User Comments - orkelm
orkelm
Posted on: Keys, Wallet, Phone
September 13, 2008 at 12:27 AMKen mentions that it's hard to accept that "want" and "key" are both 4th tone "yào" but then my brain can't believe that I have to add "medicine" to that list of 4th tone "yào" as well! I've lost track of how many times my tutor will say, "same sound, different character."
Posted on: Pretty Clothes
September 2, 2008 at 10:57 PMYears ago a fellow student of mine was doing her dissertation comparing compliments between North Americans and Chinese. She taught me that Americans deflect compliments by putting the "credit/blame" on someone else:
-Nice tie.
-Thanks, my wife got it for me.
Posted on: What size?
August 28, 2008 at 5:41 PM
I wear size 44. When I was in shopping in Shanghai not only was I able to find 44s, but it was great practice in tones! Repeating "shi si shi si" a million times cracked me up, as I'm sure it did the store owners too!
Posted on: Language Power Struggle
August 28, 2008 at 5:33 PMI remember at first when Chinese friends would encourage me to practice chinese by saying (in English) "come on." At first it felt like they were getting on my case, something like, "let's get going Orlando, you can to better then that! Try harder!" Later I realized that their phrase "come on" was really just their English version of "jia you". So, what sounded like harsh criticism was really just encouragement. So, now I take it in stride.
Posted on: The 是...的 (Shì...de) Pattern
August 15, 2008 at 6:57 PMI often got a similar question when I was in China, it meant something like, "How did you learn your Chinese?" I was never really sure what they were saying, but it was enough to kind of know what they were getting at. I also never really knew how to answer it either. Any ideas? How would someone ask and answer that?
Posted on: The Attitude Pattern (yǒu shénme... 有什么...)
July 16, 2008 at 4:49 PMGiven JP's comment about seeing the real Connie, we've all noticed that she's coming out of her shell. Here's my first attempt at adding a photo to a CPOD discussion (apologies in advance if this comes out weird). I took this with Connie in January.
Posted on: Instant Noodles
June 27, 2008 at 2:49 AMThis lesson has great examples of "de"
shenme paize de?
buyao tai gui de.
shenme kouwei de?
la de.
I probably would have only used "de" with the last, "la de" Any mini explanation about when to use "de"?
Posted on: I Can/Can't Afford it (...得起 & ...不起）
June 13, 2008 at 2:53 AMJP, if you are looking for best lines in the podcast, it's hard to beat Amber's play on words with the "walking down the aisle"... of the supermarket!
Posted on: Lo and La （咯 & 啦）
May 14, 2008 at 3:52 PMSince I was born in Canada, but live in Texas, I find the combination fantastic. My favorite is to use "ya'll" as a possessive, as in "All ya'll's house is big." "All ya'll's car is powerful." It is totally convenient and works great, at least as good as you guy's (pronounced 'guyziz').
Posted on: Often: Using 常常，经常，通常 (chángcháng, jīngcháng, tōngcháng)
November 20, 2008 at 9:01 PMDoes anybody else struggle with hearing the difference between 常常 (cháng cháng - often) and 长城 (cháng chéng - great wall)? It's a good thing I don't often go to the great wall!