User Comments - calkins
calkins
Posted on: Job Shopping in Modern China
May 31, 2011, 10:00 AMI don't hear that in my download. You must be hearing voices in your head. Jenny and John of all voices...you must be listening to cpod too much, time for a break :)
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 28, 2011, 07:59 AMIt can actually be pronounced both ways, yīhuǐr or yīhuìr （yìhuǐr or yíhuìr with the tone change on yi). I may be wrong, but I think it's actually more common to pronounce it yīhuìr, with the 4th tone on hui.
Posted on: The Complement 不下
May 21, 2011, 01:52 AMuser23060, I can help you with this.
我都吃了五个三明治了，实在吃不下了。
The first 了, as you probably know, indicates past tense:
我都吃了五个三明治...
I ate 5 sandwiches...
我都吃了五个三明治了，实在吃不下了。
The second 了 indicates that the action is still in progress:
我都吃了五个三明治了，
I ate 5 sandwiches [and am still eating],
So basically, he has completely finished eating 5 sandwiches and has started eating a 6th sandwich. This is one hungry dude!
The third 了 indicates that there was a change of state:
我都吃了五个三明治了，实在吃不下了。
I ate 5 sandwiches, [but now] I really can't eat anymore.
So there was a change of state from being able to eat to being so full that he can't eat anymore.
我都吃了五个三明治了，实在吃不下了。
I ate 5 sandwiches [and am still eating], [but now] I really can't eat anymore.
Regarding the second 了，usually when you have two 了's in the same sentence it indicates that something started in the past and is still continuing. Another example:
我在台北住了兩年半了。
I have lived in Taipei for 2-1/2 years [and still continue to live here].
If there was only one 了，it would indicate that something happened in the past but has since stopped:
我在台北住了兩年半。
I lived in Taipei for 2-1/2 years [but now I live somewhere else].
Hope that helps!
Posted on: A Notification Notification, and Other Happenings
May 15, 2011, 01:43 AMHi zhenlijiang. I couldn't see my bio either, then I clicked on your username and could see yours:
是个学习中文的日本人
（＾ｖ＾）
So you're right, you just can't see your own...you have to go into update profile to see it.
Posted on: Dialing a Nonlocal Phone Number
May 12, 2011, 12:38 PMI love it! I had to try it here in Taiwan (I have also always wondered). It's just a little different, but for those in Taiwan who want to know:
你所拨打的電話忙線中，請稍後再拨。
nǐ suǒ bō dǎ de diànhuà mángxiàn zhōng, qǐng shāohòu zài bō.
The recording in Taiwan also has English, but Chinese is spoken first, then English.
Posted on: Business and Investment in China - Part 2
May 12, 2011, 12:19 AMHi Jason, could you also say 复制贴上, or is that only used in Taiwan? Thanks.
Posted on: Living in Nanjing
May 11, 2011, 08:26 AM"But later on, we notice we never hear this expression, and then someone more learned in the ways of Mandarin says it is an uncommon expression."
I totally agree xiaophil. I thought it was a common expression too, and I would use it often. Then one day one of my Taiwanese friends said that Taiwanese rarely use this expression, but that it is really "cute" when a foreigner uses it.
I don't want to sound cute, and I certainly don't want to use an expression that natives rarely or never use....my American accent is a big enough hurdle.
Posted on: Welcome to ChinesePod
May 10, 2011, 10:17 AMAnybody can learn Chinese, as long as you have a little cash, a lot of perseverance, and the patience of a saint!
Posted on: The Complement 不了
May 08, 2011, 04:19 AMYou could also use 做不到, "unable to do / impossible to do":
這件事，我真的做不到，因為時間不夠。
Posted on: Speaking with 跟 (gen) and 对 (dui)
July 23, 2011, 03:21 PMI just listened to this QW and am confused with the very last example sentence:
我媽媽小時候經常對我說："你要好好學習，天天向上。"
When I was little, my mother often said to me, "You need to study hard, and improve every day."
When I read this, it seems to me to be saying:
When my mother was little, she often said to me, "You need to study hard, and improve every day."
I would think that it should be:
我小時候，我媽媽經常對我說："你要好好學習，天天向上。"
Am I completely missing something here? My gut tells me that the lesson's sentence is wrong, but it was spoken by a native speaker, so I'm thinking perhaps I am wrong.
Would someone set me straight please?