User Comments - suntzu8
suntzu8
Posted on: Understanding 了解 (Liǎojiě) and 理解 (Lǐjiě)
December 15, 2008, 07:16 PMJust a sidenote here...our good friend "liǎojiě" makes an appearance in this week's intermediate lesson "Up and Comer in the Office".
"Nǐ yīnggāi qù nàli kànkan, liǎojiě yīxià shìchǎng xūqiú"
Posted on: To bag or not to bag?
December 02, 2008, 07:49 PMHi Jenny,
The timing of this lesson is perfect since here in Toronto, Canada, there is a definite movement towards supermarkets charging for plastic bags.
There are already quite a few supermarket chains that are already charging money for plastic bags. Now, the Toronto City Council is proposing to pass a by-law that would require major supermarket chains to charge 5 cents per plastic bag (approximately 3 mao per bag ...more expensive than in the lesson!).
From what I have read, they hope that this will cause plastic bag use to be reduced by 70% by 2012.
I was also recently in Vancouver but did not notice whether or not they charge for plastic bags there.
Interestingly enough, this lesson's dialogue probably transcends nationality as I have often heard the exact same conversation in English at the supermarkets here!
Posted on: Moscow
July 02, 2008, 12:12 PMHi Brims,
Another word I have seen thrown around (mainly in my Chinese textbook) is cānguān. Although it seems to me that both lüyóu and lüxíng can be normally used for visiting a foreign place (i.e. another country) while cānguān appears to be more used for some specific smaller place (like a museum, historic site etc.). I'm not sure if this is necessarily the case, just what I often have seen.
Posted on: Best Friends
June 26, 2008, 04:19 AMI couldn't help but laugh when hearing all the burps in the dialogue! I wonder who does those?
Posted on: I Just.... 刚 & 刚才（gāng & gāngcái）
June 24, 2008, 12:23 PMIs it possible to boil the lesson down into a few rules? From what I understand, here are the tricky parts regarding gang1 and gang1cai2.
1. It is important to remember that gang1cai2 almost literally means "just a moment ago". That being the case, you can not use it to refer to events of any significant duration. That's why you can't say "wo gangcai dao Shanghai san ge yue".
2. "Gang1" on the other hand can be used to mean "just" or "just a moment ago". Since it can also mean "just a moment ago", this is why it overlaps or intersects with "gang1cai2".
3. However, "gang1"'s limitation is that it cannot stand alone. It has to co-locate or be used in conjunction with a verb. "Gang1cai2" in contrast can be used alone.
Does that seem correct?
Posted on: I Just.... 刚 & 刚才（gāng & gāngcái）
June 24, 2008, 04:54 AMWow. Thanks for clearing that up! Great short and crisp lesson on something I was wondering about for a long time. Also really liked Amber's mnemonic /metaphor about how a "gang" doesn't like to be alone!
Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hunan
May 09, 2008, 04:29 AMHi Bazza, There's a joke that I heard regarding 性感 (xìnggǎn). It involves a foreigner (who presumably has a working knowledge of some Chinese) and a local Chinese person who thinks the foreigner is sexy. I think it goes like this: Local: Nǐ hěn xìnggǎn! (You're really sexy!) Foreigner: Bù shì. Wǒ bù xìng Gǎn, wǒ xìng Smith. (No. I'm not surnamed Gan, I'm surnamed Smith) Sorry to anybody out there named "Smith", just an example! =) The joke being the foreigner has mistaken the "xìng" in "xìnggǎn" as being the "xìng" meaning to be surnamed. (Example: Qǐng wèn, nín guì xìng?) Hope that's not too lame! I thought it was pretty funny! 8-)
Posted on: Diet Coke
May 06, 2008, 01:24 PMHi Frances - When I saw Amber's reply and that she actually had not just the pinyin but also the Hanzi for "Slurpee", my jaw hit the floor! I don't even think you can find "slurpee" in most ENGLISH dictionaries, let alone a Chinese-English dictionary. Amber always has ultra-cool and very useful comments. Aside from colloquial expressions, I really like her succinct and accurate explanations of grammatical points too. When I first started listening to Chinesepod, I only listened to the lessons. Later I discovered that Qing Wen has a treasure trove of important and useful tips.
Posted on: Diet Coke
May 06, 2008, 03:58 AMWOW. I can even get the Chinese word for "slurpee" on Chinese Pod! That's really amazing! Can't get that stuff anywhere else! =)
Posted on: All the Things You Can Hit: 打 (dǎ)
January 04, 2009, 09:58 PMAn important one for students in the classroom would be: da3kai1 (as in to open something).
Qing3 da3kai1 shu1....(Please open your books...)