User Comments - JasonSch
JasonSch
Posted on: Can't Get a Taxi
January 11, 2011 at 2:18 AM1) Gliding over the 'n' final happens often in natural speech. In some places it may have to do with the influence of local dialects, but generally it's just an issue of how language ends up sounding 'on the ground'.
2) bié here in biéqù, doesn't mean 'other', but rather, 'don't', which in this context, translate into 'let's not'.
Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 2: Growing Affections
January 11, 2011 at 1:13 AM肉麻 is an interesting word. It's somewhere in between cheesy/corny and disgusting. The way it's always been described to me is that something is so cheesy/corny that it makes you disgusted and/or gives you goosebumps. (also, literally makes your skin tingle, i.e. 肉麻)
陪 doesn't necessarily imply that the person doesn't want to go. You could also think of it as simply, 'to go with', or 'to come along'.
Posted on: Where's the soap?
January 11, 2011 at 1:08 AMAh sorry, forgot to mention that. This 把 also acts as a measure word for an interesting group of objects. Usually things with handles (related to the idea of 'to take' perhaps) but with a few exceptions. For example:
一把勺子 - yībǎsháozi - one spoon
一把抢 - yībǎqiāng - one gun
一把伞 - yībǎsǎn - one umbrella
but then also...
一把椅子 - yībǎyǐzi one chair
Posted on: Dialing a Nonlocal Phone Number
January 11, 2011 at 12:52 AMIn general, it's simply an issue of non-standard pronunciations slipping into people's speech due to the influence of local dialects. However, not emphasizing the 'g' in 'ng' finals is particularly common in the South, even amongst people with very good standard Mandarin. I imagine it isn't corrected due to the fact when speaking quickly, it's often left out or not emphasized anyway, and wouldn't often lead to any real confusion.
Posted on: Dialing a Nonlocal Phone Number
January 11, 2011 at 12:43 AMYep, that's right. That would be the literal translation (ChinaMobile user). We went with the translation provided by ChinaMobile however, as this is what you'll hear after the Chinese if you try to make a call to a nonlocal number.
Posted on: Where's the soap?
January 10, 2011 at 4:20 AMHi marcojane,
The 'ba' in this dialog is 吧 is neutral tone and makes a sentence a suggestion.
As for a third tone 'ba', you're likely thinking of the word 把. This 把 means something like 'to take' and is used before a noun. For example, 把你的钥匙放在桌上. bǎ nǐde yàoshi fàng zài chēshàng. Literally, 'take your keys and put them on the table', or simply, 'put your keys on the table'.
Posted on: Where's the soap?
January 10, 2011 at 3:40 AMHi Jbowes,
Similar to English, you can use 最 in Chinese to be figurative and simply mean 'extremely'. However, you have to pay attention to context and listen to the tone of the speaker to know when it's figurative and when it really means it is the 'most among all others'.
Posted on: Dialing a Nonlocal Phone Number
January 10, 2011 at 3:33 AMThanks for pointing that out. For the record, China Telecom = 中国电信
Posted on: End of the Year Bonus Surprise
January 10, 2011 at 3:24 AMHi Chris,
The fā in, 'jīntiān fā gōngzī le, wǒ qǐngkè', actually refers to the company sending out the salary. So, a more literal translation would be 'The company gave us our salaries today. I'm paying'.
As for a way of actually saying, 'I got my...', although dédào and shōudào are both grammatically correct, the natural word here to use is nádào (拿到), or simply, ná. (wǒ jīntiān nádào gōngzī le)
Posted on: Chinatown Diary
January 12, 2011 at 4:30 AMI always make sure to check out different Chinatowns in the U.S. when I can. I've spent the most time in Chicago's Chinatown, but I recently was in the Lower East Side in Manhattan and had 小笼包 (xiǎolóngbāo), went to KTV, saw all the 阿姨 (āyí)s 叔叔 (shūshu)s in the park practicing 太极拳 (tàijíquán) and spoke tons of Chinese. Good stuff.