User Comments - laurarhode1213
laurarhode1213
Posted on: How to Address Someone
October 8, 2011 at 3:27 PMI agree. If the last of the 4th set of statements in the dialogue is "Why don't you ask him yourself?", then why no question mark in the translation of the last expansion sentence? Of course, neither Pǔtōnghuà nor English is always strictly logical.
Posted on: 5000 Years of History
October 8, 2011 at 2:16 PMThanks for the apt historical background. I was just being ironic when asked how the American Indians got their name as I assumed most people know the answer to that one. But no matter. There it is for the uninformed. Better yet would have been some reply to my questions about Mandarin matters. Hopefully that will come sometime as I am in a situation where I have no acquantaince with any native speakers and inadequate study materials to consult.
Posted on: 5000 Years of History
October 2, 2011 at 4:12 PMVery good point about the length of American history with which any student of American anthropology would concur! Also, it's interesting in this context to note that American Indians are members and descendants of the Mongolian race just as the Chinese are. So how did the American Indians get the name Indian? Another misnomer it seems. Well, we could go at this all day. Back to pǔtōnghuà. Wèishénme 'zhǐ' shì dì yī shēng zài yǔfǎ de xiān sì de jùzi lǐ? Hé wèishénme 'guo' shì dì sì shēng zài yǔfǎ de dì wǔ de jùzi lǐ bùguò bù zài 'kuòdà' de dì wǔ de jùzi lǐ? Ke3neng2 bu4 ke3neng3 mou3 ren2 yi3wei2 le 'shuo1hua4' wei4 'shuo1guo'?
Posted on: How to Address Someone
October 8, 2011 at 4:22 PMI think the translation of the 6th grammar exercise goes a bit far in its assumption that the person doesn't 'like' spicy foods. After all someone might not eatspicy foodsfor health reasons but still 'like' them. The Pǔtōnghuǎ would then be saying "You don't eat spicy foods?" without assuming any more than the fact someone doesn't eat spicy foods while leaving it open why they don't eat spicy foods. If someone was suspected of being diabetic wouldn't it be enough to say "Nǐ bù chī táng de ma?" Yesterday at a dinner someone had some cake with caramel icing, which I love. I said "I can't eat caramel" but I certainly didn't mean I didn't like it. To forestall any misinterpretation, I added, "I'm diabetic". But perhaps I misunderstand the Chinese mind here and correct me if I'm wrong.