User Comments - John

Posted on: Various Speech Acts and 向 (xiang)

Thanks. We'll keep plumbing the murky depths of that well.

Posted on: Various Speech Acts and 向 (xiang)

Glad to help! This is what we do.

Posted on: There Is No Try

The first two are formal and not so common.

尝试 is like 试, and fairly common, but slightly more formal than 试.

试图 is fairly common, but also more formal.

None of these is nearly as common as the other words we mention in the podcast.

Posted on: Renting an Apartment through an Agent 3

Connie and Jiaojie call that thing a 垫被 (diànbèi) -- that's the 被 from 被子.

Posted on: Renting an Apartment through an Agent 3

This is called verb "reduplication." Reduplication can indicate that an action is brief or casual, or that it is repeated several times. It can also express "having a try" at doing something, and in commands, it softens the demanding tone.

In this case, it's adding a casual tone.

Posted on: Working in the Countryside

These examples you give are directional complements 出来 (chūlái) and 下来 (xiàlái) added onto the verb 拔 (bá), and then those complements being made into (negative) potential complements.

The meanings are:

拔出来 = to pull out (often pulling out of the ground)

拔不出来 = to be unable to pull out

拔下来 = to pull out (often more horizontal)

拔不下来 = to be unable to pull out

Sorry, in this case the directions to not correspond strictly with their literal meanings.

Posted on: Working in the Countryside

To supplement Jiaojie's answer, yes, 拔 (bá) means "to pull out." For example, 拔牙 (báyá) means "to pull out a tooth" or "to extract a tooth". It's not just pulling.

Yes, you can also add complements after the verb to indicate direction, or that an attempt was unsuccessful, as in 拔不出来 (bá bu chūlái) or 拔不动 (bá budòng), above.

Posted on: There Is No Try

Unfortunately Lili is in Mexico, busy DOing things (not just trying).

I was able to dig up this translation [source] for "Do or do not. There is no try" in Spanish: Hazlo o no lo hagas. No existe el probar.

We'll have to hassle Lili for her "traditional Mexican saying" when she gets back. :)

Posted on: There Is No Try

That's kind of a gray area... "Try a product" would be 试 (shì).

试 (shì) for food is not entirely impossible, it's just much less common than 尝 (cháng), so you should really try to use 尝 (cháng).

Posted on: It's Not the Heat, It's the Humidity

I was referring to a general lack of A/C in Shanghai. Yes, you have it some places, likely in your home and in your office, as well as in nice shopping centers, but many other places are not air conditioned.

In Florida, meanwhile, we're always shuttling ourselves in air-conditioned cars from air-conditioned point A to air-conditioned point B. The heat is always momentary, unless we deliberately decide to spend some time outside.

I have to admit, the Chinese way is kinder to the environment.