User Comments - boran
boran
Posted on: Baseball
March 26, 2008 at 10:59 AMI vaguely recall studying the 是...的 （shì...de) pattern a while back but I don't remember the 是 (shì) being optional. Now I know (and knowing is half the battle). Thanks Amber.
Posted on: Baseball
March 24, 2008 at 12:03 PMRegarding the background sounds, it seems the same as what was used in the "MSN and QQ" lesson. 很便宜！ I don't want to anger the grammar gods but can you use "le" instead of "de" in the second line: "zài Táiběi xué de". That is, does "zài Táiběi xué le" make sense in anyway.
Posted on: #42
March 22, 2008 at 3:55 PMsfrrr, The transcript with English translation is posted as a comment after the contest is over. For the prior Movie Madness episodes you should see a comment from Jiaojie with the transcript of the dialog. I believe they have said the winner is picked at random since they always get several correct guesses. I'm not sure how random it is - I suspect it's just Clay pointing "eeny, meeny, miny, moe" at his inbox :).
Posted on: Insect Market and Having a Baby
March 22, 2008 at 3:04 PMWhile in China, David Beckham got a Chinese tattoo with the following saying: 生死有命 富貴在天 You can see it here .
Posted on: #42
March 20, 2008 at 11:29 AMThe dubbing accurately depicts the awful melodramatic acting that was in this movie. Clay needs to wash his mouth out with 肥皂 (féizào) after this episode.
Posted on: MSN and QQ
March 20, 2008 at 9:58 AMI had trouble hearing the ending "ng" sound in yòng (用). It sounds too much like yòu. I'm slowly getting used to hearing speakers dropping their "g"s in Chinese. After all, English speakers drop their "g"s a lot too - poor "g". However, dropping the "ng" is a new one for me. What was in the background of the dialog? It sounded like a hockey game.
Posted on: What's up?
February 27, 2008 at 5:32 AMAustralian-Jenny is bùcuò (不错). G'day.
Posted on: Hot Soup
February 21, 2008 at 4:03 AMchris1, Your question has to do with a grammar point that is confusing to me too. This is what I think is going on (grammar wizards please correct me). In the sentence "Nàge tāng hěn tàng", "hěn" is acting as a link between the noun (tāng) and the adjective (tàng) and is not necessarily translated as "very" - it may not be translated at all. There is a need for this linking adverb for the sentence to flow correctly and to make it an absolute statement. I believe without it, the phrase "Nàge tāng tàng" implies that the soup is hot in relation to something else. You will see "hěn" used a lot in this context as it serves as the default adverb to use when linking nouns with adjectives. A "Qing Wen" on this would be nice.
Posted on: Hot Soup
February 20, 2008 at 1:08 PMCode Hóng (红) ! Ken is aware of the rebellion. I repeat: the fox is in the hen house. Abort and proceed to plan B.
Posted on: Tattoos, TV and the Stock Market
March 28, 2008 at 2:52 PMFor more misuse of Chinese characters in tattoos - check out Hanzi Smatter. With regards to investing in China, my advice for newcomers would be to forgo individual stocks and look for mutual funds that specialize in China. Most major mutual fund companies (Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity etc.) have mutual funds dedicated to Asia or specific Asian countries. Other companies like Matthews specialize in no-load Asian mutual funds. At the very least, you can get ideas on individual stocks by looking at these funds' portfolios.