User Comments - and0709

Posted on: Please Keep Up!

If a the tour guide was a laowai, how would he address the tour group?

Posted on: Monkey Show

Would it be correct to use 'yuanlai' as, 'it turns out that...'? I'm sure I've heard it used in this context.

Posted on: Broken Bone

One day, I broke a bone in my hand. The how and why is a long-story; suffice to say that the broken bone was sticking out through the skin.

The first hospital suggested that I needed an x-ray to confirm that my hand was broken. After lots of 付钱, they decided that it was, in fact, broken. However, there was nobody around who could fix the problem, as it was 3 in the morning. So they sent me to another hospital.

On arrival, I was advised that, after some more 付钱, I would have an x-ray, even though I had my x-ray film, complete with time stamp, and a bone sticking out of my hand. They confirmed my suspicions; my hand was broken. Some more 付钱 followed, after which the doctor selected to carry out the repairs diagnosed a further problem; I was a foreigner and, being a foreigner meant that I would want to sue him if things went badly. So, they suggested I find another hospital.

Marveling at how many hospitals there are in this city, I arrived at the 3rd one. Needless to say, lots of 付钱 took place, after which a doctor confronted me with the distressing news that my hand was broken. However, he said he would fix it, which made me happy. Unfortunately, I think he was trained in the army. So, I suggested a little morphine and Jimi Hendrix music might be appropriate, but he didn't feel it was necessary, as a little pain never killed anyone.

11 hours after breaking my hand, I was the proud owner of a 石膏!

Posted on: Korean or Chinese?

What's the difference between 型 and 形?

Posted on: Oil in the Middle East

Some years ago, I was running a training course for some Chinese engineers. I used to conclude the classes with a general knowledge quiz.

One day, I asked them to name 3 countries beginning with the letter 'u'. I figured the first one might be easy enough (hey, John). After much head-scratching, one guy uttered, "Europe..."

Enough said.

Posted on: Nouns Becoming Adjectives! (Part 1)

Really? I thought it was quite useful, as I'm sure others did, as we are not all professors of the Chinese language. Examples of nouns being used as adjectives are hardly Newbie material.

Posted on: The Life of a Programmer 1: Staying Up Late?

Sorry, John, but I can also see where Dilu is going with this. The dialogue is screaming out for continuation. My experience is that when both parties are as verbose as these characters are, it doesn't stop there!

Suggestion: Guy hits on the 新来的, only to discover that she is, in fact, 那个老板的女儿.....(that's how she knew about the meeting and the report being due, but you guys knew that already, right?)

Posted on: Spreading the Word on Marketing

I'm a marketing teacher in Chinese universities. We deliver programs offered by foreign institutions, which are supposed to be taught in English. However, due to inadequate English levels in some areas, Chinese is often used. So, we have agonised over the most suitable translations for some words. Here is what we use:

推广 is promotion so, in your examples, promoting a product or the use of Mandarin would be appropriate.

In English, the word 'propaganda' seems to evoke negative connotations. So, 宣传部 would probably be translated as Ministry of Communications. 宣传比较像你通过一些材料，信息，或者你说的话，就是这种手段，让别人知道 would therefore be the act of communicating.

Posted on: Making Soup

I'll drink to that!

Posted on: Bounced!

I'm impressed! All these folk who are studying at elementary level can write Chinese.

By the way, how did you manage to get Yao Ming to do the voiceover? Never met a Chinese guy with such a baritone voice.