User Comments - aprilwhite

Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 14: Seeking Comfort

I know 安慰 from the lyrics to the song 我会好好的 (I'll Be Fine) by Cyndi Wang (王心凌)

我 要 你 默 默 走,  不 回 头
Wo Yao Ni Mo Mo Zou,  Bu Hui Tou
I want you to walk away silently. Don't look back

我 会 清 楚 明 白 你 要 的 是 什 么
Wo Hui Qing Chu Ming Bai Ni Yao De Shi She Me
I'll clearly understand what you really want

不 许 勉 强 的 安 慰 我,  说 奇 怪 的 理 由
Wu Xi Mian Qiang De An Wei Wo,  Shuo Qi Guai De Li You
You don't need to force yourself to comfort me or tell me strange reasons

http://cipto-kh.blogspot.com/2007/06/wo-hui-hao-hao-de-cyndi-wang-xin-ling_07.html

Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 11: Confiding in a Conniving Friend

The end of the lesson sounded as though it was going to cue the chorus of my favorite Jolin song (檸檬草的味道):

我們都沒錯只是不適合我要的我現在才懂得
快樂是我的不是你給的寂寞要自己負責

Cool.

Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 10: The Other Woman

motti, The voice reading the expansion also uses non-standard pronunciation but, hey, high speed and non-standard pronunciation are what you can expect if you talk to anybody from China, especially the conversation is taking place in China. I do think Chinese people are polite enough to slow down and speak clearly when they are speaking to foreigners but if you want to understand, say, what people are saying on TV then that's how fast it'll be.

Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 5: Love Letter

I'm answering my own question, in a way: I just listened to a recording of Cyndi Wang in concert (as opposed to on her album) and I heard her pronounce 甜言蜜语 as tian2yan2mi4yu3.  I don't know what to make of it.

Posted on: Interviewing an Ayi

For question 7 of Exercise 1 both answers are being marked wrong.

Posted on: Internet Slang

I've seen the letter G used to refer to chicken at a restaurant here in Taiwan.

Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 6: An Old Flame

Doesn't 以为 mean "suppose"?  In exrecise 2 it matches with "to (mistakenly) recognize" and "suppose" isn't even one of the choices. 

Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 5: Love Letter

In the song Honey, Cyndi Wang pronounces 甜言蜜语 as tian2yan2mi4mi5.  Did she say it incorrectly or is this another way of saying the same thing?

Posted on: Is China Scary?

xiaophil,

I think I was quite clear.  Wars are scary so any country that has the capability to fight is scary.  I mentioned that some of the wars that the U.S. fought in were ones in which they invaded, ie U.S. soil was not attacked before hand.  Afghanistan is a unique case: the U.S. invaded Afghanistan but the U.S. had also been attacked by Al Queda which was operating out of Afghanistan at the time.

You'll notice in a later post I mentioned that criticizing the U.S. is viewed as "anti-American".  This is, unfortunately, a way to quell debate.  I think the lesson is guilty of the same thing: the Western media is accused of "exagerating" and being "negative" when all they might be doing is reporting the news.  People are warned to not follow the American media for fear of being "misled".  Again, the analogy is quite clear.

Does "scary" have a negative connotation to you?  What if I were to have said "powerful" in the military sense?  That's pretty much the same thing.  I'm reminded of the line from Iron Man: "They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I prefer the weapon you only need to fire once. That's how dad did it, that's how America does it, and it's worked out pretty well so far."  That was before Tony Stark came to realise that the other side can also acquire the same weapons.

Posted on: Is China Scary?

Tal,

Many times in the past people have argued that the world can only sustain a certain number of people and then there will be chaos but the fact is that in terms of health, education and food supply the human race is better off than we ever were.  One good thing about modernisation is that people want to have fewer children so that they can afford to educate them all properly.  That is what is going to save us in the end: in most industrialised counties couples have, on average, only two children which is merely what is required to sustain the population.

miantiao