User Comments - tucsonmichael

Posted on: The Magic Word 让 (Ràng)

one other use of 让：

passive sentence construction, similar to the use of 被。 The pattern is: object (receiver of action) 让 subject (doer) 给 (gei3) verb and object:

我的车让弟弟给撞坏了。 My car was wrecked by my younger brother.

Posted on: The Magic Word 让 (Ràng)

hi henning, i'll try answering your question, using my Chinese Link 202 text as reference (lesson 13), and defer to our great chinesepod experts for clarification.  让 has a range of meanings from letting someone do something, to making someone do something.  I do see a note that 叫 jiao4 is more commonly spoken with the same meaning (but perhaps just in certain regions of the country).  使 shi3 means something between making someone do something, or causing something, somewhat interchangeable with 让 and more commonly used in written communication than spoken.  命 ming4 to me has more of the "to order" or "to command" meaning, so is much stronger, and in some situations could be impolite.  Other examples that further confuse me as to which word is correct:

请 qing3 to request, to ask

令 ling4  to make, cause

劝 quan4 to advise, urge, try to persuade

允许 yun3xu3 to permit, allow

崔 cui1 to urge

逼 bi1 to force

多保重

Posted on: Autumn Outing

tommyb,  i think that 兴奋 is more associated with internal excited feeling, and 激动 with an excitement resulting in or involving movement, such as 球迷在球比赛， 比如橄榄球比赛的球迷。 (that "movement" can be implied by the second character, 动)

chij, there are some videos, i believe, posted at newbie, elementary, intermediate and upper intermediate levels. 

I think these these videos, in combination with lessons and other chinese pod resources, make a rich library of training material.  I appreciate John's transcript, but actually enjoy the videos whether I understand all of what is being said or not. With the vocabulary cues, I got the gist of the monologue when I listened the second time, and this really represents what happens to me when in China, where I don't want to trouble people too often to repeat what they said, as long as I get the gist of what is being said.

Again, wonderful resources, thanks Chinesepod!

Posted on: Asking for Leave

misterjess, a lot of people need the day after Thanksgiving 感恩节  gan3 en1 jie1 , for either Christmas shopping, or to get their stomachs back in order :-) 

Posted on: Asking for Leave

Is 周六 more common in spoken Mandarin than 星期六 xing1qi1liu4?

Posted on: Asking for Leave

I'm interested in how to distinguish between requesting leave with or without pay (unless all of these in China are assumed to be with pay).

没有 赚钱 的 请假 mei2you3 zhuanqian de qing3jia4
-- without pay leave request?

I understand that much of Europe gets most of August for vacation, so my guess is that there are something between 20 and 30 days for lots of European employees, but this stays the same from first year employed to retirement (please correct me if I am mistaken).   In America, I started with only 5 vacation days per year and 12 holidays, but after 20 years earned 25 vacation days each year and 12 holidays (IBM is more generous than many companies), although vacation is not as generous for newly hired people (they prefer higher salary to these kinds of benefits).  As a reminder, in USA, the normal work week is Monday through Friday, not Monday through Saturday (or Sunday through Thursday or Friday).

Is it a coincidence that this lesson covers asking for leave when the world economy is so poor that millions are losing jobs?  I love your optimism! 

Thanks for your consistent high quality dialogues and instruction!

Posted on: Stopped at the Gate

Sebire, if you look at the expansion exercises, you will see that 这么 has reference to something in close proximity to speaker, where 那么 refers to something or someone away from the speaker.

Posted on: How's the weather?

Hi Amber, I also remember that 拉 means "to pull" which makes sense for a stringed instrument, and 吹 means "to blow (air)" but what is the musical significance of 弹 (just to perform?)? I think the "r" as in wanr sound is also much more common in the north, where wan would seem more common.

Posted on: ID Check at the Internet Cafe

capulicita, the 你 character seems optional in both of your sentences, and to emphasize the first, you may want to add a 吧 to the end of the sentence "你 给我 看 看吧.  In the second sentence, I don't think that you repeat 看 一下;   it is either 看 看, or 看 一下,  they have the same meaning.

Posted on: Considering a Credit Card

One other question.  In America a husband and wife jointly own property and debt, so if a husband gets into debt, the Credit Card company can also go after the wife to obtain repayment.  Is that the same in China? If so, perhaps the couple in this dialogue are not married.  Otherwise the wife (if the same as in America) would realize her husband's credit card debt would not just be his responsibility, but also hers.