User Comments - John
John
Posted on: The Surname Code
November 27, 2008 at 3:54 PMgunnellr,
百家姓 (Bǎijiāxìng) is actually an ancient compilation of Chinese family names. 老百姓 (lǎobǎixìng) are the common people.
Posted on: The Surname Code
November 27, 2008 at 3:50 PMdldshanghai,
Actually, I've used the "潘安的潘" line before, but somehow it's not so funny when you say it about yourself... Better to let other people say it about you (if you're lucky!). :)
If I were into Greek mythology, I might say 潘多拉的潘 or 潘神的潘。 And then, there's always 彼得潘的潘... hehe
Posted on: The Surname Code
November 27, 2008 at 7:32 AMSorry, I'm late to the party!
My Chinese surname is 潘 (Pān), but I can't use the pattern introduced in this lesson, because with 氵 you have to say "sāndiǎnshuǐ" and never just "shuǐ". Plus 番 (fān) is not such a common character, so you wouldn't use it to clarify.
Clearly, some surnames have more fun than others! :(
Posted on: An Executive Plan Report from Hong Kong
November 25, 2008 at 10:55 AMIt was nice talking to you, Gareth!
Posted on: Autumn Outing
November 22, 2008 at 12:31 PM...and the transcript!
记得以前我小学一年级的时候，有一次老师带我们去秋游。地点是浦东的一个公园。因为那时从没去过浦东，而且是第一次乘车过隧道，所以每个人都很兴奋。我记得一路上看到的都是农田，还有乡间小路。我们都以为到了外地。因为那时浦东与浦西相比，有很大的差别。所以，那次秋游至少在十年里给我留下了非常深刻的印象。而现在我就住在浦东，天天乘车过隧道，而且住的地方离小时候秋游的那个公园非常近，农田和乡间小路也都不存在了。所以有时候想想小时候的那种兴奋和感动，真的感觉挺幼稚的，不过也是最真实的。
Posted on: Argument over Garbage (1)
November 22, 2008 at 2:09 AMpinkjeans,
So glad you enjoyed it... we do have fun! We owe a lot to Pete for this particular lesson, as his own experiences were the perfect dialogue material.
Posted on: Argument over Garbage (1)
November 19, 2008 at 4:30 AMBettine,
在我主的公寓，每楼都有公用的垃圾桶。这样我们不用下楼扔垃圾，出门就可以了。这个收垃圾服务好像包括在业务管理费用内。
Posted on: Argument over Garbage (1)
November 19, 2008 at 4:24 AMMan, once we get started on this argument/complaint train, there is no end to what kind of dialogues we could do. We are listening for what's most needed...
Pete, what's the best way to break bottles? Bar fights? :)
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 5: Wang Tries to Excel at the Office
November 17, 2008 at 3:44 PMexcalibur,
A lot of programs are "sinicized" by a patch usually called 汉化 (Hànhuà). So you install the original (pirated) program, then you run a 汉化 patch, and you're good to go.
Not sure about the quality of the translations... I think they vary. Many of them are rather arbitrarily named anyway, so quality of translation is less important that consistency from version to version.
Posted on: Let's Go to Beijing
November 30, 2008 at 2:40 AMHere's the transcript:
去年五月一号，我和我的同事肖霞一起去北京玩儿。
我们是坐火车去的。
在北京一共待了7天。
去了很多很好玩儿的地方，有天安门，故宫，颐和园，天坛，还有长城。
我们还吃了很多很好吃的东西，有羊肉串儿，有冰糖葫芦，有北京烤鸭，还有炸酱面。
去了这么多好玩儿的地方，吃了这么多好吃的东西，我们都非常高兴。
而且我们都很喜欢北京。