User Comments - arjuna856993622

Posted on: Right Ticket, Wrong Day

Thank you for this entertaining dialogue! The situation is vividly depicted and enhances the interest of this type of vocabulary. It helps remember words such as the measure word zhāng 張 for tickets and pieces of paper. In the traditional text I noticed asmall typo: shènme 甚麼 instead of shénme 什麼. For some reason it is not in the simplified version. In both texts' translation there is also a duplication of "my my."

Posted on: Evaluating Airlines

Thank you, Gwilym, for having so swiftly made the updates.

This lesson is fun and challenging because of the fast pace. Although it is politically incorrect to be so frank, the 渣男 zhānán (douchbag, scumbag, or maybe insensitive guy) has a point about the American airlines. Of course, obesity in the US is also the result of a lack of education and of the agroalimentary industry's brainwashing.

Regarding 渣男, it does not show up in common dictionaries. Because 渣 zhā means dregs (酒渣 jiǔzhā: alcohol dregs), it evokes the classical Chinese 噇酒糟漢 chuáng jiǔzāo hàn, sometimes incorrectly translated as “gobblers of dregs.” It appears in the Emerald Cliff Record (Bìyánlù 碧巖錄，碧巖录). See the Entry on “Chan and Zen.” In The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Second Edition, edited by Donald Borchert. Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2005, vol. 1, p. 729.

It would be interesting to have additional lessons focusing on Chinese slang, which is probably different in mainland China, in Hong Kong, and in Taiwan. For instance, I was also wondering about the "triads" (三合會 Sānhéhuì?) occasionally mentioned in the news.

Posted on: Evaluating Airlines

I think that the Pinyin transcription for the crucial term 空乘 has the wrong tone. 空乘 kōngchéng: flight attendant or 空乘人員 kōngchéng rényuán.

I always learned that 空 kōng when it means emptiness or sky is a first tone, whereas the fourth tone indicates a blank or free time, like in 空白 kòngbái for blank space or 空房 kòngfáng for a vacant room. Do you have free time 你有沒有空？ This is confirmed by both Pleco and Wenlin.

Did I miss something obvious or is this just a recurrent typo throughout the lesson?

Posted on: Self-Defense Course

Interesting dialogue!

Regarding the difficulty in translating the expression 別老窩在這裡 (别老窝在这里), I think that the verb 窩 wō, of course has the nuance of "nesting," evoking the classical word for nest or burrow 窠 kē, which is also used in the modern language to indicate set patterns 窠臼 kējiù.

What it also evokes is someone staying indoors, such as the male geek or nerd who stays home all the time: 宅男 zháinán (cf. Jap. otaku お宅), or the equivalent female 宅女 zháinǚ. This is the kind of vocabulary missing from dictionaries.

Maybe it sounds like "don't do the otaku!"