User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Turn Right, Turn Left
October 19, 2009 at 6:16 AMHi bodawei and tal
On second thought, transliterated words in Japanese might be, in general, "a little less disastrous" than those in Chinese with regard to pronunciations (compared to original ones), partly because Chinese characters have tones, which make sounds of transliterated words strange to foreign guys, just like "达尔文" （da2 er3 wen2）.
Posted on: Turn Right, Turn Left
October 19, 2009 at 12:55 AMHi tal,
Having read your above comment, (as far as "Darwin" goes) I've come to think that transliterated names in Japanese might be "slightly" better than those in Chinese, hehe. In Japan, "Darwin" is pronounced as "daawin". I suppose that Darwin would prefer the Japanese version of his name.
Posted on: Turn Right, Turn Left
October 19, 2009 at 12:10 AMHi bodawei
Good point. That might be more true with Japanese names, such as Tokyo, Honda, and Toyota, because of the simple pronunciation system of Japanese. Pronunciations of transliterated names in Japanese are as disastrous as those in Chinese.
Thanks to pīnyīn we can pronounce a Chinese name exactly as a native (after several years practice);
Posted on: Where's the bathroom?
October 18, 2009 at 2:05 PMHi cheesypoof
The usage of "(是)～的" is a little tricky for us learners. Let me try to explain it with "看到". This structure emphasize "when, where, who, how" and is used when you ask or explain about these information. Below is a typical dialogue.
A 我昨天看到了老王。
I saw Mr.Wang yesterday.
B 你（是）在哪儿看到他的？
Where did you see him?
A 我(是)在医院看到的。
I saw him at a hospital.
Please be noted that a "(是)～的" sentence is usually not used as "a starter" of a new topic in conversation, and this is the reason the above dialogue starts with "我昨天看到了老王", but not with "我(是)昨天看到老王的".
As for "我（是）在二十四楼看到的" (I saw it on the 24th floor), mentioned in Nicolas' post, this sentence should be used as an answer to a question such as "你（是）在几楼看到小狗的？" (On which floor did you see a dog?)
A 刚才我看到了一只小狗。
I just saw a dog.
B 你（是）在几楼看到小狗的？
On which floor did you see the dog?
A 我（是）在二十四楼看到的。
I saw it on the 24th floor.
Sorry for the poor explanation.
Posted on: Turn Right, Turn Left
October 18, 2009 at 7:42 AMI thought that the guy in miantiao's avatar was "Crocodile Dundee" (鳄鱼邓迪, e4yu2 deng4di2), or something like that.
Posted on: Is China Scary?
October 18, 2009 at 4:03 AM我每天都看中国国内新闻，觉得太好玩儿，我似乎已经上瘾了。中国天天发生许多让人难以置信的事件，既有残酷的又有流泪的，当然还有气死人的，这有时让我感到对中国社会的恐怖。
Posted on: What's up?
October 18, 2009 at 12:55 AMHi gullak
You guessed it right. The same goes for the pinyin of "一" (yi1), which is always shown (also in dictionaries) as first tone regardless of its actual tone (yi1,yi2,yi4) in conversation. Personally I don't like this.
> That is bu4 turns from fourth tone to second tone because jian4 is in fourth tone?
Posted on: Turn Right, Turn Left
October 17, 2009 at 8:33 AMHi jimijames
I guessed it right! There is also "中拐" in the region in China.
http://ditu.google.cn/maps?f=q&source=s_q&view=text&hl=zh-CN&gl=cn&q=%E4%B8%AD%E6%8B%90&btnG=%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2%E5%9C%B0%E5%9B%BE (Google Map)
Posted on: Nothing More Than Only and Just
October 17, 2009 at 3:05 AMHi xiaophil
"只" usually modifies a word placed just after it, on the other hand, "只是～（而已）" modifies the "fact/phrase" placed between 只是 and 而已 (which is sometimes omitted) .
我只要十块钱。 I only need ten RMB.
我只是想要十块钱(而已)。It is just/only/merely that I wanted ～.
Posted on: 混合动力车
October 19, 2009 at 1:11 PM不开汽车很环保，不买汽车最省钱。
走路上班真健康，路上偶尔捡到钱。