User Comments - stevemisch

Posted on: Hospitality Series 3: Slippers, Toothbrush and Toothpaste

I find John and Jenny's little "connecting" explainations useful to help me remember phrases, even if the literal translations are not the same. I'll bet some of our newer members would have liked to know that while "ma3shang4" is used to mean "right away," the derivation is from it's literal meaning "on horse."

And I find the structure of "we'll send it to you" confusing as it seems to have three redundant verbs: gei3, song4 and qu4. It reminds me of the apparent redundancy when saying "I'll send you an email" or "I'll send you a phone message." Is it just me?

Posted on: What's That Website?

John,

Great to point out that wang3zhi3 is the compression of wang3zhan4 di4zhi3. This kind of connection is very useful to make (otherwise apparently random) words more easy to remember. You do this often.

Thanks,

Steve

Posted on: Where in Shanghai

Hi Team,

How long between new lessons these days? Seems this one has been here a long time.....

Thanks,

Steve

Posted on: Swearing at a Driver

Bigger TONE MARKS please. Foreigners (YOUR MAIN CUSTOMERS) grew up without tones so we need them emphasized, not barely visible, plus many of us are >40 years old and have presybiopia, difficulty seeing small print, like your tones. Is it really so hard?

Posted on: Help with Luggage

Many of your marks for 3rd tone are getting truncated to only look like 2nd tone marks. Are they charging you by the pixel?

I've asked for years to make your tone marks bigger, partly because us foreigners tend not to focus on tones enough and

WE NEED TONE MARKS TO BE BIGGER, NOT SMALLER.

Thanks for great format and content. Really.

Posted on: Breakup

Would have been useful to explain derivation of fen shou. Shou, meaning hand?

Also, at first was annoyed at my time being wasted with music ditty at the end going on so long, then I realized they were singing the first line of the lesson--cool.

And, yes, was fun hearing Jenny say "takes balls"--shows how fully she's integrated her English--respectfully disagree with socratesinsichuan--it's polite enough for this forum and fun, if a bit earthy, and yes, humerous. Perhaps wouldn't be used at a diplomatic state dinner, but....

Posted on: Didn't you get my email?

Good to hear the male voices on the vocab and expansion sessions--seems more natural to me (maybe because I'm male?). My first tones were beginning to sound really girly.

Posted on: Swearing at a Driver

As someone who commutes to work everyday on his bike I really enjoyed this. CLASS WARS INDEED! People think because they're rich and have a car everyone should get out of their way--little old ladies, children, walkers, bikers.... The 25 year old men are the worst.

I often have taken to slapping the back of their car, making a loud "BONK!" noise which really get's their attention. Try it! This phrase "you think you're so great driving a car" is PERFECT! I must memorize it.

I once got in a yelling match with a very aggressive driver who was A) Driving in the bike lane, full of old people and children, but also B) Then had the audacity to honk at everyone to get out of his way--he was trying to avoid the "du che" traffic jam. I gave him some serious grief and called him a "gua watze", which is Sichuan hua for "dumb ass." At the stop light I told him he should be "nar" instead of of "jar", pointing to the road, not the bike lane. He did threaten to get out of his car and also used it aggressively towards me--as the shocked Chinese looked on, never having seen anyone challenge a rich driver. Finally the traffic cop called him over to scold him and perhaps ticket him....

Posted on: I don't smoke

So, in the dialogue, when they say, "Ni3 chou1 ba," it can be translated as:

"You suck"

Posted on: Getting Picked up by a Driver

One of my patients from Pudong Jin Qiao was a man and "trailing spouse" of his wife who had been sent there as an expat employee while he stayed home with the children. He described himself as, and claimed to have invented the phrase:

"guy tai"