User Comments - GreyPhoenix
GreyPhoenix
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
January 31, 2008 at 12:30 AMHi xiaohu - Thanks! Great suggestion! However, I probably need to stick with what I have, at least until I move elsewhere, since half of my students already know me by 小溪. It's something to keep in mind, tho. :- )
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
January 28, 2008 at 10:58 PMI love the name topic. My original Chinese name was a transliteration: 布鲁克 ("bu4 lu2 ke4," or something like that). However, as time went on I decided to get a "real" Chinese name. I started with 晓溪 (xiao3 xi1), because my English name is a small stream, and the idea of a dawn and a stream sounded attractive. Plus I chose 岑 (cen2) as my surname, since my last name means "on a hill." However, most Chinese, upon hearing my name, assumed it was 小溪, and I got tired of explaining the difference, so I ended up changing it to that anyway. Plus, 小溪 = small stream. People love it. I teach ESL to Chinese in the states, and some of my students only know my Chinese name. One even told me she remembers my English name based on my Chinese one! Amazing... but cool. :- ) Oh! And I'm getting married to an ethnic Chinese, so my name will become 林小溪 (lin2 xiao3 xi1). It has a ring to it... :- )
Posted on: More and More
December 11, 2007 at 11:33 PMIs it me, or did Clay suggest saying that he is getting more and more "shuai1" (weak) instead of "shuai4" (handsome)? I always loved that the difference there is only that of a first vs. fourth tone. That way if I'm ever mad at a guy, I can insult him "unintentionally" and chock it up to poor Chinese... :- P
Posted on: Thanksgiving
November 27, 2007 at 5:43 PMOops... I also didn't reread the transcript. I was thinking the pinyin shi4 was 事, not 是. I'm still wanting to make sure "和" can mean "with" as well as "and," just for future reference. Thanks!
Posted on: Thanksgiving
November 27, 2007 at 5:37 PMGreat lesson! If I had one recommendation, though, it would be to post the holiday lessons at least a week in advance, so that even with busy holiday schedules we have time to thoroughly absorb new vocab. Other than that, it's pretty good. Rsmith - I also am a little confused, so I'd like to add to your question. Last night one of my Chinese friends stated that in the English sentence "Did you husband go with you?" the word "with" was the Chinese equivalent of "he2." I was confused, as I had learned that "with" is translated as "gen1." Thus my translation would have been: "你的先生跟你一起去吗？" (ni3 de xian1 sheng1 gen1 ni3 yi1 qi3 qu4 ma1?). Maybe we're dealing with the same issue here. If my student was right, then your sentence could be translated "The most important thing is to be together with family." Literally, "Most important matter with family at together." I'll be interested to see what the more advanced users/staffpeople have to say. Thanks for posting the question and jogging my memory!
Posted on: You Can and Will Use 会 (huì)!
November 8, 2007 at 3:21 AMHi Clay, Thanks! That helps a ton!
Posted on: You Can and Will Use 会 (huì)!
November 7, 2007 at 4:13 PMP.S. Also, would the translation for "I would like to eat dinner with you tonight" be 我今天晚上想要跟你一起吃饭? Wow, that's a mouthful! Maybe the time could go first, like 今天晚上，我想要跟你一起吃饭。 I hope I'm not asking too many questions. It's just that this issue has been bugging me for months now, so I'm trying to get a good grasp on when and how to use 会 vs. the other options. Thanks!
Posted on: You Can and Will Use 会 (huì)!
November 7, 2007 at 4:10 PMHi Amber. Thanks for the explanations. So can "hui" be used in all contexts for "will?" For example: I will eat dinner with you tonight. 我今天晚上会跟你一起吃饭。 wo3 jin1 tian1 wan3 shang yi1 ding4 gen1 ni3 yi1 qi3 chi1 fan4. In the above example, would 要 be too strong? E.g., "I MUST eat dinner with you tonight!" You said 要 can express certainty, but I'm guessing that if I wanted to express certainty above I should use 一定, as in “我今天晚上一定会跟你一起吃饭。” 对吗？ Thanks a ton for your help!
Posted on: You Can and Will Use 会 (huì)!
November 6, 2007 at 7:36 PMHi, I agree with Jeff. I understand times when I "can" use 会, but I don't always know when I "should" use it as opposed to 要，想要，or 将. What is the difference between these and 会? 我很喜欢中文，但是 我经常不知道我应该说什么。Hope that's right! Thanks for the lesson! -Brooke
Posted on: Whatever...
February 9, 2008 at 10:04 PMHi lester - I don't know about your sentence, but since no one has answered yet, here's how I would say that phrase: 其实，我想这个不好看。 (qi2 shi2, wo3 xiang3 zhege bu4 hao3 kan4). Not sure if a 是 (shi4) is needed before 不 (bu4) tho. I'm sure there are other ways to say this, but from my own experience, I hear "其实" a lot to mean "actually" at the beginning of a sentence. Hope this helps!