User Comments - sushan
sushan
Posted on: Regional Accents Part I
April 22, 2008 at 5:00 AM很有意思的课. 例语是 非常普通的 hĕn yoŭyìsi de kè。 lìyŭ shì fēicháng pŭtōng de！ Also happy to hear other areas will be getting the same treatment. It often feels like the western/southern regions of the country don’t get a whole lot of attention on this program. In Sichuan, people change n into l, so milk 牛奶 (niúnăi) sounds more like liulai and the guy on the street selling lemons 柠檬(níngméng) sounds almost like he’s speaking English. And exchanges about common, daily life topics like food and transportation are much more likely to be fraught with regionalisms.
Posted on: Going to the Pharmacy
April 20, 2008 at 4:05 AM感冒的 时候 我喝 999(三九) 如果 咳嗽 999 让我安眠 gănmào de shíhoù、 wŏ hē 999 (sān jiŭ)。 rúguŏ késou ,999 ràng wŏ ānmián. (I drink 999 when I have a cold. Helps me sleep if I am coughing.) 999 - powdered medicinal drink which you can get in any pharmacy.
Posted on: Roommates and What Chinese Think of Foreigners
April 18, 2008 at 7:04 AMThis reminds me of my favourite Saturday Show, about the top ten annoying things about foreigners. (Are those still available to download?)
Posted on: Ordering Noodles
April 15, 2008 at 4:34 AMDanjo, 我听说过需要黄河水做真正 的 牛肉面. Wŏ tīngshuōguo xūyào huánghé shuĭ zuò zhēnzhèng de niúroù miàn. Ive heard told you need water from the Yellow River to make genuine beef noodles. (from Lanzhou people, I mean)
Posted on: Superstitions and Business Trip Tales
April 11, 2008 at 12:26 PMThe 'hot pot is for winter' idea is strictly regional - in Sichuan hot pot is even more popular in the summer than the winter. Makes you sweat. (Xian was the first place I ever saw hot pot advertised as Chengdu hot pot - most hot pot places in Chengdu claim to be Chongqing style.)
Posted on: Detroit
April 7, 2008 at 2:55 AM同志门, 让我们用中文辩护底特律 tóngzhì mén、 ràng wŏmen yòng zhōngwén biànhù dĭtèlǜ。 Fellow Detroit defenders, let's do so in Chinese!
Posted on: Detroit
April 6, 2008 at 3:43 PMHow do you say 'soul food' in Chinese? can I say 底特律的建筑学很有意思 dĭtèlǜ de jiànzhúxué (or just 建筑 jiànzhú) hĕn yoŭ yìsī , for the architecture tells one of the most distinctive stories in North America? And that blatant Canadian baiting at the end, tsk tsk. In return I am requesting a lesson on how to explain the whole 'octopus on the ice' tradition in Chinese.
Posted on: Buying Batteries
March 13, 2008 at 4:40 AMI've seldom bought batteries in a package; generally get them per battery and the salesperson pops however many you need out of the package. Very convenient.
Posted on: Stargazing
March 13, 2008 at 4:21 AMAt first I avoided this lesson because I thought it would be depressing - moving from an area of the world known for clear skies to urban China makes thinking about stars painful. But the lesson was really interesting and funny, which cheered me up. 银和 (yínhé) - Milky Way
Posted on: 撒娇
April 24, 2008 at 7:03 AM某些女学生虽然) 他们又聪明又认真的学生用很可爱的方法借口迟到或者没 作业. 她扪这样表演 ‘撒娇’呢? Moŭxiē nǚxuésheng、 suīrán tāmen yoù cōngmíng yoù rènzhēn de xuésheng, yòng hĕn kĕ’ài de fāngfă jièkoŭ chídào huòzhĕ méi zuòyè。 tā mén zhèyàng biăoyăn ‘sā jiāo’ ne？ Just in case that was unintelligible: I have several female students whom I would consider very bright and serious but still affect a very cute way to excuse themselves for lateness or incomplete homework. (or protest a large/difficult assignment.) Can you call this 'sajiao'? (Even though it's not in a romantic context?) My first reaction was pretty negative (why such immature whining)? but I am used to it by now.