User Comments - sarahlct
sarahlct
Posted on: Learning the Lei Feng Song
December 29, 2008, 09:07 PM@andr3y Having grown up in the GDR, I understand your sentiments, but don't you think there is a fundamental difference between the endorsement of an ideology and the more innocent classification of something as a historical fact?
Posted on: Karaoke
December 29, 2008, 08:13 PMThere's an interesting little expression in one of the expansion sentences - 跑调跑到天上去了。 It's translation is rendered as "hopelessly out of key". How much of it is actually fixed - for example, does the second 跑 stem from the 跑调? Can this construction be used with other verbs?
我虽然非常喜欢唱歌，我觉得卡拉OK不太好玩因为歌词都是繁体字。;)
Posted on: Taxi Culture in China
December 27, 2008, 10:18 PMCould you give us some additional taxi vocab that's not covered in the lessons? (Explaining that you'd like the driver to wait for you, asking whether you could sit in front [actually, in some countries, this is not allowed...], or more elaborate ways of asking for the fare in certain circumstances etc, stuff like that would be really appreciated)?
According to this podcast, taxi drivers seem to be good "victims" for conversation practice. Any suggestions how to strike up a chat? I reckon just because I'm a visitor I shouldn't have the right to BS the poor guy. ;)
Are there many female drivers, for example in Beijing or Shanghai?
Posted on: Not So Silent Night
December 24, 2008, 12:46 PM@Jason Actually, in a few countries, Christmas Eve is the most anticipated day as the presents are distributed on the 24th.
Posted on: Directions with a Map #1
January 02, 2009, 05:57 PMLeslie - on the contrary, it can never hurt to have a glance at the lessons of the level above the one you are at.
As for your questions - if the third tone is shortened (which is usually the case if followed up by another character) it can sound a bit like the fourth tone, but there is a subtle distinction. I'm sure your ears will get used to this very soon. Regarding"Chulai", a lot of vowels get slurred to some degree. It's not really colloquial, just a matter of slow versus faster speech. You will also come across -ng that sounds like -n, and, depending on the region, sh- that resembles s-. Don't let these irregularities throw you off. It's a bit like the different pronunciations of A or U in English.