User Comments - pretzellogic
pretzellogic
Posted on: National Stereotypes
February 19, 2012 at 11:40 PMAm I missing something here? Is it me, or is it you guys? I've lived in Beijing and Lanzhou for a total of 4 years, and I've only had one guy call me laowai once (ok, this one guy has actually done it about 4 times, since he works at the gym I go to, but still...)
Posted on: 孝道
February 17, 2012 at 12:05 PMYou learn something new everyday. 你每天学习新的东西. (the Chinese probably don't say it that way, but maybe some kind soul will provide enlightenment). 中国人大概这样一来说, 可是有些客气的人教我.
Posted on: 孝道
February 17, 2012 at 4:51 AM老年痴呆症 is how you say Altzheimer's? I would never have guessed that.
Posted on: Job Interview
February 13, 2012 at 4:22 PMthis will come in handy when you're interviewing at Google in Chinese in Mountain View:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204552304577112522982505222.html
Posted on: Discussing a Work Out Plan
February 13, 2012 at 3:31 AMThanks to this lesson, I finally figured out some of the characters I see all the time at the gym, like 器械 qìxiè machines.
Posted on: Using a Cell Phone in China
February 12, 2012 at 4:12 AMmaybe it was this one:
http://chinesepod.com/lessons/monthly-data-plan/dialogue
Posted on: The Secret Cash Stash
February 10, 2012 at 2:27 AMMark, not that you're still around looking at this, but why did you use an "at" sign with my username?
Posted on: Wheelchair Access to the Great Wall
February 8, 2012 at 2:59 AMCool topic. Wheelchair accessibilty to sites is a challenge in many places worldwide still. I haven't listened to the lesson discussion yet, but would be curious if any wheelchair accessibility is an issue at all the Great Wall sites? It might be helpful to know that the Great Wall is not a continuous wall, but you go to a site where you access the wall, and that site's facilities might have what you need. So visitors would need to know if they're going to the Mutianyu, Simatai, Badaling Great Wall or one of the other sites.
Posted on: The Secret Cash Stash
February 7, 2012 at 10:38 AMI hear you :-) I forget the name of the show. But in the US, there was a TV show where a professional small time burglar, and a private detective teamed up to show how burglars easily robbed homes. I don't recall they said "check the PC" but it didn't matter. 9 times out of 10, people left critical doors unlocked/partially secure, windows open and so on. Turns out homeowners think to lock the front door, but thieves were smart enough to go into the back door. Thieves didn't bother checking for fake drawers because the loot was in the usual places in everybody's house.
Posted on: National Stereotypes
February 20, 2012 at 1:45 AMThey don't call me anything! Usually I just get asked "where am I from?" And then I say the US. Then they say, "oh", or "America is great" or some other politeness.
Once, I doing a 5 mile run on the street, and I think (never too sure about what you think you overhear people saying while you're running) that a group of guys was talking about me as I ran past. I think one of them said I was French. I have no idea why. Another time I was boarding an airplane to Beijing from Lanzhou, and a guy asked me where I was from. When I said the US, I think he said something like "what? you look like you're from France". I said something like "France?!?" (granted, my bad Chinese was even worse back then, so he might have said, "the cheese in the US isn't as good as the French".)