User Comments - tvan
tvan
Posted on: About Face! A Multi-faceted Look at 面子
March 15, 2009 at 2:50 AMWhen an in-law purchased a car he couldn't afford, my wife disapprovingly said, "死要面子/Sìyàomìanzi" or, "he's willing to die for face." I don't know how accurate that translation is, but it was definitely a negative comment.
RJberki, I couldn't agree more. I think face is in every culture, just different manifestations.
Posted on: Watch Out!
March 10, 2009 at 3:29 AMevasiege, I can't authoritatively answer your question, but I can keep your thread alive by posting here. Both sentences seem to mean the same thing, just different word order.
I don't know what adding the second 了 accomplishes here though. It usually implies completion of the activity, but I'm not sure if that's the case here.
Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Cutting Open a Frog
March 9, 2009 at 4:45 PMHenning and Paulinrus, I certainly see your point, and it is certainly a valid one. I guess where I diverge is on whether this is a Mandarin or a Chinese site and, indeed, what the difference is? As both of you are no doubt aware, the difference between dialects and "standard" Mandarin (not Beijing Mandarin) is a very fuzzy line.
Anyway, if I'm not interested in a post, I guess I just scroll on. Mostly, this seems to much ado about nothing/a Sichuan dog barking at the sun deal, so this is my last post on the subject.
Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Cutting Open a Frog
March 9, 2009 at 3:21 PMPaulinrus, the policy (request, really) you mentioned applies to Intermediate and below. Last I checked this was Upper Intermediate. Writing in Chinese is hard enough; translating everything into pinyin and English is a royal pain and, at this level, by and large, unnecessary.
Personally, I welcome poddies at Wchan and Chrisstudent's level; if I don't understand their posts, then maybe I need to work a little harder.
Posted on: Making Commands More Emphatic with 千万 and 一定
March 8, 2009 at 10:12 PMxxxy, 你一定要到上海去/Nǐ yīdìng yào dào Shànghǎi qù /You definitely should go to Shanghai. :-) Or, 你千万不要去上海, but I don't think that's what you meant.
However, if you do to to Shanghai: 你千万要提防上海的扒手/Nǐ qīanwàn yào dīfang Shànghǎide páshǒu/You definitely want to watch out for pickpockets in Shanghai.
Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Inner Mongolia
March 2, 2009 at 12:13 AMGarfaldo, I believe you are right. From what I could tell from my dictionary and local sources, 只 is not used as a measure word in script either; at least not with 繁體.
Posted on: Sorry and Thank You
March 1, 2009 at 6:34 PMrjberki, it ought to be. Saying "thank you" for passing the salt is one of those insincere niceties; no gratitude is intended. I'm not sure Chinese has fewer of these, or if they're just different.
Posted on: Sorry and Thank You
March 1, 2009 at 3:08 PMAll right, time for a double-devil's advodate. On the Amber/Clay issue, yeah they were entertaining and made the show interesting. Still, I'm here to learn Chinese. This lesson made a very good point about 谢谢. The problem Christine30550 brought up re: always saying, "Thank you," when someone passes the soy sauce is one that I still make; I try not to, but it's really ingrained in US culture and, accordingly, must be a common faux pas. In fact, I'm not sure that it's a "beginner" issue. That said, the lesson could/should have been fleshed out a bit, say, by expanding on when 谢谢 and 对不起 are appropriate.
On Henning's comment re: grammar, I'm not sure that Qing Wen ever really was a grammar show. That said, speaking as the MCP (Most-Correcte-Poddie), given Pete's language chops, maybe that would be a good way to go?
And finally, one poddie has been focusing on Chinese language issues, how to comfort the bereaved, 对得起, etc. To that poddie I say, "长夜，谢谢/長夜，謝謝/Chángyè, Xìexìe.
Posted on: Personal Ad
February 27, 2009 at 5:04 AMbarto, not to belabor an obscure point, but an English stative verb is also referred to as a linking verb. For example, in "I am tired," "am" links the subject, "I", to an adjective, "tired." But you can't say, "I am" because that isn't a sentence, since it doesn't express a complete thought. However, in Chinese you can say,:" "我累死." A literal parsing of that is, "I tired." Where's the verb? How old of a term is, "静态动词" anyway?
Anyway, if it was brought in by Jesuit scholars, I rest my case. If it was used by 秦始皇 to describe buried scholars, 我笨蛋/Me Dumb.
Posted on: 中国和西方的农民
March 16, 2009 at 3:47 AMurcto, 你说得对，但怎么大的国家，哪能代表全国。美国也是一样。说美国农民的话，多数的人想美国中西的农民，种玉米，小麦，等。但加州的农业是最繁荣的，最少的补贴，最多的农民，而且很少种那些谷类植物。
讲中国，我觉得最典型的农民是四川的。