User Comments - freakyqi
freakyqi
Posted on: Not on purpose
May 05, 2008, 07:10 AMThanks "user44371".... He said "In China,all that places can be called 厕所，but not all of 厕所 can be called 洗手间. All 洗手间 must be equipped facilities of washing hands. 厕所 mustn't be so. " I've found that to be true; I once asked for 洗手间 because I needed to use the toilet but I thought 厕所was too impolite, and I was led to just a sink with some soap & water. For the toilet I should go outside around the corner to the public one. So nowadays I just directly ask for whichever my main business is. No waitress has ever seemed to think I'm gross for asking 厕所在哪儿?
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Day
April 05, 2008, 09:27 AMA WEEK IN ADVANCE! So we can have 1-2 days to listen to it, then talk about it at work; ask our chinese friends what they will do with their upcoming holiday, etc. Have a chance to USE the vocabulary in real life. After the holiday no one talks much about it.
Posted on: Buying a Bouquet of Flowers
December 28, 2007, 01:15 PMOh! She's at a store! My first expectation was that she was talking to her boyfriend; "BUY ME FLOWERS NOW!!" heehee
Posted on: Internet Slang
November 21, 2007, 08:48 AMVery interesting and fun lesson, and kind of nice because I didn't feel the need to memorize any of this because I probably won't be really using them. But it was nice to get an introduction. I'm in Beijing, and as Jenny mentioned, a lot of these wouldn't work too well. There's a definite difference between S/SH, J/ZH, etc here. Sometimes when I hear people from the south I can't understand them very well because their S & SH both sound like S.
Posted on: That's enough tea
November 20, 2007, 08:28 AMMARCOSBENTO - I also haven't seen that tea in a year in Beijing. Better bring it with you. :( ZOHAR8353 - For an adult movie, try "The Emperor and the Assassin". They speak very slowly with a lot of pauses, though you'll still have to pause, rewind, look things up, etc if you really want to learn. On the cartoon end, which I highly recommend, Peanuts dubbed in Chinese is pretty good, or other older things made a long time ago. A lot of cartoons nowadays speak very fast and have more advanced subject matter. If you're truly still a 100% newbie, movies will be hard, so you'll only need one scene to work on for a month or two, haha. Choose one you'll like even after 30x. I watched Charlie & the Chocolate Factory more than that, little by little (not the whole thing every time) and at first I understood only a few sparse words here & there; now I understand about 60% or more (this is months later, with pausing, using dictionary, etc, not just idly watching.) :)
Posted on: Describing Athletes
October 25, 2007, 06:23 AM.... well built.... oh, was I still dwelling on that one? Oh, the lesson is over. I guess I should pay attention this time.... :D
Posted on: Describing Athletes
October 25, 2007, 06:15 AMI'm not from the NORTH northeast US, but NJ is around there... I've never heard 'jacked' in reference to people, only things or situations that are messed up. "your GF cheated on you? Man, that's jacked." "I can't FFWD on my iPod, it's all jacked up." It could replace the F word. I've definitely heard buff in NJ, and sometimes burly, cut, muscular, big,. ..?
Posted on: Number Two
September 23, 2007, 11:32 AMLike wildyaks, one of my first sentences was 厕所在哪儿? Once I got to China I realized asking for the 洗手间 was a little nicer... but once I was led to a sink where I could actually wash my hands. Er.... I didn't *really* mean 洗手间..... ...another time the waitress asked me if I really wanted to just wash my hands or I needed a toilet. I could wash my hands there, but the toilet was down an alley around the corner. Glad she asked, because this time I really did just want to wash my hands, and public toilets sometimes have no sink, or certainly no soap. Sometimes we have to be specific. :(
Posted on: Man or Woman?
September 22, 2007, 11:16 AMnage/neige zhege/zheige 谁shei/shui In my class in the US we only said nage, I didn't know neige existed, and my first few days in Beijing I was wondering why no one was saying 'na' or 'zhe', being such common words. I soon figured out that neige & zheige meant the same thing. In a year in Beijing now, I have NEVER heard nage/zhege. And it still throws me that 谁 is almost always pronounced 'shui'. Oh there's plenty more, like the Beijing R's: 服务员 fu2 wu4 yuan2 (waiter, etc) = fuyuar2 动物园 dong4wu4 yuan2 (zoo) = dongyuar2 heehee But it's still such fun. Like a big never-ending puzzle. :)
Posted on: Stopped at the Gate
November 27, 2008, 06:21 AMIn my last apartment there were 3 older men who would rotate living in the tiny room at the door every day and get up in their 'long johns' to let you in if it was past midnight. I hated it at first, feeling like they (& the elevator ladies) knew everyone's business, but after I got to be friendly with them I liked it. It felt warm and homey, and now my little chinese chats with them about the weather or my job are one of the things I miss most.
As far as safety goes, KEN, it's not always to keep bad guys out, as I discovered one unfortunate day - they called the gas company for me when CO was leaking and I suddenly felt dizzy! I lived alone, and it was comforting to know a friendly face was there to keep an eye on me while I sat outside getting some air. I felt if there was ever an emergency, as long as I could drag myself to the front door I'd be saved!
:)