User Comments - chris
chris
Posted on: The Little Tadpoles in Search of Their Mother
June 25, 2011 at 5:57 AMLoved the exchanges between John and Dilu on "guaguagua" vs " 'ribbit, 'ribbit". Great stuff and very funny, if not particularly educational!
Posted on: The Little Tadpoles in Search of Their Mother
June 25, 2011 at 4:30 AMThere was a Cpod newsletter on this very question about 3-4 weeks ago. Apologies, I don't know how to find it on the site (it is sent out as an email to subscribers), but it was a good summary of the differences and how to use them. Maybe the search function might find it.
Posted on: Shanghai Expo: Haibao
June 23, 2011 at 11:38 PMhi bertson, jenny says “好，谢谢大家收听，我们下次再见" (hǎo, xièxiedàjiāshōutīng, wǒmen xiàcì zàijiàn". shōutīng = to listen to.
Posted on: Ordering Fancy Coffee
June 20, 2011 at 12:36 PMThat trenta sounds scary. I suspect you'd spend half the day drinking it and the half relieving yourself of it!
Posted on: When Opposites Collide (1)
June 20, 2011 at 10:14 AM谢谢Connie明白了
Posted on: Ordering Fancy Coffee
June 20, 2011 at 4:58 AMThanks for the thoughts everyone! I actually tried 一杯大杯美式 this morning and it didn't raise any eye-brows, although to be honest after several years of being pretty much the first customer each day, the staff on the morning shift know my breakfast order off by heart anyway.....
Posted on: Manly Men and Womanly Women
June 20, 2011 at 12:01 AMGood point baba, I guess I never think of 'sir', 'madam', 'miss', etc as sexist so was simply transplanting that view to the Chinese terms. I guess if one takes a particularly extreme view of sexism then the very fact that we make distinctions between male and female is itself sexist. But this would somewhat ignore a basic fact of life.
Posted on: Leisure-time Activities and Mahjong
June 19, 2011 at 11:34 PMYes, I also appreciated Miss He's pronunciation. It's amazing the difference it makes to my listening comprehension when someone with a very clear, standard Mandarin pronunciation speaks. Unfortunately, it gives me a false sense of security since back on the mean streets of Shanghai again this morning, I'm struggling as usual!
Posted on: Manly Men and Womanly Women
June 19, 2011 at 11:29 PMI'm also not sure where the sexism lies in any of those three terms of address. I'm personally much more concerned about the ageist implications - I never know whether I'm going to offend someone by using a term of address that should be used for someone older, etc. For example 先生 vs 大爷 for men and 太太 vs 小姐 for women. At the end of the day, it's generally easy to tell the difference between male and female but I find age determination much more difficult in China.
Posted on: The Little Tadpoles in Search of Their Mother
June 25, 2011 at 6:16 AMWhy does 高兴地喊 have a 地 but 赶紧喊 not have a 地?