User Comments - John
John
Posted on: The Many Sounds of Chinese
March 3, 2011 at 2:08 AMYeah, there are lots of other sounds. The ones you're referring to don't have standard characters that everyone adheres to, but you might see:
咦, 哎, 呃, 唉, 诶
Posted on: Old China Hand
March 3, 2011 at 1:56 AMI heard it. Heh, I am kinda surprised it got comments.
But... whatever. :)
Posted on: License Plate Characters
March 3, 2011 at 1:40 AMThere's an app for this, by the way: China Plates (for iPhone)
Posted on: License Plate Characters
March 3, 2011 at 1:38 AMNo, the actor is definitely 100% Chinese. We just occasionally have our Chinese actors play the part of a fluent foreigner, and this time I thought it would be fun to create a little backstory on the guy (e.g. he's Korean). Dilu, obviously, is mystified by my little game. (I think she still is.)
Posted on: Old China Hand
March 1, 2011 at 3:51 AMYes, Pudong International Airport (浦东国际机场) is Shanghai's main international airport.
You can say both of those sentences:
你的中文说得很好。
你中文说得很好。
To support wjefferys, though, it's not that the second sentence implies a 的; there are other sentences that make use of the same pattern where it wouldn't make sense to add in a 的, because it is indeed a "topic-comment" construction.
Posted on: Buddhism and Taoism
March 1, 2011 at 3:46 AM荤菜 normally just refers to met, fish, other seafood, and eggs. It doesn't include dairy products.
Buddhists and other religious groups may also include certain "stimulating" foods such as garlic and onion.
Posted on: Honeymoon Destinations
March 1, 2011 at 2:35 AM我们去土耳其了。过得不错！
Posted on: No Hot Water
March 1, 2011 at 1:54 AMRJ,
Actually, there are quite a few. Some of the more creative expressions in Chinese involve a non-standard complement.
So, some of the common complements of degree include:
Verb/Adj + 得 + 不得了
Verb/Adj + 得 + 不行
Verb/Adj + 得 + 要死
We'll think about this as a topic for a Qing Wen!
Posted on: Old China Hand
March 1, 2011 at 1:48 AMWhich part was that? Now that it's gotten multiple comments, I want to go back and listen again. (I actually do't remember it clearly!)
Posted on: 中国通
March 3, 2011 at 2:16 AMBababardwan,
It's similar to 说不定 in structure and usage, if that helps any.
搞不好 has a meaning similar to "maybe," and it's normally followed by something bad. So it's almost like, "if you're unlucky, maybe...," or "in a worst-case scenario...."
I wouldn't actually translate it that way, but I think that can give you a better feel for the phrase and how it probably evolved.