User Comments - shuang6677
shuang6677
Posted on: High Maintenance Girls and the Elderly
July 19, 2008, 03:32 AM作(zuo?)Is that the word you are talking about, Jenny? In Beijing, we never comment a girl as '作'. By the way, I'm from Beijing, although I 'm in sydney now. I just consulted a few friends back home over phone( Geez, overseas phone calls are expensive here.....). None of them understood what a 'zuo' girl refers to....
Maybe a 'zuo' girl is an expression from Shanghai dialect?? In beijing, ‘作’can only be used in the word '作死'， which is quite rude, meaning 'someone is seeking death, or looking for trouble'. Sorry for mentioning that!
By the way, we do use the word '做作’to describe a girl, which means 'not natural, affected'.
Posted on: Pollution and Hot Drinks
July 17, 2008, 01:15 PMHello, everyone~I am from Beijing. Now I'm in Sydney, teaching Mandarin to ppl from all over the world. I have 8 Aussie students (including 3 ABCs and one half Chinese girl), one Irish, one Malayan and one HongKong guy. I recommended Chinesepod.com to each of my student in my very first class. They all found it is a fasnating Chinese learning website. Therefore, they all think I'm a good Mandarin teacher and they just love me!haha. Thank you! But nowadays, it's kind of hard to impress a new student. The reason is Chinesepod.com is becoming well-known to every Chinese lover......haha...
Speaking of the environment and pollution, I think Beijing is getting better and better. I have been away from home for a year, but heard from friends flying in and out, Beijing's environment has changed a lot. I've also heard from my parents, they say we are getting more and more blue skies!! So those who are going to Beijing, don't worry too much!!! However, the transport in Beijing is the biggest headache, I think!!
Have fun in China, every one!
Posted on: High Maintenance Girls and the Elderly
July 19, 2008, 09:18 AMhigh maintenance in Beijing Mandarin could be ‘ 很难伺候’。你可以说：‘我女朋友很难伺候。’--that's really a colloquial expression.
Dear Amber, please check with Jenny, '作' is really not acceptable to describe a high maintenance girl in most areas of China. You can't even find this interpretation in the dictionary.
As a Mandarin teacher and a Beijinger, I highly doubt that 'zuo'.