User Comments - yaming8808

Posted on: Broken Pipe

you have reminded me of an anomaly I uncovered that possibly can be cleared up by someone at Chinesepod. Newbie lesson #0180-May I take your photo? has 'zhàopiàn' with two 4th tones but in Elementary lesson #0964-The Panda's Secret Wish 'zhàopiānr' occurs where you can see 'pian'

has been given a 1st tone. This confused me when I discovered it, but I'm

wondering now if this change in pian's tone occurred because of a switch to

the Beijing dialect?

Posted on: Why, why, why??

 Also, I know "...but he's not my type" gets across the meaning of "...kěshì tā bù shì wǒ xǐhuān de lèixìng" but I think it more helpful to include in the English translations as much as possible of the Mandarin expressed.  Sure, the Chinese can be telegraphic, but, if you start cutting corners in the English translations as well, I find that I sometimes have little clue as to what should be expressed in Mandarin if I'm trying to go from English to Mandarin.  To me, as a student, the English sentences serve as an example of what I might be trying to say in China in Mandarin.  Of course, I suppose it's okay to say in Mandarin "...kěshì tā bù shì wǒ lèixìng".  To which I reply, why didn't you give that then as the Mandarin exercise?  Because that's what "...but he's not my type" is primarily about, just as "...but he's not the type I like" is primarily about "...kěshì tā bù shì wǒ xǐhuān de lèixìng". 

Posted on: Why, why, why??

I went through the comments, and, unless I missed it, I was surprised to find no reference to the expansion statement "You look a little bit tired today".  This is as different from "Nǐ jīntiān kàn shangqu hěn lèi" as are the expressions 'You look a bit under the weather' and 'You look dog-tired ' from each other.

Posted on: The Stingy Boss

What does tiěgōngjī yīmáobùbá mean? Miser?

Posted on: Help with Housework

Hái tài kěxī 'de shíhou' bù fānyì.

Posted on: The Man and the Dog

Another good question, wonfeihung, it seems you're still waiting for the

answer. Good luck!

Posted on: Chinese New Year Fireworks

I now have seen that 'hǎohāo' has the same character for both parts of the

word, i.e., the differences in tones don't change the use of the normal written character in Mandarin. which, in this case is the usual character for

'hǎo'. So it seems this sort of thing might also happen for the same use

of the written characters for 'děi' & 'de'.

Posted on: Late Getting Back

In the expansion statement "Wǒ xiànzài zhēnde hěn jí", the English lacks 'very' in the translation, which is essential to get across the heightened urgency expressed in the Mandarin.

Posted on: Shut up!

wonfeihung, it's almost 4 years down the road and nobody seems to have answered your question about the measure words for gǒu.  In a slightly earlier Elementary lesson, #0435, The Man and the Dog, zhī is constantly used and so far I haven't seen tiáo used anywhere except here.  Perhaps it's an error or else tiáo & zhī are both duì.  I know zhī is a common measure word for animals, but tiáo is used for yú as in yī tiáo yú = a fish.

Posted on: Consoling the Bereaved

If "If he comes back early, tell him to call me back" is translated as "..., let him give me a return phone call", doesn't one get away from the imperative aspects of the English and into the more civil request of the word 'rang'?