User Comments - chris

Posted on: Going to the Toy Store

Just wanted to say there are some particularly good expansion sentences in this lesson from a grammar perspective - really got me thinking about the structures used.  I particularly liked this one:

已经下了一星期的雨了真烦人 (It's already been raining for a week, it's so annoying).

I would never have come up with this Chinese sentence if asked to translate the English, even though I know all the words!

Posted on: Separable Verbs

Thanks also from me Connie. This is the kind of comment on the discussion boards that I crave! I'm a bit of a grammar junkie. Thanks, Chris.

Posted on: Separable Verbs

Good post Simon. I particularly liked the "I'm watching" example....creepy indeed...

Posted on: Separable Verbs

Likewise tvan. I can't believe no locals have ever corrected me on this! I guess, as was said in the QW, that actually locals perfectly well understand the meaning so there is no need to correct me. I'm guilty of this too, I must admit, e.g. when Chinese speak to me in English, if I understand their meaning but the grammar is wrong, I more often than not let it pass in order to keep the conversation flowing.

Posted on: Introducing Oneself to the Neighbors

It's funny, looking at the title of this lesson has made me realise that I generally barely notice anymore the spelling differences between US and British English for words such as color/colour and theater/theatre, but for some reason "neighbors" is really noticeable.  Perhaps it was my daily diet of the Australian soap of the same name as a kid that's left a more lasting affinity with the '..ours' spelling for this particular word ;-)

Posted on: Introducing Oneself to the Neighbors

I can attest to that Bodawei. Sadly they do this complete gutting (whats wrong with a simple lick of paint?!) with no concern or thought for those poor souls living in the adjacent flats and the flats for several floors above and below them who have to suffer the noise pollution for weeks on end. I'm not bitter, honest! And we're talking about gutting a flat that was only built a matter of 5 or 6 years ago!

Posted on: Introducing Oneself to the Neighbors

Yep, both the other flats on my floor at OPA Shanghai have been empty and locked up the whole time I've been here. You only need to walk around the complex mid-evening and see the lack of lights to tell many of them are investment shells.

Posted on: Las Vegas

Hi CPod.  This post is meant to be helpful rather than pedantic, so please don't take it the wrong way!  The following expansion sentences have errors in the English which I have underlined below (note these are actual grammatical/spelling errors rather than differences in opinion on the translation):-

4A: "I'm just not going to ask such a gossipy question".

4B: "I'm just not going to buy such a terrible-looking piece of clothing".

6B: "You're already so fat! In the future, you can't eat snacks anymore".

Please do delete my post afterwards.  Thanks, Chris.

Posted on: Las Vegas

Yep, I've noticed this a lot in the last few days. I do all the lessons in chronological order so maybe it is just a problem with the lessons issued around March/April 2010. I hadn't experienced it on the intermediates issued before these dates.

Posted on: Monopoly, Uno, or Twister?

I had never come across Uno until a couple of weeks ago when I joined a night out with my local colleagues in Shanghai.  During the evening, the Uno cards came out and I was taught how to play (admittedly not actually that difficult).  What is the origin of this game?  Is it played much outside of China?  I never came across it growing up in the UK.  Anyway, it was interesting that my winning colleagues always shouted out "Uno" rather than "Yōunuòpái".