User Comments - John

John

Posted on: Ordering Chinese Take-out

August 7, 2012 at 2:23 AM

If you use the verb 叫, then it's a phone call. At a restaurant, you can still 点外卖 though. Usually you'll just say 我要带走 to make it clear that the food needs to be packed up.

Posted on: A Creepy Guy

August 7, 2012 at 2:20 AM

The 也 adds a hint of incredulity to the overall tone.

The 了 is simply a typical component of the "太……了" pattern.

Posted on: A Creepy Guy

August 7, 2012 at 2:18 AM

It's kind of tricky to translate at times, but it all goes back to the meaning "不会少".

"Can't do without" is one translation.

Others are here: http://dict.bing.com.cn/#少不了

Posted on: A Creepy Guy

August 7, 2012 at 2:08 AM

This particular idea for a dialog came from me. I supplied the context and some ideas for content. All the specific lines were written by our Chinese staff.

In this case, the first draft of the dialog had a boring ending, so I had our writer change the ending to make it a bit more "interesting."

Did that make the girl more hypocritical? Probably. Did it make the dialog more realistic? That's likely. Did it make it more interesting. I think so.

Sometimes in our dialogs we try to reflect the types of things Chinese people say, even when it's not totally enjoyable (like "Language Power Struggle," for example). We draw the line at things like racist comments, but we occasionally include stuff like this.

Posted on: A Creepy Guy

August 6, 2012 at 1:57 AM

Yes, 花 can mean "blurred," or in this case, "smudged" or "running." (This is a usage of the word that you probably won't be needing much if you're not into makeup!)

滑 means "slip" or "slippery," so it wouldn't work here.