User Comments - guolan

Posted on: Chinese Dialects (Part 2)

Thanks for your comments explaining how speaking in one's own dialect lends a "closer" feel to the relationship, and how using mandarin can bring a formal feel to a meeting.

Posted on: 一下，一会儿，and 一点儿

I just love that, "我去一下卫生间，” because my husband always teases me when I say the equivalent in English, "I'll just run to the bathroom quickly." He always wonders if I'd ever "walk slowly" to the bathroom, for a change. Of course, the more general meaning of this in English is, "I'm sorry to make you wait on me; just give me a second here." In Chinese, if I understood the gist of the lesson, this usage seems to sound less serious than it would without the "一下", giving the statement a more casual, laid-back, not-in-a-rush feel.

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 10: Postnatal Recuperation

Thanks! I'll go check it out.

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 10: Postnatal Recuperation

Good point about the being back to work after a week off! Somewhere, there has to be balance, eh? But we human beings seem to dislike balance, and to swing to either one end of the pendulum or the other!

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 10: Postnatal Recuperation

Grambers, soon after I learned about the many different perceptions (different from American perceptions) of how to stay healthy in China, I learned the phrase "可能是体质不一样吧". After I present my (American) ideas about a health issue, and my friend presents her (Chinese) ideas, the simplest thing to do is to simply recognize that we disagree, and that it's okay to disagree, and to move on. But, if my friend is uncomfortable without a resolution, I use the phrase above to recognize that I don't know everything, and that mabye there is something different in the ways our bodies work. It saves everybody face, and no one comes across as rude. After all, you won't change anybody's mind, no mater how passionately you argue your point.

Posted on: Buying a Book

It's standing in for "不知道"; the full sentence would be: "讲什么的你知道不知道?“

Posted on: Buying a Book

Thank you, bodawei and gaojian, that makes sense. I will be sure to hear it in my head so that I remember the sentence pattern accurately!

Posted on: Buying a Book

In the expansion section (and the exercises section) there is this sentence: 这里原来是一个花园，我把它改成了一个游泳池。But, no matter how carefully I listen, I can't hear the "了" when this sentence is read aloud.

Can someone verify for me that the "了" is actually there when it's read aloud? I'm guessing it's just said so quickly that my poor listening skills aren't picking up on it!

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 10: Postnatal Recuperation

Thank you Jenny and John, for choosing a very interesting topic, and for clearing up lots of confusion I had about the subject! And, thank you Jenny, for sharing with us your own experience, and your thoughts about the topic. I enjoyed this podcast very much.

Posted on: A Chinese Bachelor Party

I just want to get my two cent's worth in here...I kind of disagree with the above post. I think Jenny and John deliberately throw Chinese words in English sentences (and the opposite) to help us be able to focus on a new vocabulary word or a new sentence pattern without the distraction of other words. It sort of crystallizes the sentence pattern they are teaching, or the new vocabulary word they want to help us remember. At this level, I like this habit; I think it allows us to go a bit deeper into the language, more quickly, while still keeping the lesson at an upper intermediate level.