User Comments - si1teng2

Posted on: The London Olympics

Hey. I didn't realize my comment sparked this thread. I think "UK" also includes other territories and dependencies (which may now amount to the Falklands/Malvinas, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, and the Channel Isles? not sure what else). My sense is that people from England generally tend not to pay much attention to the distinction between "UK" and "GB." (On letters addressed internationally, though, you would either use "UK" or the name of the specific country. "GB" would be weird.)

As for "Britain" vs "Great Britain," I would just say "Britain," as I think would most British people. I notice that Americans almost always add the "Great"--which sounds stilted and completely unnecessary to me.

As for sports where Ireland and Northern Ireland play together, I've never heard of such a thing--but that's not saying much.

Posted on: The London Olympics

Note:

英国 "Yīngguó" is used to translate "Britain" or "UK" and includes:

Scotland, 'Sūgélán' 苏格兰

Wales, 'Wēi'érshì' 威尔士

and

Northern Ireland, 'Běi Aì'ěrlán' 北爱尔兰

England itself is 'Yīnggélán' 英格兰

Posted on: Braised Pork in Soy Sauce

Great video! Regarding 'looking at the camera', here's my penniesworth. I'd prefer to see you expressing yourselves and interacting naturally with each other without showing awareness of the camera at all. The naturalness of the expressions helps tremendously with interpreting what you are saying. 'Performing' for the camera adds an artificial veneer to your actions and gestures, which for me gets in the way of interpretation, as it feels like you are interacting with a camera rather than a person. (People don't normally talk to each other while smiling and gesturing at a camera.)

Posted on: The Different Differences of Different and Difference

谢谢, dagah! 好像是很有用的词。怎么可能是少用的？我觉得真奇怪。

Posted on: The Different Differences of Different and Difference

“分别”跟“区别”有什么差别？为什么没有解释“分别”的意思？“分别”是我的第一个有‘difference'的意思的词。怎么告诉我们不能用？我想知道怎么用才可以！

Posted on: Volunteering in China

Thanks for the explanation, Connie!

Posted on: A Qing Wen to Our Listeners

I have a suggestion for a more advanced Qing Wen on subtle differences. I know that there is no separate verbal form for the subjunctive conditional in Chinese. But I would think that there must be times when you want to emphasize that the conditional is subjunctive rather than indicative. For example, suppose I want to say "If the temperature were to rise above freezing, the snow would melt" (or "If the temperature had risen above freezing, the snow would have melted") when I know that the temperature will not (or did not) in fact rise above freezing (as opposed to "If the temperature rises above freezing the ice will melt"). Are there any ways that this might be done? I've been told that this can be done with 假设 (or with 得). Is this right? Are there other ways of expressing various 'moods' in Chinese, given that there is no difference in verb form?

I don't think this is necessarily too impractical a question. I would think that engineers, doctors, economists, and even business administrators sometimes need to look at past data and make assessments regarding future possibilities (or what might have happened if precautions had not been taken). Granted, it's not a linguistic issue that we face on a daily basis, but if you ever run out of suggestions again, perhaps you might think about devoting a Qing Wen to this question?

Posted on: A Qing Wen to Our Listeners

Yes! I second this suggestion.

Posted on: Volunteering in China

There are several uses of 怎么 in this lesson, but only the third uses the 是。。。的 structure. Would it be acceptable to say, "我们是怎么还少一个的？" or "她是怎么不跟我说的？"? If these are wrong, how do we tell when not to use the 是怎么。。。的 structure?

Posted on: Volunteering in China

Hey! I like the new design of the audio player, but did we really have to lose the pop-up window? The pop-up window makes it very convenient to do other things with the browser while the lesson is playing, for those of us who study at the computer. The problem is not insurmountable, but the alternative solutions are much less convenient. If it is easy to do, I hope we can get it back. Thanks!