User Comments - chris

Posted on: A Rarely Washed Car

Zhen, I was thinking I haven't seen Changye's posts for a while. Is there any reason he's no longer here (I more than likely missed a thread on this at some point given my somewhat erratic usage of Cpod the last year or so!). Thanks, Chris

Posted on: A Rarely Washed Car

In one of the expansion sentences the word "吃光了/chīguāng le" is used to indicate that the chocolates are completely eaten up.  Could we also use "吃完了/chīwán le" for the same meaning or would it mean something different.  I'm thinking the "guāng" indicates the chocolates were eaten until even the last one in the box was gone.  However, the "wán" indicates that the person has eaten chocolates until they are personally full and can not continue eating any more, which may or may not result in the box of chocolates itself being empty.  Am I on the right track?  I hate complements!!

Thanks, Chris

Posted on: How to Protect the Environment

别怕，我会保护你的 (bié pà, wǒ huì bǎohù nǐ de)

Don't be afraid, I will protect you.

Is the "de" necessary in this sentence?  Is it marking the absence of an omitted noun at the end of the sentence, I am assuming "body", i.e. the fuller sentence would be: bié pà, wǒ huì bǎohù nǐ de shēntǐ （别怕我会保护你的身体)?

Posted on: A Visit to the In-laws

Thanks toianw

Posted on: How to Protect the Environment

Coincidentally, I just last night studied the QW episode that dealt with the use of "起来" as indicating the start of something.  So, I had a pleasant "aha!" moment during the last sentence of this lesson's dialogue.  However, one question - shouldn't it be "做起来" rather than simply "做起" or is this just an example of where the strictly correct grammar would be the former but in reality people only say the latter?

An answer to the above would help cement my understanding of both this lesson and the QW episode that dealt with it!

Thanks, Chris

Posted on: How to Protect the Environment

Hi Ji_li, having just done the exercises I had exactly the same thought. In these instances I would much rather have additional listening tests in the following section. Listening comprehension, at least for me, is the area that needs the most work.

Posted on: A Visit to the In-laws

Grammar pattern question:  虽然。。。但 (sui1ran2....dan4)

Is the above a standard grammar construct in Chinese?  Specifically, is the "dan4" absolutely necessary in order to be grammatically correct? - I ask because it is not in English, e.g. we would say 'Although I am busy, I find time everyday to study Chinese', we would not say 'Although I'm busy, BUT I find time everyday to study Chinese'.

Thanks, Chris

Posted on: A Visit to the In-laws

In Expansion sentence 2c:- 你怎么老夸自己长得帅啊

What purpose does the "长得/zhang3 de5" have? Is it actually redundant, i.e. would the sentence still be ok and have the same meaning if we omitted the "zhang3 de"?

I always thoughts "zhang3 de" implied "growing up", e.g. growing from a child into an adult, so is the meaning of this sentence more akin to "why are you always talking about how handsome you have become?", i.e. implying he was ugly when younger but is now handsome?

thanks, Chris.

Posted on: Eating Idioms, Part 1

I think the reference was that the "sugar mama" has the sugar, i.e. the cash that is being used to support the couple. The converse would be the "sugar daddy", i.e. when a woman takes up with a richer, usually older (hence the "daddy") man (i forget the names but a good infamous example would be when that playmate married the oil baron old enough to be her grandfather a few years back in the states).

Posted on: Bank Transactions

Just as a heads-up, on the other side of the equation is the fact that foreigners are capped at USD50k per annum of money transfers into China. So if, for example, you are working in China but still paid in your home country this is the most that you'll be able to transfer into China from your home country. I'm not sure of the current rules for getting it back out again if you don't use it all - but as others have said above, I would think that if you have the original transfer documents then it shouldn't be a problem. Given RMB only seems to be going one way at the moment against other currencies, I suspect the cap is in place to prevent too many 'hot money' flows from foreigners trying to take a punt on exchange gains!