User Comments - chris

Posted on: I'm really full!

Thanks Lujiaojie, I get it now.  Interesting that we don't need the "yao4 (to want)".  I guess this is just another example of how efficient the Chinese language is!  Thanks again, Chris.

Posted on: I'm really full!

Expansion sentence 1(a) - "wo3 zhen1 de bu4 chi1 le".....

I would've translated this as "I really didn't eat" rather than "I really don't want to eat".  Surely if the latter, then one needs a "yao4" immediately before the "chi1"??

thanks, Chris

Posted on: Feeling Nauseous

Expansion sentence 4(b) - I believe there is an error in the pinyin roll-over.  "kan" should be 4th tone not 1st tone, right?

thanks, Chris

Posted on: How Far Away are You From Understanding 离？

Light

Fantastic effort with the PDF! For me, it's not the characters my laptop has a problem with, it's the 3rd tone in pinyin - all I get is a little square in place of the letter and tone mark.  Very annoying, hence why i rely on the PDFs.

Chris

Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 10: The Other Woman

Thanks miantiao, I understand now.

Chris

Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 10: The Other Woman

Hi all,

A grammar question.  In the following Expansion sentence, what function does the "lai2" have?  Is it part of a grammar structure?  And is it necessary - does the meaning of the sentence change if we simply omit it?

Thanks, Chris

他真想拥有一点私人空间来做自己喜欢的事。
He really wants to have a little private space to do the things he likes. 1 (He really wants to have a little private space to do the things he likes.)

Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?

I can understand why businesses may want to group together - if they are individually isolated in different parts of a city, a casual customer may simply think it too much hassle to try and find a suitable place.  If, however, the casual customer knows that there is one place in the city which has all the relevant shops together then he is more likely to indulge himself.  The shopkeepers grouped together have probably concluded that the upside of attracting more casual shoppers outweighs the downside of increased price pressure from close proximity of competitors.

And, coincidentally, Fuzhou Lu mentioned above evidences the application of the above rule to myself.  I'm not an artist by any stretch, but the wife loves painting.  When buying her last birthday present, having all the art shops in once place on Fuzhou Lu was definitely a deciding factor!

Chris

Posted on: Reporting a Loss

Hi all, re: banking in China.......

just an observation based on my experiences (and I haven't lost a card yet, fingers-crossed!).  For my first year or so here (Shanghai) I couldn't believe how people put up with the queues in Bank of China.  I must admit I opened an account there only because there was a branch very close to where I lived.  Everything seemed so bureaucratic, involving form-filling and box-ticking, and don't get me started on transferring currency in from overseas (I'm still paid in my home country).  Following the entry of some of the big international players like HSBC into the market I have switched and would definitely recommend it.  I have never experienced a queue and for those fellow laowai out there, you can link in your home country accounts with your China account which makes things much much more efficient and easier.  This isn't meant to be a plug for any bank in particular - just an observation from my day to day life here, for anyone interested.  Over time, I suspect the local banks will benefit from this competition and overall standards of efficiency should rise.

Chris

Posted on: Tech Upgrades and Farming!

I just tried the Anki export.  It works in the ".txt" file format.  However, in Anki I am only getting Hanzi and English.  How do I change it to Pinyin and English.  I'm only interested in learning speaking/listening at moment and will worry about characters later.

Thanks! chris

Posted on: Gone Fishing

Hi What is the function of the "zhe" here: 挂着 (gua4zhe) in the expansion sentence about the world map hanging on the wall.  Is it the "zhe" that sometimes suffixes the verb where the verb is a continuing action?

thanks, Chris.