User Comments - egret
egret
Posted on: Revisiting Before and After
May 12, 2011 at 10:20 PMCan you also use 几天后 jǐtiānhòu (in a few days), or 后天几 hòutiānjǐ (for the next few days)?
Posted on: When Opposites Collide (2)
May 5, 2011 at 12:03 PMI agree it's one of the most interesting parts of the Chinese language and easier to learn than specific works like size, length, height as per most languages.
Posted on: Cold Cucumbers in Sauce
March 30, 2011 at 8:15 PMI saw a chinese chef on a UK tv show (Saturday Kitchen) who commented that in Europe it's normal to cut into slices or straight pieces whereas the Chinese usually cut diagonally in a cross pattern.
Posted on: Marco Polo in China
January 30, 2011 at 12:07 PMIt would make sense. All the countries around China have tonal languages so it would be easy not to consider tones a distinct part of language at all.
I don't know about the Jesuits but the Pidgin English discussed by merchants is interesting - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Pidgin_English
Posted on: Marco Polo in China
January 25, 2011 at 11:34 PMYes. There was also a book a decade or so ago by Frances Wood who was head Chinese Reader at the British Library called Did Marco Polo go to China? - http://www.amazon.com/Did-Marco-Polo-Go-China/dp/0813389992 . She argues that there are huge number omissions from Macro Polos account about China like not mentioning foot binding, tea drinking, the great wall, calligraphy. As well as historical errors such as supposedly witnessing a battle that occurred two years before he left, a lack of a contemporary records of the trip in Chinese, Venetian, Papal, and Ottoman archives archives. And the book shows no sign of someone who speaks Chinese because it refers to Chinese places by there Arabic, Farsi, or Turkish names . And concludes that it is more like that the journey was compilation of stories and information from the silk road in central asia written into a first hand account.
Posted on: Marco Polo in China
January 25, 2011 at 11:19 PMThere is quite a famous poem by Samuel Coleridge - Kubla Khan:
In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree :Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to manDown to a sunless sea....And all who heard should see them there,And all should cry, Beware! Beware!His flashing eyes, his floating hair!Weave a circle round him thrice,And close your eyes with holy dread,For he on honey-dew hath fed,And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Posted on: Tea Tasting
January 12, 2011 at 10:47 PMTop grade tea is very expensive outside china as well. I went to Darjeeling a couple of years ago, and at a tea plantation they were saying grade 1 Darjeeling (Silver Tips) are at least $1000 US per Kilo, sometimes much more.
Posted on: Trick or Treat!
November 3, 2010 at 10:11 AMHalloween has become much bigger in the UK as well. 20 years ago it was seen more as an American thing.
Posted on: Cats Are Cool
October 24, 2010 at 8:44 PMAre animals always referred to using 它 or other the male and female equivalents used?
Posted on: Lucky Day
July 24, 2011 at 8:56 PMThis is a great pair of lessons, really enjoyed them.