User Comments - lustchina
lustchina
Posted on: Evading Nosy Questions
January 23, 2008 at 5:24 PMIt's a strange thing that in China it is more acceptable to ask someone how much they earn. This may be seen as nosy but can be a way to verify that you are being paid the right amount by your employer.
Posted on: The First Tone
January 23, 2008 at 2:32 PMExtending RJBerki thought there - are certain tones more masculine (I'm thinking 4th here) and others more feminine (3rd perhaps). Do words in chinese line up with tones in this fashion to any extent. Any patterns that can be discerned once you accumulate enough vocab?
Posted on: The First Tone
January 23, 2008 at 1:00 PMJohn, That's an interest point about being better understood when you abandon the English-speaker's tendencies towards tones. I still find I do this raised tone at the end of a sentence when in a classroom environment, looking for confirmation from the teacher that I am saying the right thing but ironically in the process messing up the tones. I wonder how you guys will present the other tones? 2nd- talking after inhaling from a helium balloon. 3rd- a DJ scratching with his turntable 4th- a chiwawa dog barking
Posted on: The First Tone
January 23, 2008 at 1:24 AMObeying tonal rules like here - keeping it mono-tone is counterintuitive for us English speakers who want to use inflection to expression "tone" as we understand it - like surprise, or dissatisfaction. Sounding robotic as is the case here misses the "tone". I guess speed and volume at which something is said is a way to understand the emotion behind what is being said, within the confines of tonal rules.
Posted on: Evading Nosy Questions
January 23, 2008 at 5:25 PM...so John, Jenyy how much to you make? Is Ken paying you enough?:-)