User Comments - changye

Posted on: Delivery Problems

上门送货服务 doorstep delivery service

Posted on: How Long in China

Hi cheesypoof

Good observation. I've never thought about that.

The 个 (ge) is necessary to distinguish 几个月 (how many months) from 几月 (what month). On the other hand, "how many years/what year" and "how many days/what date" are translated as "多少年(几年)/哪一年" and "多少天(几天)/哪一天(几号)" respectively in Chinese, so you don't need to add "个" before 年 and 天.

Posted on: Getting Internet at your Apartment

Hi pete

This is a nice counterpart to the computer mouse 鼠标.

Well said, hehe. I hear that modem is called "猫" (mao1) because of its pronunciation, which is similar to "modem". Chinese people are just humorous.

Posted on: To do

"搞" is not a "vulgar" word per se, at least, in modern Mandarin (putonghua). I often see a sign saying something like "搞好文明社区建设" here in China. I think that "搞" carries nuetral/informal/casual connotations.

Highly-informal words are a little difficult to properly use, especially for foreign learners of the language. As sandy30 pointed out, it might sound unnatural or funny if you frequently use "搞" before native speakers, unless you are 大山, hehe.

Some of my dictionaries say the word 搞 (gao3, do) originates in southern Chinese dialects, as is often the case with Chinese words, and it was imported to northern dialects, 北京话 included, several hundred years ago.

Posted on: Student or Teacher?

“老师” (lao3shi1) is a colloquial word that is often used in conversations. The word is commonly used when addressing a teacher, like “李老师，你好！”, or referring to a teacher, like "他是一个很好的老师。"

"教师" (jiao4shi1) also means "teacher", but this word is more formal than 老师 and often appears in written words like 教师节 (Teacher's Day) and 中国教师协会 (China Teachers Association).

When you address students, "同学" (tong2xue2) is used instead of "学生", like "同学们，你们好！" or "王同学，你好！". The word "同学" (or 同班同学, tong2ban1tong2xue2) originally means "classmate".

Posted on: Student or Teacher?

少年易老学难成  一寸光阴不可轻。
It takes a lot of time to learn something,
so we must make full use of our time.

I always feel ashamed when I hear this phrase!

Posted on: Dubai

Hi bababardwan

Let me roughly explain about 的 after an adjective by using 长.

长头发 long hair
很长的头发 very long hair
最长的头发 the longest hair
长长的头发 very long hair

长头发 works as if it were one word. The same goes for 大公司 (big company), for example. These words virtually work as "one word" in modern Chinese.

Two-character adjectives can also be used without 的 in some cases, just like 《漂亮妈妈》 and 《白色巨塔》. Both are the titles of a movie/drama.

Posted on: Dubai

Hi bababardwan

"的" is basically required to be placed after a two-character adjective such as 方便 and 漂亮, but things get a bit complicated when it comes to one-character adjectives like 白 and 大.

Posted on: To do

做 (zuo4) was made as a variant (俗字) of 作 by combining 人 and 故 probably one thousand and a few hundred years ago. The original meaning (本义) of 故 (gu4) is "make a person do somthing", and 做 (人+故) means "do/make something".

On the other hand, 作 was already used in the oracle bone scripts/bronze inscriptions ages more than three thousand years ago. In a sense, 作 is a very "authentic/traditioanl" character. As you can expect from this, 做 is more colloquial than 作.

So 作 has a tendency to appear in words and chengyu that have relatively abstract meanings, such as 作怪 and 作假. 做 is usually used when you mean doing/making something more concrete, like 做作业，做生意，做买卖，做菜 and 做爱, hehe.

Interestingly, "report" (verb) is usually translated as "作报告", but not "做报告", in Chinese. I guess it's because 作报告 connotes both "do report" and "write a report (报告书)". 作 also means "write", like seen in words such as 作文，作词，作曲 and 作家.

P/S. 做 and 作 are often used interchangeablly in phrases such as 做买卖 and 作报告, including typos, on the Internet.

Posted on: Dubai

Hi gaygo and bababardwan

这是一个很方便的便利店。

Probably I don't have much opportunity to use this a-bit-weird phrase here in China, hehe.