User Comments - ouyangjun116

Posted on: Manly Men and Womanly Women

Good stuff.  I'm surprised no one mentioned mention what I've always been taught as being the most manly of men... 纯爷们儿.  Probably used much more in the North, but I use this word most often when referring to real men.

Posted on: Looking for an Apartment in China

Hi GregE,

I only give the tip to the agent who finds the place I want. I don't even mention that I'll give them extra money (all under the table) until the agent starts bargaining for me on the final place I want. If he gets the price I want, then I will throw some extra cash his way.

Posted on: Looking for an Apartment in China

My renting experience has been okay. I'm on my 3rd apartment in Shanghai all using agents. I usually get a group of agents working for me. The last time I had 3 or 4 agents. I just go near the area I might want to live, tell them my requirements and budget range. I let the one agent work in the that area, and then other agents working in other areas.

I usually look at around 10 places. The agents I use are all local... no fancy expat agents with huge fees. I just go right to the local agent's office in the area I like and let them know my requirements. I've never tried to do any of the search through websites as I've found the apartment pics are over 90% of the time fake.

You need to be really specific about the apartment in regards to the decoration/quality requirements. I always get hung up on needing really good wood floors for example, so this is always one of my requirements.

Everyone talks about the white face possibly increasing the price, but I feel I've never had an issue. Once I decide I want a place, I let the agent do the negotiation for me. I more or less let them know in a casual way, that the lower they can get my monthly rent the higher their "under the table tip" will be. This then gives them incentive to negotiate down to the prices I want.

Posted on: Business and Investment in China - Part 2

I agree with podster above.  The parts where it breaks into English is informative and I do like that, but I'd prefer to have the option to just listen to the Chinese part.  That way if I want to re-listen to the lesson I can only listen to the Chinese portion and not waste an extra 10 minutes on English. 

Posted on: What does she look like?

I think xiaophil is correct on the "I'm reading a book" statement. As a native English speaker this sounds fine to me and is something I would use, for example:

A: "What are you doing after dinner?"

B: "I'm reading a book, so there is no way I'm going out for a drink with you."

Maybe it's that both xiaophil and I are from the mid-western part of America (at least I think I remember him saying he is), and maybe that's how we speak there. I'm not sure.

Posted on: What does she look like?

Thanks xiaophil. That makes sense in regards to why it wouldn't be a change of state.

Posted on: What does she look like?

I'll give a shot at it... but I'd really love to hear someone who is more advanced than me confirm the real reason. My thinking is the following:

In the first one, 他最近在工作上碰到了一些困难.

I think the 了 in this sentence does not emphasize the past, but instead emphasizes a change in state. The work went from being in a normal state and then recently it changed from a normal state to one of difficulty. The 了 here is emphasizing that change.

Posted on: How Did You Learn Chinese?

I have a question to the C-Pod team (and anyone who has experience). John and Jason both mentioned reading as a way to improve.  I completely agree with this and try to read often. 

1)  Do you have any suggestions (authors or books)

2)  What is your take on reading books originally written in English, that got translated into Chinese?  I've heard mixed opinions on this, mainly from Chinese people telling me not to read them.  They say the language is not nautural sounding in Chinese, and would not normally be used in daily life.  This is because they try translate a lot of the English directly... What is your take?

Posted on: How Did You Learn Chinese?

I second 忠Jaron's comment. Anki is definitely the Bomb Diggity!

Posted on: Cabbie Culture and Driving in China

Good stuff.  I wish there was no English.  I'd like to see a lot more interviews like this.  I find it more interesting than the lessons.