User Comments - John
John
Posted on: Pinyin The Final R Sound
September 23, 2009 at 3:25 AMYarrr!
Last Saturday was "Talk Like a Pirate Day." I was in Beijing for it (very appropriate), but unfortunately this lesson was a bit late for that particular holiday.
Posted on: Two Tough Ladies
September 23, 2009 at 3:24 AMpchenery,
Looks like you got your answer. :)
Posted on: Two Tough Ladies
September 23, 2009 at 3:23 AMjingdezhen,
嘞 (lei) is 了 (le) + and "ei" sound (I'm not sure if there's a precise character for this sound), and it's used mainly just in southern China. It's used just like 了, but it carries a casual tone of voice with it.
A similar variation on 了 is 啦 (la).
Posted on: Going to Church
September 23, 2009 at 3:11 AMstellacadente,
Again, I'm not very familiar with these terms in Chinese, but a search turned up 异教 (yìjiào) for "pagan" and 威卡教 (Wēikǎjiào) for "Wiccan."
Posted on: Going to Church
September 23, 2009 at 3:07 AMyingxiong,
I can't say I'm familiar with that term, but a quick Google search for "the three self church 教会" (no quotes) turned up 三自教会 (sānzì jiàohuì).
Posted on: Two Tough Ladies
September 23, 2009 at 3:01 AMlight487,
Sadly, it's fairly common... If you're regular walking around Shanghai, you'll see something like this about once a month, I'd guess. Maybe more often.
Locals tend to gather around and stare, not really expressing any emotion, and usually not getting involved.
Posted on: Grammar Lesson
September 23, 2009 at 3:00 AMYeah, but they're both really common words!
They're both easy to remember... if you know 有意思 (yǒu yìsi), then 没意思 (méi yìsi) is practically a freebie. And if you know 聊天 (liáotiān), meaning "to chat," then 无聊 (wúliáo) makes sense as well, because 无 (wú) means the same as 没 (méi).
Posted on: Getting Off the Metro
September 18, 2009 at 7:14 AMYeah, it's not readily apparent how useful this lesson is if you've never been in the situation of needing to get off the subway/bus, but being physically blocked, and unsure what you should say to ask people to move...
Posted on: Express Train or High-speed Train?
September 23, 2009 at 3:27 AMThese train type names have changed quite a bit just in the 9 years that I've been in China.
If you're getting the names from an old textbook and using that to buy train tickets, you'll almost certainly end up on an old, slow train.