User Comments - tanxln

Posted on: Making Dumplings

@jonsg "as someone whose only concession to meat-eating is seafood, how can I tell easily whether dumplings are non-meaty?"

I don't think you can tell what filling was used just by looking at them (althoguh some variants have some of the filling coming out at the top), but you can always ask (你这)包子是什么(馅儿)的？是肉馅的吗? 要是肉的我不吃。

The smell may give the filling away, though. (As a vegetarian, you might have become more sensitive to this kind of smell, at least that's what has happened to me.)

Posted on: Sign Here, Please

Simple but useful lesson. One of my Spanish workbooks had a huge section on filling out forms, which turned out to be extremely useful. So I think I'm going to analyze Chinese forms in the same way .  Are there any standard forms online (apart from the registrations forms of yahoo.cn and similar services)?

matt_c, you suggested practising writing our Chinese names. But the handwriting of most learners lacks fluidity, so it'll not look like an actual signature. How much do the Chinese "slur" their signatures, and do you know a good method to make the signature look like authentic handwriting?

By the way, my Chinese name is 谭晓莲，I hope it's a good one, because I didn't consult a native speaker about it, instead I adopted the personal name of a fellow student of mine and looked up the surname that resembles my real one the most. A naive approach, I know...

Are the sentences in supergood's post correct?