User Comments - changye

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

Hi adajsfksb

I would say 你别难过，别难过了，别太难过了 or 你别伤心，别伤心了，别太伤心了 when comforting someone.

难过 （nan2guo4, be grieved）, 伤心 （shang1xin1, grieve）

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

Hi bill

Thanks a lot for the suggestive comment. Maybe "This is a pen?" is a kind of phrase we non-native English speakers usually don't get to used to. Japanese students learn "This is a pen" at school, but never "This is a pen?". The same goes for the phrase "I AM a teacher", although almost all the students learn the phrase "I'm a teacher" at school.

Posted on: I Miss Daddy!

Hi mudphud

What did you say?
刚才你说了什么？
刚才你说什么了？
刚才 (gang1cai2) = a moment ago

I beg your pardon?
请再说一遍好吗？
qing3 zai4 shuo1 yi1 bian4 hao3 ma

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

你好/对不起/谢谢 are very frequently seen/taught in Chinese textbooks, while they are less commonly used by local people here in the PRC, just like the phrase "This is a pen." often seen in English textbooks published in Japan. I don't know how many times an average American uses this "well known (in Japan)" phrase in his lifetime.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Inner Mongolia

Hi miantiao

I didn't know at all about the maps and the status of Mongolian People's Republic in Taiwan, thanks a lot for the information. The PRC considers Taiwan to be a province of China (without permission of local people), and Taiwan does the same thing to Mongolian people, haha.

Incidentally, I've just found on the Internet that it seems the Taiwanese authorities changed their policy about the map and Mongol in 2002. So I guess that recently published maps probably don't include 外蒙古 in the territory of "China" anymore.

For the record, I have a map titled "韩国全图" (the map of the Republic of Korea), which includes whole the Korean Peninsula, without the national border between south and north. 由此可见，it looks like there are a lot of "bad losers" in the world.

P/S. I also hear that 北平 is still the official name of "Peking" in Taiwan, but I don't know if it's commonly used among Taiwanese guys today, probably not, perhaps.

Posted on: Dreams of the Departed 陇西行

Hi pgwilliams222

The history of the character 胡 seems to be more complicated than I thought. It originally indicated "flabby skin under the chin of an animal", which later produced other meanings such as "beard (须, xu1)" and "western/northern barbarian". Maybe those barbarian wore a beard in ancient times. Incidentally, the 月 in this character is not "moon", but the "meat" radical.

And Chinese people made a new character 鬍 (hu2) by adding 髟 (biao1) to 胡 in order to clearly distinguish "beard" from other meanings, probably around the 18th/19th century. 鬍 is a new character, so you can't find it in 康熙字典 published in 1712. 鬍 is usually not used in the PRC anymore, and as far as I can see, both 胡子 and 鬍子 seem to be used in Taiwan. 

In the case of the poem "陇西行", the 胡 indicates "barbarian" or "western/northern", and therefore 胡尘 means "dust in barbarian land". For your information, "pepper" is translated as "胡椒" (hu2jiao1) in Chinese becasue it came from western regions. The same holds for 胡琴 (hu2qin2, a kind of 2-string bowed instrument) and 胡 (hu2ren2). 胡 （wantonly） is originated in "barbarian".

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Inner Mongolia

Hi rjberki

Just sayind 打包 would be OK. They usually ask you something like "要带走，还是在这吃？" (Do you take out, or eat here?) or "在这吃还是打包(or 带走/打包带走)？". 

要 （yao4）
还是 （hai2shi）
打包 （da3bao1）
带走 (dai4zou3)
在这吃 (zai4zhe4chi1)

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Inner Mongolia

Hi rjberki

They usually call it 打包袋 (da3bao1dai4) or 打包袋儿 in Chinese.

Posted on: 南海一号

那个国王肯定是个昏君。因为美玉有很大价值连城市都卖出去。

Posted on: Personal Ad

Hi barto

I've googled by the keyword "很有气质" and found a lot of phrases such as 很有气质的女人 and 很有气质的女星,  and as you said there are few ones about men. 现代汉语词典 shows a definition "风格" for the word "气质", which I guess the "new" usage is originated in.