User Comments - JasonSch
JasonSch
Posted on: Set the Alarm Clock
September 16, 2010 at 11:28 PMThat's not a bad idea. I have yet to look through past QWs to see if it's been covered, but if not, then a lesson may be in order.
In the first sentence, the 要 indicates 'having to', but doesn't emphasize it like 需要 or 得 might.
As for 有事, you can think of this as one word meaning 'to have something to do', or 'to have something that needs attending to'. It's quite ambiguous as to what that thing is, but it's used in a way to indicate something that you can't get out of. (Thus the 'have to do' part)
Hope that helps!
Posted on: Set the Alarm Clock
September 16, 2010 at 10:07 AMFixed!
Posted on: Designing the New Apartment 3
September 16, 2010 at 8:49 AMNo problem. Keep asking away. I tend to only really learn things when I go back and pick through them myself. 加油!
Posted on: Designing the New Apartment 3
September 16, 2010 at 2:31 AMNo question is lame! You never know with Chinese. 墙面 is simply the wall, or the wall surface. Our system auto-fills some of the pop-up definitions and we spend a lot of time going through them, but sometimes similar, though incorrect, words slip by. Sorry for the mix-up! We'll change the pop-up shortly.
Posted on: Horseback Riding
September 14, 2010 at 5:33 AMHi RCK,
1) Good question. 上手 comes up in many dictionaries as simply, 'to start'. This is correct, but in many contexts, 上手 actually means something more along lines of 'to become accustomed to', 'to get the hang of', or 'get used to'.
For example, in the sentence: 你上手之前需要一点时间, the meaning isn't that 'You'll need some time before you get started', but rather, 'Before you've gotten the hang of it'.
2) The 的 in: 哎，刚才不应该说它坏话的。simply adds emphasis. Your example with no 的 is okay as well.
Hope that helps!
Posted on: How do you fix a boring Chinese course?
September 14, 2010 at 5:07 AM有些广告很真实. ;)
Posted on: 事在人为
September 11, 2010 at 9:56 AMExactly. The line with 事在人为 from which the lesson gets it's name, says it all. Such a seemingly straightforward phrase, but in this context, it means oh so much more.
Posted on: 事在人为
September 11, 2010 at 9:49 AMNo, no, no...黎主任 is just a very girly man...? OK, not really. Thanks for catching that.
And to think, I almost always chose a female pronoun when translating lines without a subject.
Posted on: Transportation Card
September 9, 2010 at 4:42 PMHi guys,
Sorry for the delay in response. Things have been a bit hectic。
充值 can be used for any type of account that can have credit added it to it. (a phone, a transportation card, a website account, etc). The 'phone' being added in the expansion translation was in fact likely a result of what @rodswithoutnumber guessed above - I had the previous sentence about buying a phone card in mind! (Also somewhat likely because it's what I 充值 the most by far). I do my best to refresh my mind before every expansion translation, but from time to time, things like this get by. Sorry for any confusion it's led to!
It should read: " I added a 100 kuai last month".
Posted on: Set the Alarm Clock
September 17, 2010 at 2:01 AMThis is actually one of those situations in which both words are acceptable. 订 is more common, but 定 can be used to mean the same thing. 订 being from 预订 meaning literally, 'to reserve', and 定 from 约定, meaning 'to arrange'.