User Comments - sydcarten

Posted on: The Shanghai Literary Festival

There is a movie that refers to the HIV villages in China. It's called 3 Needles.

There are 3 separate stories about HIV infection, one in Canada, one in South Africa and one in China.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395424/

Posted on: A Thanksgiving Phone Call

Thanks for that Connie. That's the sort of answer I was waiting for.

Posted on: A Thanksgiving Phone Call

Sorry to have to bump this guys, but I STILL haven't gotten the answer I'm looking for:

Can one of the ChinesePod counsellors, or any genuine Chinese people here answer this.

Why, in THIS particular dialogue, does the son address his mother as 您 rather than the usual 你?

I'm guessing that there may be some cultural/situational significance to it, but I still don't know what it might be.

Posted on: A Thanksgiving Phone Call

//I've certainly never Sired my father//

ha ha, I know what you mean here but...

your father certainly sired you!

Thanks for the reply anyway, go_manly

Posted on: A Thanksgiving Phone Call

hmmm....

I still don't feel any more enlightened on my original question.

Why, in THIS particular dialogue, does the son address his mother as 您 rather than the usual 你?

I'm guessing that there may be some cultural/situational significance to it, but I still don't know what it might be.

Posted on: Let's Just Be Friends

I'm not talking about being brutal, I'm talking about the semantic difference btw using 'just' or 'only' or not using it at all.

I don't see the 'just' in the Chinese text

Maybe you don't see the subtlety btw saying 'just' in English and simply leaving it out, but I do.

The ChinesePod English translation includes the word 'just' because they know it IS necessary.

I want to know why it is NOT necessary in Chinese.

Posted on: Let's Just Be Friends

The context is fairly clear to us uninvolved 3rd party listeners.

But if you are in this situation yourself it is a different matter. When talking to someone you have to consider their state of mind, and the stake they hold in the outcome in the conversation.

They will want to interpret your statements in the most liberal way possible to conform with their own hopes and aspirations. That is why, in English at least, you would want to knock their overly optimistic hopes on the head by being VERY EXPLICIT about your meaning.

Posted on: Let's Just Be Friends

yes, thanks for that.

I suppose what I am asking is this, is the sentence in the dialogue unambiguous even though it doesn't actually use 只 or 普通?

In English you would need to insert the word 'just' or 'only' because you wouldn't want to rely on context alone, as there is always the potential for misinterpretation by someone who doesn't necessarily WANT to see things from your point of view.

Posted on: A Thanksgiving Phone Call

Why does the son address his mother as 您 rather than 你?

Don't children usually address their parents as 你?

Are there any particular circumstances where 您 would be preferred?

Posted on: 马丁· 路德 · 金

In Cantonese 金 is pronounced gam1

I have read that Cantonese contains more ancient sounds of Chinese than Mandarin.