User Comments - frank
frank
Posted on: The First Tone
January 25, 2008 at 7:40 PMTaiPan - I'm here for ya, man. "And who are these?" "Just lost drunken men who don't know where they are and no longer care." "And these?" "These are lost drunken men who don't know where they are but DO care!" "And these?" "These are men who know where they are and care, but don't drink!"
Posted on: The First Tone
January 23, 2008 at 4:59 AMOMG! Is that the toy robot from Kentucky Fried Movie?!
Posted on: Extreme Chinese - 不得了 (bùdéliǎo)
January 21, 2008 at 2:52 AMThanks, Auntie68! And yeah, I found that I reached a new plateau in my studies when I stopped trying to think in English and then translate. Still... even just the way we identify these things are the same. A noun is a noun, a verb is a verb, etc. This is only a problem when I see something like N-V-得-Adv-Adj. My head just spins. Like... I'm just not used to thinking of words in so clinical a fashion. It would take me 20 minutes to parse a sentence like that.
Posted on: Extreme Chinese - 不得了 (bùdéliǎo)
January 21, 2008 at 2:08 AMI SO wish I was better at grammar! I know this sounds weird coming from me (being a writer and all), but nearly all of my grammar knowledge in English is instinctual. I don't know the "rules of grammar" in my native tongue. Trying to figure them out in a foreign language is a pure nightmare!
Posted on: Extreme Chinese - 不得了 (bùdéliǎo)
January 20, 2008 at 10:58 PMThe 得 particle has me utterly stumped as well, but I CAN tell you that the particle which denotes the possessive is 的 not 得. They sound much the same to me, but they're different characters.
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
January 20, 2008 at 6:20 PMOh HO! And he rhymes! Oh, yes, mi amigo, we're going to get along just fine! :-)
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
January 20, 2008 at 4:30 AMOh, and thanks for the great video! I have to try that. I REALLY have to re-visit that lesson on "no cilantro." :-)
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
January 20, 2008 at 4:29 AMHEY! You can't leave Shanghai! I was looking forward to meeting you! I'll be there from February 10-17! Come back!!!!
Posted on: Extreme Chinese - 不得了 (bùdéliǎo)
January 20, 2008 at 3:54 AMSounds good to me! Bring it on! :-D
Posted on: Scams and Bus Culture
January 28, 2008 at 9:19 PMI'll admit I got scammed at the Hong Kong airport when I arrived last year. I was barely off the plane and still in the terminal when a driver accosted me and offered to take me to my hotel. I knew I was going to need a cab one way or another. I also knew I was probably going to be a target for hoodwinking no matter whose cab I got in, so I went. It cost me more than it should have, but I had no basis for comparison yet. When I got to Shanghai, I made sure to ask the desk clerk at the hotel what kind of fee I could expect before I took a cab anywhere. It was only then I saw just how badly I got fleeced. Ouch.