User Comments - monicarichards105

Posted on: Spending a Little Too Much

FYI: The lesson recording for this podcast contains a minor translation error. In it, Gwilym indicates that what the dialogue tab transcribes as "欧洲" ("Ōuzhōu" -- Europe) refers to Australia ("澳洲" -- "Àozhōu"). Unless I'm mishearing the dialogue recording's pronunciation, this minor mistake was Gwilym's, not the dialogue transcript's.

Posted on: Spending a Little Too Much

In the dramatized version of the dialogue and in the lesson, "真新鲜!" sounds sarcastic. However, under the dialogue tab, both the English translation and the tone of voice in the recording for "真新鲜!" suggest the woman is not only surprised at her counterpart's sudden interest in saving money, but is also sincerely glad to hear it, i.e., it's a REFRESHING change (that is, as far as I can distinguish in Chinese the meaning implications of sentence intonation versus lexical tone! ). Additionally, the man's response fits the woman having been SINCERE in her comment and not merely Fiona and Gwilym's sarcastic interpretation. Am I right that the written form of this phrase can be interpreted as either sincere OR sarcastic? Is one interpretation substantially more likely than the other? How can we distinguish in Chinese when someone is being sincere vs. sarcastic? As in English, is tone of voice (sentence intonation) the primary clue?

Posted on: Who's That Over There?

One of the examples in the grammar tab is "我的妈妈." However, I thought "的" is usually dropped when referring to members of one's immediate family (father, mother, older sister, younger sister, older brother, younger brother and child) -- so "我的妈妈" would be expressed as "我妈妈." Can you let us know how often people are likely to refer immediate family members including the "的" vs. not including the "的"?

Posted on: Business Cards

The expansion sentence "他是我的爸爸"("Tā shì wǒ de bàba") uses "的" ("de") when referring to a close family member. Is this an error or in a formal situation is it appropriate to "put distance between" oneself and one's family by using "的" ("de")?

Posted on: Do You Have Any Questions?

captainso1o, if you're truly acquiring the Mandarin accent ChinesePod teaches, you will DEFINITELY be understood on the streets of Beijing. In order for you to understand Beijingers' Mandarin, however, you may need to get used to Beijing's "erhua" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhua). . . but that shouldn't take you too long. Hopefully, the Beijingers you talk to will minimize their use of slang or advanced vocabulary out of sympathy for the fact that you're a foreigner ☺

Posted on: Hospitality Series 5: Searching for Shopping

From the last sentence of from the grammar tab, does Mandarin (unlike English) require a question mark after this sentence? (Or is this a typo?)

• 快要毕业了，可是我还不知道干什么好？("I'm going to graduate soon but still don't know what I should do.")

If it does, how can we predict when this kind of question mark is needed?

Posted on: Sorry and Thank You

I just want to say I very much appreciated the tip in this show that before using "对不起," always ask "Is this my fault?"

Though pushing intermediate, I found this lesson very beneficial in that it provides further confirmation of pragmatic differences between English and Mandarin I long knew were there, but haven't felt super-confident I knew the boundaries of. (While I still think I'm far from MASTERING these differences, this show definitely pushes me forward.) So thanks!

Posted on: Where'd You Get That Food?

CPod. . . .the audio for the first set of grammar sentences still isn't working. . . .

Posted on: When To Use “不” bù and “没” méi?

Thanks for the very helpful and detailed explanation, Fiona! ☺

Posted on: Do I Need to Remove my Shoes

I can't imagine any Chinese I know ever saying this line: 必须要换鞋吗？Therefore, although this lesson doesn't directly specify, I can't help but assume the role being played by this questioner must be that of an uninformed Westerner. Am I right?

(I am curious, though, what Chinese are likely to do if they're concerned their feet/shoes WILL stink if they take their shoes off. . . .would they ever directly ask for 鞋套? (Although I know most Chinese don't have BO problems to the degree many Caucasians do -- one of my Chinese friends chooses to wear deodorant only because it smells nice. . . .to her it's a kind of perfume!!! -- I have occasionally met Chinese who do have BO problems. Therefore, I wonder whether it's possible for a Chinese to ask for 鞋套 without sounding rude or losing face. . . .