User Comments - kdombros

Posted on: Are You Happy, Content, or Delighted?

Ahhhhhh. Now I get the distinction when mothers describe their babies as being 很高兴(i.e. right now they are laughing and smiling) or as being 比较开心 -- having a more happy personality?

Thanks CPod... I sort of had this distinction somewhere in the back of my head but now it's nice and clear!

Posted on: Getting Old Isn't Easy

@changye

难怪孩子的教育那么重要。。。对年轻人的压力也很大。

@bodawei

我觉得澳周也有惠阳深的老年人 -- 比如说我75岁姥姥还没退休了但是周末喜欢打高尔夫。他们的老年人退休比中国的多晚，连他们比较老每天也上班 -- 没有那么多时间会养生！可是，也有中国老年人每天抱孙子， 可能他们的负担差不多！

Posted on: Getting Old Isn't Easy

Hey love this lesson, lots of 4-character terms which are what I'm really short on. The audio is still loading but have read through it already! Very timely since it was my birthday this week and thinking about getting old, writing wills etc hahaha (my Chinese friends are freaked out, reckon it's bad luck to write your will young... in fact CPod, a lesson on this would be interesting... I can't seem to express myself in Chinese well on this topic -- I　ｗａｎｔ　ｔｏ　ｓａｙ　ｔｈａｔ　we need to choose a guardian for my daughter in case we both die, rather than actually write a will... is there this custom in China, or does the family sort this out themselves?)

Posted on: Kungpao Chicken

In New Zealand our corner takeaway used to have "Kung-Pow Chicken Ding" on the menu. I used to laugh every time I saw it especially hearing a real beaut kiwi accent behind the till. It's nothing like the 宫保鸡丁 I was used to in China, since nothing is really 'ding'ed, big slices of chicken and the standard stir-fry mix of broccoli, cauli and carrots + cashews. And no chilli!!

Posted on: Luke is Back! And So Are the Zombies!

They do it with everything from apple to pineapple.

I even had it with whole boiled eggs!!!!

Posted on: Luke is Back! And So Are the Zombies!

some middle eastern bloke claiming he was from 新疆 but knew no mandarin,

I definitely met a lot of middle-eastern looking people in Xinjiang who couldn't speak Mandarin but were local as, born there, never been anywhere else... I met many people in Xinjiang whose English was better than putonghua!  And if they do speak putonghua it's often without tones... so great for foreigners since we were all in the same language boat!

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 5: Super Babies and Ultrasounds

I'd be interested to find out why Down's syndrome is 唐氏症。 Mostly because I have friend whose family name is 唐！

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 5: Super Babies and Ultrasounds

I think we can safely say it's not the one child policy that causes gender imbalance -- India also has this poblem.

Prior to 1949, I read it was then also common to give your girl-child away after weaning as a prospective bride to a family with a son of a similar age (or younger!), and then to aquire a non-related girl-child to raise as your daughter-in-law -- that way you didn't have to fork out for your daughter who was going to benefit some other family anyway, and you got to raise your daughter-in-law in the customs of your household. Very practical, but ... I just feel for all those girl-babies bandied around like chattels....and those sons having to effectively marry someone who had been raised as a sister....

Posted on: Where Children Come From

From my understanding of Chinese and other cultures that tease kids in this way, it's to teach them to tell the truth from a lie/joke. It's common in many cultures that have more subtle communication techniques than those common in most of the Western world.

If anyone is interested in looking at this further without being labelled psychologically insenstive, read Barbara Rogoff's "The cultural nature of human development", a book that compares child-raising beliefs and techniques from around the world.

Posted on: The Bride Makes Soup - 新嫁娘

But the old English word 'mother-in-law' actually meant stepmother...so I guess she could call her mother-in-law (Except Cindarella is probably german??)