User Comments - cinnamonfern
cinnamonfern
Posted on: Introducing Kids to Each Other
June 2, 2011 at 12:19 PMGoing off on your tangent.... :D That's the U.S. soft-t phenomena. We often turn them basically into "d"s. In Michigan we also often replace double t's (but not every one) with a glottal stop. You don't even make a sound, you just stop the airflow in the back of your throat. Jason probably does this if you listen.
Posted on: Introducing Kids to Each Other
June 1, 2011 at 4:33 PMI was replying to utha about the 我知道了 comment (that does have the 了). I seem to remember John saying before that this doesn't mean "I already know", but "Ok, got it" - maybe from this other lesson. In the dialogue they have 我知道了 as meaning "Ok, got it" the same thing as 我知道 (as was explained in this lesson). But I find it odd that it means the same thing whether you have the 了 or not. Before today I assumed 我知道 meant "I know".
So my question now is - if I want to be snarky, how do I actually say "I know". As in "I already know that...why are you telling me."
Posted on: Studying Chinese
June 1, 2011 at 2:58 PMI recommend using Skritter if you want to improve your writing ability. It's not very expensive ($9.95/month) and it helps a lot. It also helps with character recognition - as you write more, you recognize more. You can also directly import from your CPod vocab list into Skritter - very useful!
Posted on: Introducing Kids to Each Other
June 1, 2011 at 12:07 PMThis is the 了 that indicates a change of state, not the past tense modifier. So it means that the person went from not knowing (state 1) to knowing (state 2). Like bodawei says it basically means "I understand now".
Posted on: Shopping in China
May 31, 2011 at 5:04 PMVery cool!
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 30, 2011 at 12:26 PMHee hee.
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 30, 2011 at 12:25 PMYeah, I was actually pretty disappointed that it was just a 'ferry'. But it's easy to remember. :)
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 29, 2011 at 2:10 PMWow...well I never saw a crow in China, but I saw TONS of magpies. Long tails, white bars on the wings, about crow-sized. I figured they were as ubiquitous as crows are in the U.S. I even saw some people I thought might be hunting them with crossbows...At least they sure looked like they were carrying crossbows. Not sure what else they might be hunting in Hebei in January. I didn't know Chinese people could even own crossbows.
Oh, and my Chinese friend told me they call the boat in my picture a 渡船 - a ferry.
Posted on: Rowing a Boat
May 28, 2011 at 2:09 PMHmm...this boat doesn't show up in google images though when I search for 画舫. I think the boat in the picture might have a different term because the 画舫 that show up (which I also saw on 西湖) have a larger, differently shaped canopy on top and they are brightly painted.
Posted on: Introducing Kids to Each Other
June 2, 2011 at 12:24 PM:D I like "snarky". It's a great slang word.
And thanks for the 这我知道!