User Comments - jbowes

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jbowes

Posted on: Can't Get a Taxi
January 11, 2011, 01:06 AM

Yes, i think im wrong!!

Posted on: Can't Get a Taxi
January 10, 2011, 05:23 AM

Two questions!

1) The male does not pronounce the ending "n" sounds; is this common across China or is it a very regional dialect?

eg:ren sounds like ruh, etc.

2) Bié qù le is literally "other go" and to me is better translated as "well, lets do something else". I would normally use búbì in the conversation here. Am I wrong?

Posted on: Keen on Clean
January 07, 2011, 07:23 AM

towels, paper or rel, are almost non-existant in toilets, soap is a 50/50 affair in Taiwan. Yes, nice places will certainly have soap, most other places are hit and miss.

Posted on: Keen on Clean
January 07, 2011, 07:01 AM

Can I say "face me" with liǎn?

Posted on: Where's the soap?
January 07, 2011, 06:19 AM

ok, thanks!! I would use hěn in those situations. This is what I was more used to, so I wanted to double check that I was right.

Posted on: Where's the soap?
January 07, 2011, 06:17 AM

xi3xi the same as kan4kan in terms of the double useage meaning emphasis?

Posted on: Where's the soap?
January 07, 2011, 05:16 AM

And in Q#5 the same..

How would I differentiate between:

"this is really expensive coffee"

"this is the most expensive coffee"

In english these would be interchangeable in any situation, such as looking at a menu. If I said "really" I might be mening the general price range, and if I said "most" I would be being specific. However, if I were to point at one listed coffee and say either, both would make sense. Same in Chinese? Just curious why I got these wrong.

Posted on: Where's the soap?
January 07, 2011, 05:10 AM

1. nǐ shì _____ piàoliang de nǚrén!

1 point
  •  A. hòumiàn
  •  C. zhēn
  •  B. zuì
  •  D. yīxià

Why can this not be both Zhen(1) and zui(4)?

Posted on: Where's the soap?
January 07, 2011, 05:01 AM

It proably would not be xi3shou3ye4 that you mom used, I hope!! At least a bar you can take out afterwards...the liquid soap might make it down your gullet. Perhaps that would have taught you a better lesson, though!!

Posted on: Where's the soap?
January 07, 2011, 04:59 AM

Hold over from fruit lesson - qi3lai.

Can I say:

xi(3) qi(3)lai

to mean "wash" in general? As in "wash up before dinner" which means directly wash your hands (and my mom would probably back in the day insisted that I include the proverbial 'behind the ears' as well).