User Comments - JasonSch

Posted on: Into the Sandstorm

Jiaojie hosts a lot of the advanced and media lessons. She also writes a lot of the academic material. (including the sentence I posted at the top of this lesson discussion!)

Posted on: Nearby Tea House

For any tea people out there, our own Hank Horkoff is blogging about his 'Taobao Tea Trail' in which he's (from the blog):

Armed with the Chinese-language茶叶地图and百度百科I am sampling my way through the spectrum of Chinese teas – more than 85 in all, one a week. I am using Taobao to order the tea leaves and then postinga bit of information, photos and a link to the Taobao merchant here on this blog.

It's been great tasting all these different teas in the office and learning a bit more about tea culture. Check out the blog here, for more pictures and info.

Posted on: Nearby Tea House

No prob. 埃斯普雷索 (āisīpǔléisuǒ) isn't really used. People who know coffee will get you, but 浓咖啡 is what's on the menu and actually describes 'espresso'.

Posted on: Food Flavors, Shanghai Style

Glad to hear your liking them! We've also really enjoyed doing them ourselves. Even if you don't become 'fluent', just being able to pick up on basic vocab and structures can make all the difference.

There's still about 7 more to come, so check back every Friday for the next few weeks.

Posted on: Nearby Tea House

Hey maktubhelou,

espresso = 埃斯普雷索 (āisīpǔléisuǒ) but that's a mouthful. 浓咖啡 (nóng kāfēi) works as well and is descriptive rather than being a phonetic approximation to the English. (浓 nóng meaning something like 'strong' here)

latté = 拿铁 (nǎtiě)

cappuccino = 卡普奇诺 (kǎpǔqínuò)

americano = 美式咖啡 (měishìkāfēi)

As for specific areas, I personally haven't heard of an area known for tea houses/coffee shops. But, there are a bunch all over the place. (At least here in 浦西 (pǔxī), the part of Shanghai east of the Pu river.)

Posted on: Into the Sandstorm

Hi dubyruby,

冲锋衣 are more heavy duty than windbreakers and are usually waterproof (防水) as well. A windbreaker specifically would be better translated as 防风衣.

护目镜 doesn't include swimming goggles and is used for 'safety googles', or 'safety glasses'. It can also include varieties of goggles that look like ski goggles, with the foam layer and the single eye-piece.

Swimming goggles specifically are 泳镜.

Posted on: Into the Sandstorm

冲锋衣 specifically refers to those outdoors jackets which are made of synthetic materials and are usually water/wind proof, etc. (Think: North Face.) So, we felt that although 'ski jackets' are also called 滑雪夹克, it was the most natural way to describe 冲锋衣. (I used to snowboard in my North Face jacket. :) )

Posted on: Into the Sandstorm

There's been some pretty bad sandstorms in Beijing this year already. Anyone get caught in one? I went during May holiday and, fortunately, the weather was fantastic.

Also, on a side note, I really enjoyed this expansion sentence:

寂静的深夜，我感觉自己被无边的寂寞笼罩着。

Posted on: Food Flavors, Shanghai Style

Last night a friend's mother was in town from 四川西昌 and she cooked us dinner. One dish was 回锅肉 which also uses 五花肉. It was excellent. A perfect balance of savory and spicy. Once again reminding me that home-cooked Chinese food blows restaurant's out of the water.

Posted on: Food Flavors, Shanghai Style

One of my favorite dishes in China. Hands down. Many restaurants don't do it justice, but when it's done right, it is as Jenny says: heavenly.