User Comments - Lantian
Lantian
Posted on: Requesting a Glass of Water
July 8, 2007 at 6:01 AMFranch, 多谢!!! I think you have solved my little mystery. This could have bugged me a lifetime. :) Now that I think back, she definitely used a fourth tone. 冻 dong4 it is. :)
Posted on: I'm bored
July 7, 2007 at 3:52 PMHi Dave, The options are all under water, hence hi ho hi ho off to to work I go, dum dum di dum. 哪有人比我那么无聊！ Hi Laodai, I'm all about defending the continent from those across the pond, circle the wagons. 谁欺负我的兄弟和妹妹跟我有事儿！ LOL 喑咯嘛，我开玩笑啊。
Posted on: I'm bored
July 7, 2007 at 1:39 PMHi Ingmar, Actually "there's always options" and "there are always options" are both acceptable. "There're" is an impossible contraction in North American English, it's simply not done. Since it is impossible to contract there + are as you did, the writer resorted back to there's, even though it doesn't match the plural options. Yup -- crazy language, Chinese wayyyy easier. Most correct would be "There's always an option," but in the written paragraph the writer was reflecting spoken speech and typing fast. Ah huh, 我好无聊。有空管这个事！ :D
Posted on: Experiencing Agricultural Life
July 7, 2007 at 9:02 AMHi Mark, If you had really studied enough Cpod lessons, you could have answered "No, but do you want to explain it to me over some coffee?" "不知道，不过你要不要跟我一起喝一杯咖啡。 你可以慢慢告诉我。“ ;p
Posted on: Touring a Factory
July 5, 2007 at 7:48 AM一蟹不如一蟹 yi1 xie4 bu4ru2 yi1 xie4 one crab smaller than another crab Each one is worse than the last This is an example from Chinese, A Comprehensive Grammar. What I found interesting about it was this comment "The use of measure words is a relatively recent development in the history of the language, it is not unusual that in expressions derived from Classical Chinese one finds numerals directly associated with nouns." pg 45.
Posted on: #6
July 5, 2007 at 3:53 AMBUMMED OUT - I was so not correct in my guess. I guessed "Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift". How do I say "bummed out" in Chinese?? 我好痛苦。真可惜。 我没力了。 我不要活。 haha I think the last one, wo bu yao huo, I don't want to live!!! I'm gonna go rent a car and 'drift' thru the city at 220 km to vent my frustration. Crazy thing is I only think in mph so I'm guessing 220 is fast. ;p
Posted on: Guess what I'm learning?
July 5, 2007 at 3:42 AMSERIAL CONSTRUCTION - I think 95% of Chinese goes in the following order. time + place + pronoun + verb + object 六点 + 在家里 + 我 + 吃 + 饭 six o'clock + at home inside + I + eat + dinner. In contrast to English, this order is very strict and unchanging in most cases. For example, it's quite common to switch things in English, even in common speech. I had dinner at home at six. At home at six I had dinner. I had dinner at six at home. I used to mix it up my word order in Chinese a lot when I first started learning, it caused confusion because Chinese listen very carefully to the word order to grasp meaning. As I listened more, the word order became much more natural and kinda easy actually. (IMO, I'm not a Chinese teacher btw).
Posted on: Chinese Wedding Customs
July 5, 2007 at 3:38 AMLongfei and John, Wow wow. You two reeeeally have sharp ears. I relistened to that portion of the podcast just now. At first I simply heard "dui ba". Then I relistened and heard "duiba". I then turned up the volume and maybeee now I'm hearing "duiva". Not sure I can hear a "dei" versus "dui". Is that really a Shanghainese word "dei va" or are we just hearing stuff? I think I may do a little boot camp on my accent, I've been ignoring it lately.
Posted on: #6
July 5, 2007 at 3:24 AM夏威夷 - I see that Amber is now either in Mexico manana time or Hawaii time. Aloha. Amber first said "you will have to wait...until 11:14am" Then she said "We'll post the winner after 11.17am" There must be a good Chinese saying about waiting for "women" j/k... 我就等，等你一辈子也行，我爱你。呵呵 夏威夷, xia wei yi, Hawaii
Posted on: Requesting a Glass of Water
July 8, 2007 at 7:15 AM天啊，现在真不知道应该相信谁啊！ 冰咖啡加了冰块。而且，在美国还有另外个饮料叫'frostee freeze'. 这个饮料有可乐和Cherry的味道。Franch，以后我请你喝一杯咖啡，好不好。热和冰的你选。 :)