User Comments - bodawei
bodawei
Posted on: Teaching English to the Neighbors
January 9, 2012 at 11:23 AMWe were the only foreigners in a 小区 of about 1,200 people so we were bound to be asked. My wife had a job with long hours but she happily taught a young girl as a way of being part of the community. There was plenty we got in return - we learnt quite a lot about the life of a 16 year old, such as how things worked at her high school, and about her working at a local charity on the holidays. I learnt from her about 电动车 (she got one on her 14th birthday and rode evry day.)
We were invited to dinner, swimming on the weekend, and to the movies. They gave my wife gifts, in addition to an hourly rate. And of course we had plenty of Chinese conversation with mother father and daughter.
The approach was more round about than in this dialogue - the maintenance man who we knew by name told me that 女士 (the building manager) wanted to speak to me. 女士 told me a family would like to talk to us about English lessons. I got a call from the father and arranged a meeting - father and daughter came along to discuss what help she needed and suitable times.
Posted on: Matchmaking in the Park
January 5, 2012 at 10:58 AMThanks Connie.
Posted on: Matchmaking in the Park
January 4, 2012 at 7:54 AMHi Connie
While I think of it... what about when 嘛 is not at the end of the sentence?
In the sentence 今天你干嘛啦？ does the 嘛 serve a function like 吗?
Or is 干嘛 a collocation meaning 'what are you doing?' and the 啦 turns it into 'what did you do?'
Posted on: Self-Taught Degrees in China
January 3, 2012 at 12:38 PMGrambers and Chris
It is intriguing where these words come from, how they travel, and who uses them. There is a related category - newly created words, not necessarily from English. I think these new words (whether from English or not) are created to create that generation gap. (Sorry about the 'hip'.) Some have been discussed at ChinesePod before, including those created for political references. For what it is worth my own experience is that people in their 20s mostly use these (including loan words.)
This is probably nothing more than the motivation that led my own, previous and subsequent generations to create their own words.
A young guy went out of his way to tell me the other day that young people use 菊花 to refer to the anus, and their parents have no idea. You may debate WHY this 'secret' language is required. :)
Also, one of my students (out west) said that they prefer new words created in Beijing rather than Shanghai.
There is probably a research project in this topic!!
Posted on: Self-Taught Degrees in China
January 3, 2012 at 10:07 AMYeah, it does seem that there are enough words, but they are subtly different; 逛街 for example specifically means *not* shopping ... :), 购物 is formal, and 血拼 is hip. Like snow for the Inuit, if shopping is a big part of your life, hey?
Take your point about the Shanghainese wanting to distance themselves, but here it may be the young who like to invent words to put some difference between the generations.
Posted on: Focus and Specialization
January 2, 2012 at 8:23 AMHi podster
You can say 帮他的忙, that's correct, but you can't say 帮忙他.
Actually this special case is a little confusing because you can say 帮助他，which (to me) sounds a lot like 帮忙他。 They are both verbs, with similar meanings, but their usage is not the same. 帮忙 is also a 离合词. So 忙 does also function as a verb.
I'm not sure about 拍马屁他 - it sounds alright to me but .. maybe someone else can confirm. Oh yeah, I remember 炒他的鱿鱼 from ChinesePod, but not an expression I have ever used, or heard for that matter.
Posted on: Self-Taught Degrees in China
January 2, 2012 at 7:56 AMHi Grambers - it's a loan word, from English. Loanwords I guess have always been around but in my time learning they seem to be on the increase. So it is an okay transliteration of shopping.
Posted on: Focus and Specialization
January 1, 2012 at 10:05 AM'"他生我的气"有什么意思？' (He is angry with me.)
This is quite interesting, I went looking on nciku for a couple of examples:
他告诉我他生自己的气。(He told me he feels angry at himself.)
我实在是太生他的气了。(I was so mad at him.)
Now as to the grammar I went to the text book. 生 and 气 are both verbs, Being 离合词 there are special rules similar to that which we have with 结婚 (to be married) and 道歉 (to offer an apology) .
It's not 结婚他, it's 跟他结婚。
It's not 道歉他, it's 向他道歉。
It's not 生气我, it's 生我的气。
[From 对外汉语教学语法释疑201例 #38, p.71]
Posted on: Teaching English to the Neighbors
January 9, 2012 at 12:49 PM'what on the streets?'
Currently (as far as I know) you do not need a licence to ride 电动车 on the public road - they are considered more a substitute for bicycles than cars, ha ha. That will change eventually - the government wants to regulate, bring in registration and licences, but it is being resisted. No age limit - I'm told that there is a height limit. No requirement to wear a helmet. The rules for petrol-engined bikes and scooters are much stricter.