User Comments - changye
changye
Posted on: Evading Nosy Questions
January 25, 2008 at 9:59 AMHi John, Thank you for your survey. Apart from "rules" in textbooks, I also think that 一点 (yi1 dian3) for “one o’clock” is reasonable because you can distinguish more clearly between 一点 (yi1 dian3, one o’clock) and 一点 (yi4 dian3, a little) . Now let me go get some beer for a good night’s sleep.
Posted on: Cold from Biking
January 25, 2008 at 5:55 AMAs is always the case with life in China, I have a trouble getting enough steam at home at the moment. Some of the radiators in my apartment are dead. This is caused by the people downstairs, and they don’t listen to my complaint. Fortunately, my chubby dog seems to be very resistant to cold. But I am NOT. 屋里太冷了！(wu1 li3 tai4 leng3 le) The room is too cold!
Posted on: Evading Nosy Questions
January 25, 2008 at 5:25 AMHi aert, Let me supplement the tone rules you mentioned above. “一” is pronounced in the first tone when it is used as an ordinal number, for example, 一秒, 一分, 一月, 一号, 一刻, 第一个, 第一年, 第一周 and 一九一九年. In my textbooks, only “一点钟 (one o’clock)” is supposed to be pronounced as “yi4 dian3 zhong1”, although it is an ordinal number. But I hear that actually a lot of Chinese people tend to pronounce as “yi1 dian3 zhong1”. Hi John, I would appreciate it if you could comment on the pronunciation of “一点钟“. Thank you.
Posted on: Evading Nosy Questions
January 24, 2008 at 5:34 AMHi Jenny, Your comment really has a point. And the remaining 10% of the population might be regular members of the Census Bureau.
Posted on: Evading Nosy Questions
January 24, 2008 at 5:16 AMHi mwoodmansee, In the long run, listening to native radio stations is definitely effective in improving your listening comprehension. I still remember that I could not understand what announcers were saying at all when I first listened to VOA and FEN a few decades ago, but a few years later, of course it depends on the individual, the situation improved to a considerable extent. At the same time, I think reading a short news article everyday would be indispensable for quicker achievement of your goal, since vocabulary/phrases used in the news is rather different from that in daily conversation. I also recommend you use a pop-up dictionary to save your time. For your information, the following is the link to a list of Chinese radio stations. http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~harigaya/radio_direct.html
Posted on: The First Tone
January 23, 2008 at 3:09 AMThe first tone is really easy, and I don’t know why but the second tone is most difficult for me. I think those notorious “third tones in series” are actually not so hard. Once you get used to them, you can pronounce them properly (and easily). In fact, if it were not for “the third tones rule”, speaking Chinese would be much more difficult.
Posted on: 橄榄球在中国
January 22, 2008 at 7:48 AM无论是美式还是英式日本人很少看橄榄球。 我高中时参加过一次班际英式橄榄球比赛。 其实我天生就是个运动神经极其迟钝的人， 并且我的眼睛不好因为我天天都刻苦求学。 大家真的不好意思刚才我好像撒了一个谎， 我高度近视可能都是爱看动画漫画的原故。 闲话休提吧我那时不能带着眼镜打橄榄球， 我在比赛中理所当然地几乎分不清谁是谁， 所以只好把向我冲过来的球员都看作敌手。 这愚蠢的战术带来了一个可悲可笑的后果。 下半场我人生中的第一次擒抱就圆满成功， 可惜我阻挡的那球员果然是我球队的同学。
Posted on: Getting Your Hair Done
January 21, 2008 at 12:46 PMHi auntie68, Surely I am enjoying my life in China. Fortunately or unfortunately, I am less busy at the office than I was before in Tokyo, and more importantly I do not have to waste my precious time on commuting anymore. I can naturally spare much time for reading books, listening to music, surfing the Internet, and doing house chores, including bathing my chubby dog! The problem is that I drink more now than I did in Japan.
Posted on: Diving
January 21, 2008 at 6:32 AMI have got a cold, so I am not in the mood for diving today. But I love 郭晶晶！ http://images.google.co.jp/images?hl=ja&q=%E9%83%AD%E6%99%B6%E6%99%B6&lr=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi 跳伞 (tiao4 san3) parachute 跳高 (tiao4 gao1) high jump 跳舞 (tiao4 wu3) dance, dancing 跳楼 (tiao4 lou2) leap from a building
Posted on: Evading Nosy Questions
January 25, 2008 at 10:16 AMInternational marriage 国际结婚，国际婚姻， 跨国结婚，跨国婚姻， 国际通婚 Mixed marriage（inter-ethnic） 族际婚姻，族际通婚 Mixed marriage (inter-religion) ??????