User Comments - chrisinguam
chrisinguam
Posted on: Sightseeing at Tiananmen
June 16, 2008 at 8:42 AMI agree the discussion sometimes drifts off the initial subject, but I don’t mind. I am about to be an offender myself. Chinese dictionaries, help! Portable, not on-line. One of my pet peeves!
All my Chinese friends have these little handheld electronic dictionaries, and I want one, too. Good ones run about 350 US Dollars. However, all these little devices are excellent for native Chinese speakers, hard or useless for foreigners. You type in an English word and it displays a Chinese character. Great for the Chinese! But for me: If I knew the character in the first place, I would not need the dictionary. If it only throws the character at me without any Pinyin and English context, it is worthless to me. Some of these devices do have pinyin, after you negotiated a lengthy and confusing Chinese menu. They all don’t work for me.
Anybody know a good handheld for foreigners????
On the go, I use my ultraportable laptop, Asus Eee with NJ Star Chinese Wordprocessor on it. Works reasonably fast and has a good dictionary that is userfriendly for non-Chinese. For bigger stuff I use Kingsoft Power Word; all my (mainland) Chinese friends use it
For a “biggie” with excellent explanations, the big Langenscheid German – Chinese has no equal. In my mind, the Germans just are the superior linguists. My native language is German.
Tschues or zai jian, Chris in Guam and Spaetzchen
Posted on: Airplane Arrival
June 8, 2008 at 10:45 AMSorry, I am a newbie. The "Ladies and Gentlemen" and "Dear Passengers" brings up a question. What is the correct "Dear" in Chinese, as in addressing a letter: Dear Mr. Wang. I guess, the Chinese don't write "dear" but what do they write? I asked a few (educated) Chinese friends, but never got a clear answer.
Chris
P.S. My little picture disappeared!
Posted on: I'm Married
June 1, 2008 at 12:45 PMWhat a coincidence! We are just getting married. She can call me Lao Gong, but I like to call her Tai Tai. It sounds more high, and I am so proud of her! Plus, at least that's what my Chinese teacher taught me, but she is from Taiwan. Otherwise I call her Spaetzchen, German for little sparrow, because she eats like a Spaetzchen. We go to McDonalds and I order a double Quarterpounder with cheese and she a children's Happy Meal. After I finished my hamburger, I eat half of her chicken and fries. Chris & Nan Nan
Posted on: Barbecuing
June 1, 2008 at 8:21 AMLove it! Love it! Love it! Now, how did we get from BBQ to ballroom? Wode tai tai is ballroom dance teacher and is from Chongqing. Congrats to Gary! Brace yourself for lot of Chinese BBQ and Hot Pot! I have had all kinds of Chinese BBQ and Ho Guo, as my sweetheart with an impish smile was feeding me all kinds of intersting performance enhancing Chinese delicacies, from very intersting parts of the animal, niu ruo and zhu ruo.
by the way, what here in the Pacific (Guam, Philippines, etc.) is called BBQ in the US is called Shishkebob.
Chris in Guam
Posted on: Learning the Lei Feng Song
December 19, 2008 at 3:02 AMGreat Program! You had my Chinese wife in stitches, laughing her head off, marching up an down the living room, waving imaginary flags. "We sang this in school when I was seven years old!" She suggested I entertain eveyone with my rendition at the next family reunion.
Chris