User Comments - kong_yi
kong_yi
Posted on: Aussie Rules
December 4, 2011 at 1:38 PMVB is 不好喝 but I'm glad you were able to get some 澳大利亚文化 Aussie culture, I have two 加拿大人室友 and they have got me into ice hockey. Its always nice to enjoy someone elses sport.
Posted on: Character Amnesia
November 28, 2011 at 7:41 AMCan I ask how many characters you know now and whether you can reliably read in Chinese yet?
I've been studying about a year and probably know about 500-600 characters but I still can't read very much useful stuff except occasionally street signs.
Got a long way to go.
Posted on: Housekeeping!
October 19, 2011 at 12:17 AMYes that does make sense thanks John.
Posted on: Invitation to Dinner
October 13, 2011 at 6:10 AMI have discovered something quite delightful about Chinese language/culture.
If someone invites you to do something that you do not want to go to, in a western context you would probably need to come up with an excuse in order to keep the other person from feeling rejected,
but in Chinese you can just say, 对不起,明天晚上我有事. Duìbùqǐ, míngtiān wǎnshàng wǒ yǒushì.
And from my experience that seems to be enough, they don't ask for more details, you can just be really vague and its acceptable in China when in the West it would seem evasive and kind of rude.
Chinese is refreshing!
Posted on: Invitation to Dinner
October 13, 2011 at 6:06 AMI think they're pretty interchangeable.
没 and 没有 seemed to be pretty interchangeable throughout mandarin.
whether you would say 没 or 没有 probably depends more on the amount of syllables in the sentence than any formal grammar rule, just whatever sounds more natural.
I find its best not to get bogged down in wanting to understand all the details and just get out there and speak some Chinese, make mistakes and listen to the way locals talk.
Posted on: Plane Ticket Prices
October 4, 2011 at 9:49 AMI have seen a few episodes of the Gruen Factor, I mainly liked it for those ridiculous challenges they would ask two ad companies do to,
for example: Make an ad that encourages Australia to go to war with New Zealand.
Posted on: Plane Ticket Prices
October 4, 2011 at 4:03 AMDid Ctrip sponsor this podcast for advertising rights?
lol
I have used Ctrip in the past and worked well.
Posted on: Napping in the Meeting
October 4, 2011 at 3:11 AMTo my knowledge skype has not been blocked in China.
Posted on: Housekeeping!
October 4, 2011 at 3:06 AMIn the grammar section one of the examples uses the word 想要 xiǎng yào in the sentence 我想要一本书 wǒ xiǎng yàoyīběnshū
Would I be correct in saying that adding the 想 just makes the sentence less harsh? Or is there another reason to say 我想要 rather than just 我要?
Posted on: Matchmaking in the Park
December 30, 2011 at 2:38 AMI'd like to watch that movie, does anyone know the name?