User Comments - BillJefferys

Posted on: New Lessons, Video, and Groups

For some reason, the movie won't download into my Mac using iTunes and the RSS feed. I do not understand this.

At least, the movie shows on the website OK.

Posted on: Prescription Drugs and Overseas Chinese

@auntie68

Thanks for using the term '华侨' as it didn't appear in the dialog. I was wondering why it wasn't, and wondering if the term was now obsolete. It seems it is not yet obsolete.

@greatname, I think that '华侨' is a pretty generic term.

Posted on: The Pretty Podcast

I couldn't add the link to the MDBG Chinese dictionary in my previous note. But it is here.

I've now used the MDBG dictionary to check the characters, and they seem to be correct.

Posted on: The Pretty Podcast

This was a beautiful lesson :-) I enjoyed learning about the nuances between various ways that in English we just say "beautiful," but in Chinese are distributed differently. It's common for the overlaps of "a word" in one language to be different from those in another language, and mastering a language means (amongst other things) mastering these differences.

Thank you for the Tang poem, one of the most famous in China, by the famous poet 李白. You quoted the first line, here's the whole poem:

床前明月光
疑是地上霜
举头望明月
低头思故乡

I think I have the characters correct, but my reference is in 繁体字 and the computer only provides 简体字 the way I have it set up. Please correct me if I've got it wrong.

It's a beautiful poem, and it always brings tears to my eyes when I bring it to mind.

If you paste the poem into the MDBG Chinese Dictionary (annotate tab) you'll get a rendition that will allow you to know what the poem says, even though it is in classical Chinese.

Once my late Chinese teacher, a Canadian (like Amber), arrived in China. I am not sure whether it was mainland China or Taiwan, and at customs for some reason she had reason to quote the above poem. This gained her all sorts of brownie points with the customs agent.

Posted on: Chinese Birthdays and Local Hospitals

@auntie68

Thanks, I was hoping that some readers would find the story interesting. And I couldn't be happier that you did, auntie68!

Thanks to google.com, I have found that 闵行路 is indeed the name of a street in Shanghai, apparently a stop on the #22 bus route. I sort of vaguely knew that you could paste Chinese into the search box, but finally thought to do it with '闵行路' and came up with a bus schedule!

The marvels of modern technology!

Posted on: Chinese Birthdays and Local Hospitals

The subject (hospitals) of this Dear Amber brings back memories of a different sort.

My grandfather was a physician (surgeon) and a medical missionary in Shanghai from 1900-1911. Three of my aunts were born in China before he returned the the U.S.

He taught medicine at a famous university in Shanghai. I don't know if any of the young people here know of 圣约翰大学 (St. John's University). He lived on Minhang Lu (I don't know the characters for Minhang, unfortunately, but of those offered by Apple's Chinese input method, 闵行 seems most plausible. I'm pretty sure the second character was 行, if my memory is not failing me.) He practiced at 圣盧克医学院 (St. Luke's Medical Hospital), a teaching hospital run by his church.

Amongst his accomplishments were writing a large (4 cm. thick) book on tropical diseases, which was a standard for many years (a copy of which I have, and which obviously comes directly out of his experiences in China), and two slim volumes on hospital dialog, intended to help foreign physicians in China to communicate with patients. The first of these was in Shanghai dialect, and the second in Mandarin.

The reason I learned Chinese is my grandfather.

When I visited Shanghai in 1982, I wanted to visit these institutions, but at the time 圣约翰 was off limits and they took me to the site of the hospital, which if I recall correctly is now known as Shanghai #2 medical hospital (上海第二医学院). I visited with some of the staff and left a copy of a set of slides that my grandfather took in China showing some of his colleagues (including Chinese physicians that he worked with and trained) and patients.

The next time I visited Shanghai, in 1988, my hosts were able to take me to 圣约翰, which is now a university that I believe trains party members for a career in government. I was able to stroll around the campus and see the buildings, which retain their 19th century charm seen in Grandpa's pictures. I also went to Minhang Lu and was able to visit the house where my grandfather lived with his family. It was then a pre-school.

I have not been able to visit China since. I was hoping to visit this year and give some lectures to astronomers at various institutions, but wasn't able to get away.

I do not know if the house at Minhang Lu still exists. It was a small blind street (only one entrance, sort of like a hutong). I know that there has been a lot of development during the past 20 years and many places in Shanghai are no longer as they were. But I have fond memories of my visits and my tour of places where my grandparents and aunts lived and worked for a time.

The practice of medicine in China has changed greatly in the past hundred years. When my grandfather practiced, there were maybe three effective drugs: aspirin, morphine, and quinine (which I suspect is no longer effective against malaria). Antibiotics were several decades away, and now of course we have new medications and procedures not thought of then. So despite the things mentioned in the episode and on this page, a visitor to a modern Chinese hospital can be very glad that physicians in China are practicing medicine that is way ahead of what my grandfather could do.

Posted on: Language Power Struggle

@iphonetrial:

"哎哟"有什么意思?

"Hey!", or "Ow!" (My teacher translated it as "Ouch!" in the context of the story).

By the way, a good source for quick translations is the MDBG Dictionary. Use the "annotate" tab, paste the Chinese into the box, and get the pinyin and meaning of the word(s). I use it frequently.

Posted on: Language Power Struggle

frances remarked:

If my first "你好" is greeted with flowery compliments about the beauty and skill of my Chinese, this is at least annoying, and possibly offensive. As I haven't had time to show how well or badly I speak Chinese, the compliment cannot be honest.

I believe I have told this story before, but as we keep adding new Chinespodders, it's probably worth repeating as it relates to frances' comment. My late Chinese teacher (who was from Canada and not ethnically Chinese) told this on herself.

Once, when she was studying in Taiwan, she found herself in an elevator, which was packed (she said about the elevator, when retelling the story, "人山人海"). A woman accidentally elbowed her in the ribs. My teacher exclaimed, "哎哟!" Behind her, one woman remarked to her neighbor, "她中文说的非常好!"

Posted on: Language Power Struggle

@frances

I for one agree with your observations. They comport with my experience and what I have learned from my teachers.

I know of no English equivalent to "那里,那里". It's a good phrase to keep available.

Posted on: Language Power Struggle

The dialog is very good when the student of Chinese responds to "Your Chinese is very good" with a modest "I have a lot to learn." As my Chinese teacher put it, you should not say something like "谢谢" as this sounds boastful. Indeed, a modest response is culturally appropriate whenever a compliment comes your way.

I do wonder though why, when I use Chinese to a Chinese person, they so often answer in English, "Your Chinese is very good." Is answering in English a hint that my Chinese is not very good?