User Comments - wildyaks
wildyaks
Posted on: Election Candidates
September 8, 2007 at 4:31 AMIn the expansion sentence 他是大家选举出来的，应该挺有能力的。 (He was the one elected by everyone; he should be quite competent.) it says 能力(nengli). but the speaker says "shili". Is that 实力? Can you use 实力 shili, 能力 nengli, 才能caineng, 本事 benshi interchangeably? Or are there certain context in which certain words are more commonly used? Are there differences in meaning?
Posted on: How do you take your coffee?
September 8, 2007 at 4:14 AMMaixiewawa, You say "Learners always want someone to let them know when they do something wrong". I don't agree. There are times you need correction. And there are times you want correction. But if people start pointing out things all the time, even teachers in a lesson, it soon gets very, very tiring. As a teacher it is good to correct things you are currently working on, paying attention to repeated mistakes and correct those. But you just can't correct EVERYTHING. it gets too discouraging for most learners. Now, in a Cpod lesson, yeah, maybe here you have a point. My question is, however, do Chinese never get their tones wrong? I mean Mandarin speakers. Here in Sichuan people get the tones "wrong" all the time. It makes it such an expressive language...
Posted on: All About 所有 (suǒyǒu) and 都 (dōu)
September 8, 2007 at 4:08 AMIn one of the expansion sentences I came across 一切。In that context it also meant "all". Here it comes: 公司免除了他的一切职务。 (The company relieved him of all his duties.) Could we also say: 公司免除了他所有的职务。? And when do you use 一切 and when所有? Maybe another qingwen needed?
Posted on: How do you take your coffee?
September 8, 2007 at 4:00 AMAnd then there is 我想要。 要is indeed quite strong. I have noticed that many of us language learners tend to use it a lot and come across as demanding.
Posted on: Election Candidates
September 8, 2007 at 2:44 AMmarcosbento, you will find that words that do not come from germanic background do get different articles in different countries. In Switzerland, I am pretty sure we would say "das Nutella", and the Germans probably say "die Nutella. Yoghurt is another one such example (don't even know where that word comes from). The Germans say Der Yoghurt, the Austrians Die Yoghurt, and the Swiss Das Yoghurt. Henning, correct me if I am wrong.
Posted on: How do you take your coffee?
September 8, 2007 at 2:34 AMI live really in the countryside in the West of China. Last night my local friend and I went to a "teahouse" that had just recently opened. They sold the Nescafé sachet and Maxwell and it had Capucchino and Mocha on the menu, but I guessed it would be another one of those sachet thingys. We drank the standard Nescafé and got charged only 5 kuai instead of the 10 it said on the menue. I love the tea-drinking culture we have here. I have been to other provinces and found it hard at times to find comfortable places to just hand out and drink tea. It's probably just my prejudice, but I think "we" Sichuanese still take time out to hang out in teahouses (that's why there are so many) while at the east-coast the pace of life is much busier, maybe more like the West? I find that coffeebars and drinking coffee is becoming on vogue around here (even in the countryside).
Posted on: In-Laws and Drinking
September 7, 2007 at 9:50 AMI once had a Chinese teacher she really couldn't drink alcohol. And then she did her internship in a Yi minority area where drinking is an absolute must. However, after they made her drink her first cup and she turned red like a lobster, they stopped forcing her. She said she would not have minded drinking with locals. 但是她真的不会的
Posted on: How do you take your coffee?
September 7, 2007 at 6:50 AMThis is not really a question of gender. Real coffee drinkers (connaisseur) drink it black. 不要糖 ，不要牛奶。 And flavoured coffees, well... (I mean flavours like vanilla, strawberry and what not). However, I like variety, too. When I really need a coffee, it's the real stuff. For socializing and what not, anything goes. (I gave up drinking coffee a couple of years ago...)-:). How would you say that in Chinese? 两年以前我戒喝咖啡了。??
Posted on: How do you take your coffee?
September 7, 2007 at 4:42 AMThere is always the Yunnan coffee variant. It is not bad as far as coffee goes. And in Chengdu shi you can get that in a number of Western style restaurants for 16 kuai, I think. Free refill
Posted on: Election Candidates
September 8, 2007 at 4:48 AM她整个人都快崩溃了。 (..., she just about had a total breakdown.) Here I have another question. There is this interesting construction...整个人都... But then, 她...快崩溃了means "she just about had..."?? She had a break down and it was almost total? Or she got near to having a total breakdown? Does the Chinese say: "She immediately had a break down". Or does it actually have the connotation of "just about do/have sth."? If so: If I want to say "I am just about to have a cup of coffee" I say "我快要喝咖啡 了". Correct? How would I say then "I was just about to have a cup of coffee"?