User Comments - JasonSch

Posted on: A Chinese Bachelor Party

@changye

Yeah, 宅 is often used a verb these days. In both speaking and informal writing. It's probably too new to appear in a dictionary as such, however. 

Posted on: A Chinese Bachelor Party

@tripplelatte

Good question! Although, I'm not sure on the total implications of the Japanese word, I can say a little about 宅. 

宅男/宅女 doesn't directly imply anything about geekiness or obsessive interests. It's simply someone who really likes to stay at home and watch DVDs, surf the internet, etc. Usually for long periods of time.

Also, to note, 宅 can be used as a verb as well. （宅在家/宅在家里）

I think this use of 宅 came from Japanese. Although, I'm not entirely sure. 

Posted on: The Sun Salutation in Yoga

@zhenlijiang

Haha. Maybe that was a freudian slip on my part? Who knows...I am unmarried after all.

I also found this lesson really useful. It's easy to just stumble through physical movement vocab given that you usually can just show the person in real life. At the end of the day though, this kind of thing is really important to natural 'fluency'.

Posted on: 次，遍，趟: Measuring Times

@go_manly

This 集 means, 'episode'. So, the sentence means 'Two episodes of this TV series are played every day'.

Posted on: The North Has Central Heating

@toianw

No! This 空气 is just 'air' and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with a 空调. Just a misread on my part. We'll go ahead and make the change.

Thanks for noticing. Sorry for any confusion!

Posted on: Warm Winter Clothes

Hi, Bodawei:

Good question!

To me, the part that implies 'all along' is the 难怪...原来 pattern. If it were a statement by itself, it could just be 'originally', but in this case, whatever comes after the 原来 is the reason for what came after the 难怪. 

As to why it implies that the 空调 is still on? I'm not so sure. I translated that simply on 语感 and hadn't thought about it. After I read your question, I wasn't 100%, but I did confirm it with a native speaker. 

My guess would be that if you wanted to imply that it was turned on for a short while, you would have to indicate that somehow. Otherwise, once it's 开了 it's still on. Maybe it would help to understand that the 了 is completing the action of turning it on, not necessarily completing of the 空调 being on? 

As for 开开, I don't think it wouldn't really work here. It's not always an imperative, but seems a little out of place. Finally, I do think the 了 is necessary as well. But, I bet one of the teachers can clarify on all this that a bit better than me. :)

Anyway, hope that helps!

Posted on: Warm Winter Clothes

Hi zhuimia,

1) The use of heater was intentional. Technically, the appliance 空调 is both a 'heater' and an 'air conditioner'. The word 'air conditioner' in English implies a machine that only cools air. Although, given that most people in who have traveled in China understand 空调 as 'an air conditioner that can also create heat', I think 'air conditioner would be fine as well.

2) 中学生 is, of course, simply a 'middle school student'. Thanks for catching that. I slipped up when translating given the context of the sentence. After all, western kids don't wear those jumper uniforms, so to a westerner, the sentence implies 'you look like a Chinese middle school student'! :)

3) Yep, in the sentence level, 房间, should be 'room'. Again, thanks for the scrutinizing eye. Maybe it's because I'm so used to cleaning my whole apartment that I didn't catch it. ;) 

Posted on: Hot Pot Chitchat

That looks so good....

I'm a hot pot and 'mala' fan and I still haven't been to Chongqing...囧!

Posted on: Hot Pot Chitchat

A few notes/comments:

阴气  yīnqì  Yin energy

阳气  yángqì Yang energy

I used to sometimes joke with my Chinese friends after refusing something because they've 上火-ed by saying, 那你就下火吧! :) It either gets a good laugh, or a long-winded explanation of 中医.You've been warned! (personally, I'm actually quite interested in it)

Posted on: Job Market for Laowai

@stephtingting

Glad you're enjoying the site! :)

工资 and 薪酬 are often interchangeable, but actually indicate two slightly different concepts. 

工资

Translates more directly into 'pay' or 'wages'. For that reason, you hear it all the time when talking about jobs and life. For example, 工资怎么样？or, 我很快要拿工资了！

薪酬

Refers to 'salary' in the sense of the amount a company offers for a position, rather than the actual money received at the end of the month. (monthly pay cycles in China) 

Hope that helps!