User Comments - mahouer
mahouer
Posted on: Personal Questions and Bargaining
September 14, 2007, 03:55 PMHm, that didn't come out the way I meant it to. You may want to do something about that. My apologies... :-(
Posted on: Personal Questions and Bargaining
September 14, 2007, 03:53 PMI loved the bit on bargaining. I'd like to add though that (i've found) you can bargain in most, if not all, department stores. It's not as much fun though. There's usually a set 10-20% discount that they'll give if you ask for it. I guess it's to ease the minds of the nouveau rich who aren't too bothered with price but who would still like to keep up appearances. But yeah, ask for it and you'll get it. Same with 3, 4 or even 5 star hotels. The answer is simple: always ask. In off season in obscure places around China you may be able to get a room for the night in a 5 star hotel between 100-200 RMB. I stayed in one once for the bottom end of that scale :-) One more question for you folks up in Shanghai. Don't you ever get bored with bargaining? I got sick with it after two years in China and usually just tell the shopkeeper to give me the "China"-price straight up or sod it. It works a lot of the time (if you say in Chinese). Off course it may be different in Shanghai though. This was in Ürümqi...
Posted on: Interview with an Athlete
September 12, 2007, 02:40 PMKen and Jenny discuss two different words for "excited": 激动: excited / moved 兴奋: excited / ecstatic In another recent show we came across "刺激", how then is this one different from the other two? Many adjectives in Chinese can both refer to objects and people. For example "兴奋" above means exited when it refers to people, and exciting when it describes objects. It all depends on the context. Now, a while ago we also had "有劲儿". Can this also mean both exciting and excited, or can it - given 有 - only refer to objects (exciting)? 吸大麻很有劲儿。 拿到了金牌，我很有劲儿。 Which one is correct? Are they both correct? Or should I say 我很兴奋 instead of 我很有劲儿?
Posted on: Flattery in the Office
September 03, 2007, 09:32 PMDear all, After this otherwise great lesson I'm stuck with the same question as Foleadu. What's the function of 那儿 as said by C, de second employee, in the sentence "这几年我们从您那儿学了不少东西". I just can't see how it has the same function as 这儿 in "你们这儿几点关门?" First, wouldn't it then have to be 这儿 instead? And second isn't it in the wrong place then? Can you please shed some light? Regards,
Posted on: When the Taxi Takes the Long Way
June 02, 2007, 05:03 AMHm, my sentence went a little wrong there. It was meant to say ... if, by extension, the word... My apologies.
Posted on: When the Taxi Takes the Long Way
June 02, 2007, 05:01 AMHi, I just studies the lesson on subway announcement where we learned 起点 ("originating station") and 终点 (terminus). In this lesson we saw 起码 (minimum) with the same 起. I was wondering if, by the word for maximum is thus 终码? Cheers,
Posted on: Ping Pong
April 18, 2007, 05:45 AMComplementing the complementary vocabulary, I'd also like to know how to say: - quarter finals - play-offs (so the part of a 比赛 after the 出塞) My dictionaries couldn't help me out :( Regards,
Posted on: Buying a Pet and Food Poisoning
February 03, 2008, 12:10 PMIt's funny you should mention Xinjiang restaurants. I found when I was living there that the restaurants owned by Uyghur people provide at least a basic level of hygiene due to the halal code for foods and preparation. Feeling a little unwell I'd always go to Xinjiang restaurants in order to avoid getting really ill from the food I ate. Similarly I've never even once got 拉肚子 from eaten skewers in Xinjiang. That can't quite be said about my experiences on the west coast. That said, I once went to a Hui restaurant in Chengdu (next to the central mosque) and ordered 大盘鸡. We had that dish returned after we found some worms happily crawling around the veggies.