User Comments - pinkjeans

Posted on: The Perfect Sandwich

我做的三明治通常用 wholegrain 面包，放牛油、生菜、番茄、橄榄、酸青辣椒、芥末酱、mayonnaise, mustard, ham 和 cheese. Is that the mother of all 三明治 or what? I only put 黄瓜 in tuna 三明治，and I think 午餐肉 is a weird but admittedly quite delicious meat in a no-frills sandwich, but in hotpot???

Posted on: To bag or not to bag?

I do prefer the reusable bags; they are stronger and can carry more. Only problem is without the free bags, one has to buy bin bags for the rubbish.

Posted on: The Surname Code

Wjeffreys, didn't I already tell you I use 孙中山? But, taking the cue from Xuanzang, Pearltowerpete and Jiaojie, I might start using 孙悟空。Actually, most of the time, I'm speaking to English speakers or bilingual people so I say "孙, as in grandchild". Not a very Chinese way, but it gets the point across.

Posted on: The Magic Word 让 (Ràng)

Thanks, hwangd01. I'm practising!

Posted on: The Magic Word 让 (Ràng)

Houban and Tvan, my Chinese teacher has tried in vain to teach us the proper way to say the Chinese r, as in 让 or 日. It is really difficult unless you grew up saying it. Even in Mandarin-speaking Singapore, it is not done correctly. They do it either like  English r or l. The English r is a definite giveaway that you're not native, but it is definitely not like the j in French either. I detect a little bit of y in it as well, and my personal take on it is that it sounds like yrjh, with the tongue broad and flat between the front molars, but the tip rolling on the middle part of the palate. Xiaohu has started an interest group blog called Accent Reduction Chinese and has promised to touch on this r in good time, so look out for it. Maybe Connie can teach us too.

Posted on: 老上海印象

I tried embedding a video but it looks like I was not succesful, so I'll just provide the URL here to the song sung by Frances Yip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBNftXW4UQI

Posted on: The Surname Code

Man, I've totally missed the party! 我姓温，三点水的温。Sometimes I say, 我姓温，温暖的温。 I usually use the latter method of explaining the meaning if I have to tell my whole name.

And if I have to talk about my kids and their dad's name, I use yet another way, 孙，孙中山的孙。This last method is good for explaining to those with minimal knowledge of Chinese as they can then associate your surname with that of a historical or prominent figure. Imagine someone saying, 我姓奥，奥巴马的奥！

Incidentally, can I say 孙，子小孙 since 孙 is simplified from 孫?

Posted on: Get in line!

In Malaysia and Singapore government departments, and hospitals, those with infants and the elderly are often given special permission to 插队. And in the middle east, 女人 get special privileges too; there is often a queue just for ladies. So, contrary to popular belief, it is actually nice to be female there.

Posted on: 请 (Qǐng) - Please and Beyond

I believe using 请 is a rather formal way to say please. So unless you are in a formal situation or you are required to be super polite, I don't think one would use 请 with exactly the same frequency as one uses 'please' in English. In fact using it too much in casual everyday situations may appear to put distance between the speaker and the listener. Am I right?

Posted on: Chinese Characters and the History of Sex in China

Counting the strokes for looking up words in a dictionary is quite tedious when using traditional characters, but calligraphy using simplified characters just doesn't look quite right. I learnt some traditional characters when I did Chinese in school, but I found it so difficult, I lost interest and din't get far at all. My interest only got revived after simplified characters came into common use and my kids were learning it, and I did find it much easier.