User Comments - calkins

calkins

Posted on: Nationalities

September 22, 2008 at 2:09 PM

I think I learned that one from Bazza or Henning. It is very useful.

Posted on: Nationalities

September 22, 2008 at 1:37 PM

Hi 20941. 你是哪里人 is Nǐ shì nǎli rén?

你是哪国人 gets 389,000 google hits...你是哪里人 gets 1,310,000 google hits, almost a million more!

你是哪国人 is more specific because it's asking "You are what country's person?"...what country are you from?

你是哪里人 is a little more broad...you could ask it to someone who lives in the same country as you, possibly asking what state/province, city, etc. that he/she lives in. But you could also ask it to someone who lives in a different country.

I think you might be referring to Jenny saying 没错 méicuò, which means "That's right."

Posted on: Street Food Buffet

September 22, 2008 at 3:54 AM

This was also very surprising for me to learn. I just learned this a few days ago from my friend from Beijing. She's in her late 40's (has lived in US for 20 years) and told me that she had learned pinyin as a child.

This blew me away because one, I thought pinyin was developed to aid Westerners in learning Chinese, and two, because it meant that Chinese would have to learn the Roman alphabet and its sounds. I could understand now, since so many Chinese children learn English, but I was surprised to learn that children learned pinyin 40 years ago!

Also, the majority of my Chinese friends have been from Taiwan and they don't seem to know pinyin at all. So this makes me wonder if it's harder for them to learn Chinese growing up (aside from the trad. character aspect).

___________________________

bababardwan, get out of my head! Basically our posts are identical.

Posted on: Reading Faces and Shanghai Architecture

September 20, 2008 at 11:52 PM

svik, I agree with bababardwan, really great photos. It's amazing that is only 25 years difference. Thinking about cities like Shenzhen, it's incredible what many Chinese cities have done in the past 30 years. I'm excited to see what the next 30 bring.

greggs, I would love to chat about it! I'll send you a PM. You must be very excited to be working in Chengdu...congratulations.

Any architects (or anyone interested) who want to learn more about architecture in China, join Adam's (urbandweller) 建筑学 group.

Posted on: Reading Faces and Shanghai Architecture

September 20, 2008 at 3:04 AM

Great DA. I really enjoyed hearing Sebastian's insight into Shanghai's architecture industry. I was an architect for 10 years (former life!), and have always been interested in learning more about the industry in China. I couldn't believe about the flip flops!

Here's a cool skyline shot of Shanghai, with a bit of the old and a lot of the new...

Posted on: Street Food Buffet

September 19, 2008 at 9:38 PM

My confidence was shattered the last time I tried to answer one of your questions, but I'll try again:) This is what I'd say:

小笼包里什么菜？
xiǎolóngbāo lǐ shénme cài？

What food is inside the steamed dumpling?

I'm not sure if 菜 cài would be the right term for "food."

Posted on: Traffic

September 19, 2008 at 7:54 PM

I've started creating vocabulary .txt files for these videos, so that I can import them into ZDT and PlecoDict.

I thought I'd share them if anyone is interested (just right-click the links below and "Save Link As"). I'll keep posting them for each video lesson. Enjoy!

ZDT

Pleco (Traditional)
Pleco (Simplified)

Posted on: At the Hair Salon

September 19, 2008 at 7:51 PM

Posted on: Trip to the Vegetable Market

September 19, 2008 at 7:49 PM

Posted on: Street Food Buffet

September 19, 2008 at 7:45 PM

I've started creating vocabulary .txt files for these videos, so that I can import them into ZDT and PlecoDict.

I thought I'd share them if anyone is interested (just right-click the links below and "Save Link As"). I'll keep posting them for each video lesson. Enjoy!

ZDT

Pleco (Traditional)
Pleco (Simplified)