User Comments - John

Posted on: Describing Fear

怕 is more common when you're saying what you're afraid of.

害怕 is more common to just say "I'm scared" (我害怕).

Posted on: The Mysterious Student Record

This is a speech habit that Americans tend to pick up from non-Americans while abroad. I'll admit that I've changed my way of speaking since coming to China in order to avoid confusion. In many English-speaking parts of the word, "college" means something like "community college," so when you mean "university" you say "university."

Posted on: The Mysterious Student Record

I admit, this was slightly confusing for me as well.

I know that in the US, you do have an academic record which follows you through your schooling, and may also include disciplinary issues. This is different from your "pernanent record" which the police keep, and which really only starts from the age of 18.

As I understand it, this academic record comes into play when a student applies to universities, but not when applying for jobs.

Please, anyone, feel free to correct me (especially American school and university administrative staff!).

Posted on: In a Moment

I'm helping Jiaojie out with the answers here, because (1) the issues are complex and hard to explain, and (2) these issues are not entirely clear-cut at all (to anyone)! In fact, we referenced several well-known authorities on Chinese grammar, and they offered different explanations.

Before I go into some of the explanations, let me first say that the pattern "马上就... 了" is a good rule to follow. You're not going to make any heinous mistakes if you stick to it. However, it's also not going to be strictly adhered to by all native speakers. The "why" is a bit complicated.

Reference #1: 现代汉语八百词 (Xian4dai4 Han4yu3 Ba1bai3 Ci2), a classic Chinese grammar reference book. According to this book (p. 315), the pattern is "就 + Verb" or "就 + Adj", and in their usage examples, the adjectives are followed by 了, whereas the verbs are not. Doesn't explain much.

Reference #2: Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar, by Li and Thompson, is a classic work used by scholars in the West. According to it (p. 280), in the pattern "就要 + Verb", the 了 is optional, and adds a degree of urgency.

Jiaojie, as a native speaker and experienced teacher, recognizes the Reference #1 doesn't fully explain the facts, and Reference #2 goes contrary to her own native speaker intuition. Her own attempt to sum up the rules didn't cover all the bases, either.

As for the 马上就好 pattern not fitting Jiaojie's explanation, the translation may be throwing us off here. This sentence could also be translated as, "it'll be ready soon" (rather than "soon it will be fine"). This works better with the "control" issue, and it does seem to be a more likely translation, in the absence of a specific context.

好 is also an extremely common word which has a wide range of functions in sentences and meanings, so it also shouldn't be surprising if this particular word doesn't follow the "rules" as well as other verbs and adjectives.

In the end, we just have to recommend the pattern "马上就... 了" as a good rule to follow.

Posted on: Las Vegas

我没去过。 :(

Posted on: Travel by Tour Group

It loads fine in China, but the media server is hosted in the States. Where are you?

I recommend waiting a while and trying again; it's probably a temporary network problem.

Posted on: You Sing Terribly!

It helps to know how karaoke works in China... Have you been before?

Basically, everyone is in a big private room with couches. There are two microphones. In this dialogue, one was used by the singer, and one was used by one member of the peanut gallery.

I could see how it could be confusing for someone unfamiliar with Chinese karaoke, but this is what it's really like!

Posted on: Beards Are for Old Men

Yes, two of the reasons I point out which ending it is are: (1) native speakers often aren't very conscientious about following the "rules," and (2) it can often be very hard to hear the exact ending clearly in normal conversation.

The -n and -ng endings are often faint in conversation. In time, you will get used to what "the hint of an -ng ending" sounds like (like in this particular example). It's all just part of becoming familiar with the language. Sounds which you think are familiar don't always behave exactly as you expect.

Posted on: Blog Posts, API's, Announcements and Gloria!

Wow, Malefiz is the board game of the gods? Really?

I gotta say, it looks a little unspectacular...

Are you sure it's better than Settlers of Catan? :)

Posted on: Love Tangle 6: The Pregnant Wife

It's supposed to be using lessons tags to determine relatedness. Clearly, it could use some tweaking, however...