User Comments - shenhe

Posted on: Getting a Phone Number

Did the whiny Future Warrior bite the dust?

Jenny, what's your take on the origins of that overly elaborate character for 0?

Most Chinese I know have the tendency to slur numbers, so I almost inevitably overhear one. 

At first I thought this lesson would be about buying a mobile number...

Posted on: Weather Forecast

Old lesson, but for obvious reasons the topic never gets obsolete. So, how do you say "What's the weather like over there/in your area/city?" "Could you describe the climate a little?" "What is the forecast like?" and the colloquial way of asking "Which weather conditions are expected for the next few days?"

Thanks a lot in advance.

Posted on: Taxi Small Talk

Regarding 儿: Wouldn't it come across as a bit ...pretentious... if someone with very rudimentary language skills tried to use this little sound? To me, that would be like someone who can barely speak English having a strong (e.g.) Scottish accent. If I use it, it's constantly a source of amusement for my friends from Northern China, but I still wonder what Chinese think about Newbies using that -er.

Posted on: Taxi Small Talk

bpeacock, generally, 打 is used to indicate "play a particular game"/"engage in a certain physical activity"

In contrast, 玩 means to enjoy oneself (this can of course be the result of aforementioned activity as well, hence "玩 computer games" is also possible and so on). also in a broader sense. Children go outside to 玩 , (but they would "打 basketball") adults go to a bar/make a trip to a city in order to 玩.

Moreover, 打 doesn't really mean "play". It's simply used with most games as a general description (bad example, but it's a bit like "do the dishes"). Another possibility is 踢, as in 踢足球 (ti1 zu2qiu2) "kick" (-> "play")  football.

Posted on: Taxi Small Talk

Concerning Chinese taxis, where do you normally get in? Next to the driver or in the back? I find practises vary from country to country and even from city to city (or perhaps the taxi company...)! I have never attempted to take the seat next to the driver, but I've seen this several times. Would that be appropriate?

Posted on: Taxi Small Talk

@tanglang German words are long enough already! 呵呵

Chinese tends to use simplistic patterns, this becomes apparent if you take a look at the way questions are answered. Nevertheless, the style is anything but telegraphic.

The way I do it is either relying on fixed patterns (or sentences I learned by heart) and adapting them or reducing the sentence I want to translate to the easiest form possible and then elaborate it until it seems to convey the intended meaning. Try not to resort to Chineutsch!

Posted on: Do you like China?

@Alliejaynes

shi4 does not correspond directly to "is". A lot of things that in English would be express with "is" will be different in Chinese. He is 34 years old - Ta1 san1shi2si4 sui4.

Moving on to your example: 中国菜很好吃。 (zhong1guo2cai4 hen3 hao3chi1) Literally, Chinese food - very - tasty. Words like hen3 ("very"), fei1chang2 (extremely) or zhen1 (really) replace the shi4, they can function like verbs. Hen3 in this case does not mean very unless it's stressed.

"Chinese food >having the property of being< delicious"

The shi4 equates two nouns (He = person from England), it does not express an adjectival relationship. To do that, you need either these intensifiers (hen3, zhen1 etc.) or a so-called adjectival verb (don't worry...) like gao1 (tall) gui4 (expensive) or xiao3 (small). These don't take a "shi4" either, e.g. ta1gao1 (she is tall) - ta1hen3gao1 (she is (very) tall) - ta1bu4gao1 (she is not tall)  Personally, I prefer the second variant to the first one.

And again, bie2 dan1xin1 (don't worry), it's much easier and clearer than having to memorise conjugation charts and the like. Jia1you2! (cheering)

Posted on: Interviewing an Ayi

Couldn't there be a QingWen on when to put 的 at the end and in which cases it's superfluous? (And other "de" issues, the more obscure ones at least...)

I just don't get it - Why is there one in 那还挺方便的。, but in most sentences where I'd instinctively put a 的, the CP example contains none?

Posted on: Automated Phone Recordings

As far as I know, "去你的" may hold a semi-sexual connotation, or at least have its origins in that area. There are various Mandarin insults that revolve around one's mother , like 去你妈的, so if 去你的 is a weaker, abbreviated form of that expression, it's probably akin to son-of-a...

What do you think?

Posted on: Fat Camp

oh, yeah, the 吗... 我真没脑子了。。。Should have had some breakfast other than that ancient 豆浆。。。 ;-)