User Comments - changye

Posted on: Stopped at the Gate

Hi sebire,

Yes, there are three versions, near/a bit far/far in Japanese. For example, you need to distinguish "この人 (this guy)", "その人 (this/that guy)", and "あの人 (that guy)" according to situation. Even my Chinese boss, he is an excellent Japanese speaker, sometimes make a mistake in using the three words.

Hi tvan,

Non-native English speakers, like me, sometimes have difficulty using "it/this/that" properly, for instance, "Why do you say that (it/this) ?" or "We are not that stupid!".

Posted on: No Need to Take off Your Shoes

Hi wxgcathy and rjberki,

Thanks for your info. No wonder I've never seen 鞋套 in China. I've never been to those places before, haha.

Posted on: No Need to Take off Your Shoes

Hi wxgcathy,

Really? I've never seen 鞋套 in China so far. Please let me know where they are used. 平房，公寓，医院，办公室，or 学校？ I'm very curious about that. Thanks.

Posted on: Stopped at the Gate

Hi sebire,

The usage of 这么 and 那么 is not so difficult compared to that of "こんなに(这么)、そんなに(那么1)、あんなに(那么2)" in Japanese. We native Japanese instinctly use them correctly, but learners of Japanese often use them incorrectly.

Posted on: No Need to Take off Your Shoes

Hi Jack,

进口 (jin4 kou3) = import, arrive in port
出口 (chu1 kou3) = export, sail out

从美国进口牛肉 import beef from the US
把牛肉出口到日本 export beef to Japan

Posted on: No Need to Take off Your Shoes

Hi sushan,

Please be careful not to say "拖脱鞋" (tuo1 tuo1 xie2) when you want to say "脱拖鞋" (tuo1 tuo1 xie2), although you can make yourself understood in either case, haha.

I guess that the stupid Japanese guests must be from the Imperial family! I, a native Japanese, have never cared about slippers when entering a friend's house here in China.

Do you know "袜套" (wa4 tao4)? There are two kinds of "袜套". One is "leg warmer", and another is traditional "foot cover (?)". I like to wear the latter before steam heating starts.

Modern 袜套 (leg warmer)
http://yantai.dzwww.com/nx/fszb/200703/t20070321_2067642.htm
Traditional 袜套
http://detail.cn.china.cn/provide/detail,1311250190.html

Incidentally, "boots" is 靴子(xue1zi)/长靴(chang2 xue1) in Chinese.

Posted on: No Need to Take off Your Shoes

What is the most dirty thing among the three, floor, slipper and your feet? That is the question.

Posted on: Buying a Plasma TV

Hi John,

According to the latest research result, plasma TV has only 10% and 20% shares of the flat-screen TV in Japan and the US respectively. And it seems that the same holds for the Chinese TV market. Please look at this news article titled “液晶电视市场占有率远大于等离子电视”. So I still don't think that defining “液晶电视” as “plasma TV” is  appropriate.

http://www.2gosen.com/Html/dianshiji/dianshixinwen/2008/1/10514814.htm

Posted on: Buying a Plasma TV

Hi John,

Thanks for your detailed explanation. In Japan, the term "plasma TV" is commonly used to distinguish it from "LCD TV". Haha, Japanese people are really particular about home electric appliances!

Judging from you comment, I think that Chinesepod should have defined "液晶电视" as "flatscreen TV" or something like that, because "液晶电视" doesn't always indicate "plasma TV" in China. Tks.

P/S. Gee, there is the Chinese term "平板电视" for "flatscreen TV"!!

Posted on: Stopped at the Gate

Hi guys,

Let me copy and paste my comment posted in hitokiri's thread.

http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/3688#comment-98747

It's my understanding that "这么" is basically used when talking about something happened just in front of you, and "那么" is for something a bit "far away".

So, I would say "你怎么这么笨！" when my chubby dog did a stupid thing before me. On the other hand, "你怎么那么笨" would be used when taking about her stupid behavior done in the past or at other places.

I guess it also depends on how you feel about something, in other words, it depends on “mental distance”. For instance, you might say "亲爱的，你怎么这么可爱" to yourself, vividly visualizing your pretty girlfriend, but you can also say "你怎么那么可爱" when thinking about her.