User Comments - tvan
tvan
Posted on: Extreme Chinese - 不得了 (bùdéliǎo)
January 14, 2008 at 8:36 PMI had heard that the term 小姐 was definitely offensive in the northern parts of China. Does anybody know if that is the case in the southern regions (i.e. Guangdong, Guangxi, etc.)?
Posted on: 好莱坞大片
January 14, 2008 at 2:36 PMsoulman2001au, I don't know it you're doing it already or not but, if I'm having a problem understanding a dialogue, I find it useful to go to the dialogue window and go through each sentence individually; then I return to the normal dialogue.
Posted on: 好莱坞大片
January 13, 2008 at 2:28 PMMacintosh 计算机也大不开。
Posted on: The Non-Chinese Speaking Tourist and Toilets
January 12, 2008 at 3:27 PMUnless you like to hang out at your hotel all day, I don't see how you can travel anywhere in Asia without frequent use of the squat toilets. They're not that bad. The only time I've ever had to walk out on one was when the previous occupant missed badly (#2), and I had no place to put my feet. However, I confess to the sticking to the half-squat.
Posted on: Bad Service Restaurant
January 12, 2008 at 1:44 AMLondehua, 我的词典的定义："alcoholic drinks for drowning one's cares, sorrows, etc. (usually said of drinking alone)".
Posted on: Bad Service Restaurant
January 11, 2008 at 12:14 PMAuntie68 and Amber, Thank you both for very detailed, responsive, and informative posts. Giving the alternative of "的一点“ especially helped, as I now realize that is what I generally use. Your point on taking verbs that also function as adjectives in English and using them as such in Chinese is well taken and one of my failings. It is interesting that you brought up the point of 令 versus 让。I recently got marked down on an essay for using 让 instead of 使 due to the whole written/spoken thing. Then I got marked down for using 使 instead of 令 because of some other convention involving emotions。I guess that's my grammar point for the day.
Posted on: Bad Service Restaurant
January 10, 2008 at 10:26 PMI can usually figure grammar questions out on my own, but the use of 地方 here was one I hadn't run across。In the lesson the angry customer states, "这就是让我气的地方。Of course, I have always seen it used to indicate a physical location. However, I don't recall seeing it used figuratively before. I would appreciate any grammar ideas regarding this as the lesson dialogue flowed much more smoothly than the hack job that I currently use to make the same point.
Posted on: Singapore
January 9, 2008 at 8:58 PMLondon certainly sounds good, however... Chinesepod seems to be overrun with Texans these days, so why not Texas? Lots of good stereotypes to work with as well as interesting city names like Carthage, Athens, Paris, and Nagocodoches, the latter just to see what the transliteration would look like.
Posted on: Singapore
January 7, 2008 at 10:42 PMAuntie68, thank you for the information and my apologies for my misnaming. sebire, you are absolutely right, I stand corrected.
Posted on: Singapore
January 15, 2008 at 4:09 PMAuntie68, he's in school? No wonder Singapore does so well. Does he start calculus in kindergarten or first grade?