User Comments - chris
chris
Posted on: Meeting the Girlfriend's Parents
March 5, 2011 at 5:48 AMIt's been a while, but at last a 'eureka' moment. The first Intermediate lesson that I've completely followed all Jenny's speech! I can usually hit around 70-75% these days, but at last I've hit the jackpot. Knew the hardwork would pay off eventually.
Regarding the cultural insights at the end of the lesson, I so didn't get the importance of my first meeting with my now wife's parents - thinking of it as the same as meeting a girlfriend's parents in the UK for the first time. I'm now understanding better how it was that I was suddenly married a matter of short months afterwards ;-).
Posted on: Keeping 收 and 受 Straight
March 4, 2011 at 3:58 PMBrilliant QW. And I also heard a new English word "prototypical" not only once but twice from John! I knew 'prototype' but don't think I've ever heard 'prototypical'! Good stuff. Thanks, Chris.
Posted on: Keeping 收 and 受 Straight
March 4, 2011 at 3:56 PMIf I understood this QW correctly, I thought 受 was for abstract things and 收 was for concrete things. So why would accepting credit cards be 受? Are we treating "credit" as an abstract concept rather than concrete? Thanks, Chris.
Posted on: Old China Hand
March 4, 2011 at 3:15 PMObviously this is very subjective, but regarding the 4th condition for being an 'old hand' that was discussed, that of how long the person has been living in China, I certainly don't think almost 3 years is sufficient to warrant being "an old hand". I would reserve the term 'old hand' to those expats that have been here since the late 80s/early 90s. I've been working here for a little over 4 years now but I still think of myself as having just got off the boat (or should that be plane ;-) ) and a newbie in terms of "old handedness"!
Posted on: The Left-handed Child
February 28, 2011 at 3:06 PMIs this the classic "shì........de" grammar pattern?
Posted on: The Left-handed Child
February 28, 2011 at 2:48 PMI hope you're right tingyun otherwise I'd be worried about the ethics that teacher was instilling in the pupils (还手 appears to mean to hit back or retaliate according to my pop-up translator!).
Posted on: Asking for a Raise
February 28, 2011 at 5:21 AMThanks again Connie. Good to know that despite my attempt being Chinglish, it's still grammatically correct. The little semi-victories are important! Thanks, Chris.
Posted on: Asking for a Raise
February 28, 2011 at 5:19 AMThanks Connie, got it.
Posted on: Asking for a Raise
February 27, 2011 at 1:03 PMAnother grammar query, this time expansion sentence 2c: 我们努力了那么久, 最后都成了他的功劳. I don't quite understand the second part of this sentence which is apparently saying "in the end he got all the credit". Is the "成了/to become" referring to all the hardwork mentioned in the first part of the sentence, i.e. all the hardwork "became" his credit?
If I'd been asked to translate the sentence I would have used "但是最后他得到了全的功劳" for the second part to say "but in the end he got all the credit". Would my translation be grammatically correct? I guess it just sounds a bit Chinglish?!
Thanks, Chris
Posted on: Meeting the Girlfriend's Parents
March 5, 2011 at 6:32 AMAny chance of a QW on "to become"? In one of the expansion sentences there is the expression "成为" translated as "to become" which I've never come across before. There is also the phrase "当了" that I've seen used to mean "to become". I'm sure there are others I've seen in lessons as well, but can't think of them off the top of my head. I usually go for "当了" but I quite like the look of "成为" so may give this one a go in future and see what reaction I get!