User Comments - JasonSch

Posted on: Dublin

True, true. This is actually one of the easiest mistakes to make and toughest to catch. When you're translating independent sentences without context, somehow pronoun mistakes seem to slip by.

Posted on: 学历造假

Hi Dubyruby,

The 在那儿摆着 and 那儿 in 业绩在那儿摆着呢 are figurative, meaning obvious, clear for all to see, known by all, etc. Similar to how 'all over the place', or 'everywhere' would be in English, so that's where the translation comes from.

Posted on: Dublin

Yeah, that's a mistake on the translator's behalf. It should read, 'I'. Fixed!

Posted on: Sing and Dance

Nope, you're not missing anything. In certain cases, simply the tone of one's voice can convey a question. In this case, there was likely something previous to this which indicated that the person also doesn't like coffee. So, it's more of a rhetorical question, or a further inquiry of sorts. Something like: A) 我在公司。 B) 你还没走？ or A) 他说他不喜欢那个地方。B) 他不想去？

Posted on: The Rising Cost of Food

Ah, I think I see what's going on. The shared lines in the article linked to on the ChinaSmack post and our dialog are directly from the official government urban food prices survey announcement. (国家发改委公布了十月份城市食品零售价格的监测). Nearly every news source which covered the release, uses the same, official, lines.

As for the translation being similar (it's not identical though, as far as I can see), that's just coincidence. We finished this lesson more than a month ago, it published on the 14th, and the ChinaSmack post is from the 17th.

Posted on: The Rising Cost of Food

I don't think our Chinese staff who write the dialogs need to read websites which focus on translating Chinese media into English. ;) The ChinaSmack post you've quoted is a translation of a 新华网 article about the top 10 hot topics on the Chinese internet this year. Our writers just try to chose relevant and current topics, and it looks like they're doing a pretty good job! These really are 'hot topics' for many Chinese people right now. (Our 团购 and Rising Food Cost lessons were both written well before the article was published anyway)

Posted on: River Town Tourism

Thanks for catching that!

Posted on: How to Protect the Environment

Hi, Ailong,

节约 is generally a good thing, and can include both spending little, and spending wisely. (frugal/thrifty)

Stingy, on the other hand, as in being excessively reluctant to spend/share money is best translated as 小气 (xiǎoqì), or 吝啬 (lìnsè).

Posted on: A Rarely Washed Car

甭客气！

Posted on: A Rarely Washed Car

You can use adj + 死了 for objects without life as well. Here's a couple more other than 脏死了 - 吵死了，乱死了，贵死了.