User Comments - JasonSch

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

It's still the planning stages, so we can't be sure just yet. But, we'll keep the community posted.

Posted on: That's Not Your Food

When I first came to China, 鱼香肉丝 / yǔxiāngròusī , along with 宫保鸡丁 / gōngbǎojīdīng, was an absolute favorite of mine. It was also the first Chinese dish I tried to cook myself! (It turned out all right...but it just wasn't the same)

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

Cantonese is also in the pipeline. We should be starting work on it sometime in the not-too-distant future. The format will be similar to the format you see here with the Shanghainese series.

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

People do in fact use 汉字 to communicate Shanghainese. I don't think it's very common to use them this way exclusively (given the ease with which one could just use them as they're intended), but it does happen. It's especially common for certain phrases and expressions.

Interestingly, more and more, there are advertisements around Shanghai which use Hanzi this way. Here's a post over at John B's blog, Global Maverick, about just that.

Posted on: Haggling Like a Local

I picked up this 它句了 around the office recently and just used it the other day. Not only did it garner the usual friendly response that comes along with speaking a local langauge, but it did actually seem to help get the price down as well. Fun stuff. :)

Posted on: Daddy Changes a Diaper

Yeah, 挺 here means, 'straight and erect', or in this context, also prominent or sticking out. (as opposed to flat)

Posted on: Asking for Change

Ah, I should note as well, that the 换零钱 in this dialog literally means, 'to switch for change'. This 'getting change' means to exchange a larger bill for smaller ones. (or coins)

Posted on: Asking for Change

Hey Hamshank,

Change itself is closest to 变化.

换 more specifically means 'to switch' or 'to exchange'.

However, when talking about money, 换 means 'to change money', as in to change currency types.

To say, 'keep the change', you can say, '不用找钱了'. To give change, being 找钱.

Hope that helps!

Posted on: An Introduction!

Kunminghua is a dialect of Mandarin, which Putonghua is a standardization of. So, it's very similar to Putonghua, but can be quite different at times. (There's a bit more info at the Wikipedia page, here)

I have to say, when I visited last February, the tonal changes through me for a loop. I can't remember any specific examples, but I do remember saying things like, 'Oh, you mean 什么什么!?' more than once.

Nanjing is somewhat like this in that it's also a dialect of Mandarin, but can be very different. (especially outside the city center!)

Posted on: These Napkins Ain't Free

菜还没来 and 菜还不来 are interchangeable in this context. They convey the same meaning, but are slightly different grammatically.

菜还没来 = 'The food hasn't come yet'.

菜还不来 = 'The food isn't coming yet'.