User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Iron Your Clothes
February 11, 2008 at 12:32 PMHi casie, Uncle change is not drunken yet, but already tipsy now. So, let me answer your question very briefly. The phrase “act big” could be translated as “把架子” or something like that in Chinese. Gee, tonight I do not have willpower to reply to other interesting comments by aert, auntie68, and nicolas. I have drunken three bottles of Budweiser with my friends. Good night, guys. 明天见！
Posted on: The Neutral Tone
February 11, 2008 at 10:48 AMHi henning, Thanks for your reply. For example, the character “得” (de2) was pronounced something like “dok” more than a thousand years ago in China. This “k” of “dok”, a geminative consonant, is called “入声” (ru4 shenn1) in Chinese phonology. 入声 started to disappear gradually after the 10th century mainly in northern China, and one of the dialects there led to modern Mandarin. 入声 is still retained in some southern dialects, such as “dak” in 广东话，”dek” in 上海话, and “det” in 客家话. In modern Japanese and Korean, “得” is pronounced “to-ku” and “duk” respectively, which nicely demonstrates that both countries imported the character from China when its pronunciation was still “dok” there.
Posted on: The Neutral Tone
February 11, 2008 at 9:49 AMHi nicolas, A modal particle “嘛” is the only Chinese character I know which has only 轻声. Do you know any other ones?
Posted on: Iron Your Clothes
February 11, 2008 at 8:45 AMHi nicolas, I have always hated preparing and reviewing a lesson since I was a child. I love basically learning something on the spot. All joking aside, actually I am a stingy free user of Chinesepod, who do not have access to the premium services but apt to “act big” here in the forum. Hi casie, I really appreciate your “covering fire”!
Posted on: 似曾相识
February 11, 2008 at 8:15 AMI am very sorry to raise a trivial problem, as always. The word “既视感” (ji4 shi4 gan3) is being mispronounced as “ji2 shi4 gan3” both in the dialogue and the lesson. As far as I know, the character “既” (ji4) is not a 多音字 (duo1 yin1 zi4). This should be just one of those “not standard but commonly used” pronunciations often seen in Chinese, which I think has been induced partly by a misspelling “即视感” (ji2 shi4 gan3). You can find a lot of them on the Internet. Google China (simplified) ○）既视感 699,000 ×）即视感 539,000
Posted on: The Neutral Tone
February 11, 2008 at 7:34 AMIt would not hurt you to learn another names for Chinese tones. You often find them when reading books on Chinese phonology and ancient poetry. There was also 入声 (ru4 sheng1), or the entering tone, in old Chinese, which has still been retained in some dialects. 第一声 is also called 阴平 (yin1 ping2). 第二声 is also called 阳平 (yang2 ping2). 第三声 is also called 上声 (shang4 sheng1). 第四声 is also called 去声 (qu4 shentg1).
Posted on: Iron Your Clothes
February 11, 2008 at 5:34 AMHi nicolas, ＞ 为什么饭后不能马上吃水果? Really? If so, that might be because fresh fruits commonly contain a high percentage of water, and they are usually cold. They could prevent the food in your stomach from digestion. 水果的水分可能阻碍食物消化。I am not sure, though.
Posted on: Iron Your Clothes
February 11, 2008 at 5:08 AMHi channa, The word “提醒” seems to have several meanings ,such as “remind”, “warn”, “alert”, and “caution”. One of typical neutral usages may be as follows. 提醒各位听众朋友，现在是凌晨五点钟。
Posted on: Finding One's seat
February 11, 2008 at 4:35 AMHi Nicolas, One of my friends, a Japanese who works for a major car manufacturer in the USA, once told me that American people are already used to and tolerant of “poor English” spoken by foreign people like us. He said that “many kinds of English” are being spoken openly by many kinds of people there. Looks like we do not have to worry unnecessarily about our English. I think the same can be said to Chinese language. There are fifty-five ethnic minorities here in China, and “thankfully” most of them probably do not speak Chinese as well as Han people, 汉族人. Furthermore, China has a lot of dialects that are still very influential among local people. We might possibly find that our Chinese skills are not so bad in Canton, 广东.
Posted on: Iron Your Clothes
February 11, 2008 at 12:35 PMHi casie, Sorry, correction. Not 把架子, but 摆架子. I seem to be a bit drunken.