave way to the positives of - the friendliness of the people( a bit of a cliche I know) and the interesting and varied food. The tendency to constantly view what you see and experience there through the lens of your native country is something that the holidaymaker does constantly but I wonder how long do you have to live there before this constant comparing starts to fade.
TaiPan
January 18, 2008, 06:02 AMluggage. lost and found. taxi. clothing store. hotel. restaurant. massage parlor. dance club. long island iced tea. martini. chinese girl. twins. after hours party. underage drinking. hotel room. threesome. birth control pill. room service. breakfast. walk-of-shame. wallet. theif. police. sketch artist. Western Union. masseuse. lotion. oil. towel. food-stand. food poisoning. bathroom. toilet paper. ambulance. nurse. hospital. adult diaper. vomitus. dry heaves. discharge. STD. quarantine.