User Comments - bill

Posted on: Stopping at a Friend's Farm -- 过故人庄

I've found an excellent book on Amazon.com on Tang Dynasty poetry:

"How to Read a Chinese Poem," by Edward C. Chang.

It's a bilingual anthology of Tang Dynasty poetry.

I've not yet listened to the poem. More later.

Bill

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

Hi changye,

"But please be noted that instead native people usually speak a lot of things at high speed probably in order to compensate the brevity of their mother tongue, haha."

The real solution to this is to live in China. I once thought the Parisiens spoke quickly but after 40 or so visits of multiple weeks, and having several friends from Paris here with whom I can speak, I've no problems of understanding.

Learning a language is very much like sport. One must play the game actively. It's the only way to return a 100+ mph serve in tennis. After a while one seems to have plenty of time. Our minds are amazing!

好的。在这里很晚。我累了...

Bill

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

Hey changye,

In a conversation dropping the 别／不要 would be surprising to me (I've never heard it), but I think in the context of a friend's home, one would feel the sense of the expression. This is good information in any case.

I was in Paris last Summer with my wife, and we both are fluent in French. One of our favorite restarants is a Chinese restaurant, 红西酒家. We were having lunch and chatting away in French, and then ordered our food in Chinese (thank you Cpod), and spoke with the 服务员, and the owner a bit.

What I found interesting is that not a single complete sentence was said.We got a real sense of daily Chinese conversation. Abbreviated as you point out!

One might also note that the French customers were somewhat amazed about people speaking French and Chinese as remedial as our Chinese conversation was.

And speaking of cultural differences, the French always say thank you and you are welcome, and there are casual to very formal ways to do this.

For the French being polite is extremely important, and very much appreciated, and, in fact, can initiate friendships. 我们爱法国和有很多法国朋友们. We've visited France some 40 times. China is in the pipeline so to speak. Perhaps in 2010.

Bill

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

reigau,

"hey bill, you gotta 打网球 not 大网球！;-)"

I think you realize that was a typo (actually twice). But, reminders are always welcome. Makes me think that I never make "typos" when I write 汉字 by hand. The mind, hand, pen binding is much more natural than a keyboard.

Now, what might Big tennis mean? (-:

Bill

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

bababardwan,

"Where is the best place to send such requests?"

I was going to ask the same thing. I've sent requests to the chinesepod email address and they just disappear.

I've often thought of just saying, hey gang, 怎么说  ...? during one of these sessions. I'm sure I'd get my answer right away - most likely several along with an historical perspective given the collective of expertise.

Bill

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

现在是八点：是星期天早上和我刚才睡醒了.  我要答应，但是我马上就要大网球了. 现在是十点半：我回家了.  大网球总是很好玩！

To use one of Henning's recent remarks, I'm sorry is an "overloaded" expression in English, and as such, does not always translate directly into Chinese. Jenny, Connie and Pete pointed this out. Another example:

Imagine I just spilled a glass of red wine on Jenny's white blouse, then I'd say something, "I'm sorry, please, let me pay to have it dry cleaned."

That's a straight forward appology. And, I imagine, 对不起 works here too.

On the other hand, as the 请问 team clearly pointed out, if someone's pet dies, then, if in English I say, "I'm so very sorry about this," then this is not an appology, but rather expresses, understanding, compassion, sympathy, sadness, etc ..., to a person who is very upset. It's something we feel as native speakers and are somewhat clueless when learning another language.

If I said, and one of changye's 你别难过，别难过了，别太难过了 or 你别伤心，别伤心了，别太伤心了, then I'd actually would have insulted the person who is feeling grief. In America  we actually validate a person's grieving, sadness, etc. as an understandable state. And one might say, "It's good to feel this way. We understand."

I think 请问 has always tried to help us cross these cultural divides, and in a way that appeals to all learning levels.

They did this well enough today but yes, the program was just a little lean. 没问题 (-:

As a final suggestion, I think relative newcomers should go back and review as many old 请问 shows as you can. They are jewels and you will learn so, so much.

Bill

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

Hi chengye,

"just like the phrase "This is a pen." often seen in English textbooks published in Japan. I don't know how many times an average American uses this "well known (in Japan)" phrase in his lifetime."

Let's see, I'm 68 years old, and I'm not sure I've ever said, "This is a pen," in your context, but I have said, "This is a pen?" Usually meaning that it was out of ink, or broken.

Bill

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Inner Mongolia

matt_c,

Nice translation. Seems you forgot the closing, 很好玩儿 (hěn hǎowán er)。Very fun !

My wife and I lived in an American Indian Teepee for about 3 weeks in 1970. It was on a friends farm in a small town South of San Francisco called Aromas. Dung beetles crawled about the floor at night. Happily, our beds were elevated. They are harmless.

Bill

Posted on: Personal Ad

cassielin and chengye,

There is a 1998 Taiwanese film, 征婚启事 (The Personals) about a young woman seeking male companionship. It's excellent:

Original title: 征婚啟事.
Directed by: Chen Guofu.
Written by: Chen Guofu and Chen Shijie.
Cast: Rene Liu, Bai Wu, Chen Chaozhong, Gu Baoming, Qin Shijie.
Cinematography: He Nanhong.
In Mandarin with English subtitles.

From what I've read 非诚勿扰 is based on this film.

Bill

Posted on: Personal Ad

Ah, the "The Personals," as we call them here. The interesting ones first appeared in the Berkeley Barb, and Village Voice back in the 60's/70's.

I've two close friends, one Japanese and the other American, have met and have very long term relationships via personal adds. My Japanese friend met her 男朋友 on the Internet, and the American friend met his wife via newspaper Personals. The latter couple has been married for 20 years now.

They both are shy about mentioning this but, hey, there are a lot of lonely people out there. It's super that they can find friendship, and sometimes marraige this way.

Bill