User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Study Abroad
February 14, 2008 at 6:59 AMHi venker31, I presume that the word your friend wants to translate is not “随绿” (sui2 lv4), but “随缘” (sui2 yuan2). Those two characters look very similar. “随缘” is a Buddhist term that has a profound meaning, and I am sorry I cannot explain it properly with my clumsy English. The word seems to mean that “to live calmly guided by the teachings of Buddha and keep a serene mind.” In modern Chinese, I imagine that it could also mean “wow, it was destiny, can’t be helped, never mind” or something like that. Click the link for more explanations. http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/38799110.html?fr=qrl
Posted on: Valentine's Day
February 14, 2008 at 4:21 AM情人节的忧郁 （七言绝句） 审判日到怎么办，年年丢脸真心寒。 自幼喜爱巧克力，还是家人总动员。 Sorry, no pinyin and translation.
Posted on: Study Abroad
February 13, 2008 at 8:38 PMWhether or not to add one more “的” is always bothering me, probably like other learners. Basically my motto about “的” is “the less, the better”, however as John said above this problem is not so simple, but rather difficult to find clear rules. I think that “中国朋友” and “中国的朋友” perhaps have different meanings respectively, at least they are not completely the same, although I do not know if native speakers actually distinguish them strictly in everyday conversation. Let me go back to sleeping. Good night.
Posted on: Finding One's seat
February 13, 2008 at 2:30 PMHi nicolas, I also did not know the word “uncouth”. I can only think of two words with the similar meaning, i.e. “unsophisticated” and “rude”. I always feel very happy every time I come across an unfamiliar word in English and Chinese here in the forum. Chinesepod is really worth visiting every day.
Posted on: The Neutral Tone
February 13, 2008 at 7:04 AMHi kakyoism, Your observation is correct. In Japanese, the entering tone already changed to open vowels a long time ago, which consequently enables you to clearly catch those ending sounds of words. But you can find some vestiges of 入声 in modern Japanese words. Let me take “学” as an example again. 学問（がくもん, study）ga-ku-mon 学校（がっこう, school）gakko = gak-ko In the case of 学問 (ga-ku-mon), you can clearly hear the sound “ku” or “く”, although its open vowel “u” is somewhat vaguely pronounced. In the latter case 学校 (gak-ko), you cannot hear “っ” or the first “k” in the word anymore. The same can be said to the word 학교 (学校, hak-kyo) in Korean.
Posted on: Study Abroad
February 13, 2008 at 6:44 AMMe too!
Posted on: 最低工资
February 13, 2008 at 6:23 AMHi goulniky, Never mind, I think that 漏 is slightly relevant to 最低工资. As the Chinese saying goes, “天网恢恢疏而不漏”, which means that you cannot get away with a crime, even though every law seemingly has a loophole. And this famous proverb could be applied to最低工资, only if you modify it like this, “天网恢恢疏而易漏”. I must say that it is really not easy to fully enforce the relevant laws and regulations in any country.
Posted on: The Neutral Tone
February 13, 2008 at 5:41 AMHi andrewm, Thanks a lot for your information on how to pronounce “学” in Vietnamese. As I wrote in my above comment, that is just what I wanted to know. Now, let me reorganize the pronunciation of the character in different regions. Actually, “学” is one of my favorite characters when talking about Chinese phonology. As you said, I also hear that 福建语 (Hokkienese) is similar to 台湾语，therefore “学” should perhaps be pronounced (hak), like that in 台湾语. Mandarin 普通话……... (xue) Japanese 日本语………. (gak / ga-ku) Korean 朝鲜语……….... (hak) Vietnamese 越南语..….. (hok) Cantonese 广东语…..… (hok) Formosan 台湾语…..…. (hak) Shanghainese 上海语... (hhok) Hakkanese 客家语..….. (hok) Teochewnese 潮州语…. (hag)
Posted on: 最低工资
February 13, 2008 at 5:36 AM如果你在我所在的小城市里打工做餐厅 服务员的话其工资顶多也不过六七百元， 一天工作十二个小时而且周末也休不了， 请一天假就被扣相当于几天工资的金额。 他们的月薪换算成时薪竟还不到两块钱。 肯德基兼职时薪仅有五块钱引起了争议， 可见上海等大城市的生活水平还是很高。
Posted on: Valentine's Day
February 14, 2008 at 7:25 AMHi Jenny and user13983, Believe it or not, in Japan November 11 is a “Pocky Day”. Please click the link to know why. http://pocky.jp/products/pocky/index.html