User Comments - alwingate

Posted on: Blow out Your Candles

Music: Yeh, yeh!

Posted on: Blow out Your Candles

Hello all.  Thank you Jenny for your energy and enthusiasm.

Please, can someone help make a distinction for me?

I have run across these two relevant questions.

ta1 ji3 sui4?

ta1 duo1 da4?

When are these used?  It doesn't seem they are interchangeable questions.  Wo3 hu4 tu4 le.

Gracias a todas ustedes.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Taiwan

Steve, don't know how I could have missed you in Taoyuan. My bet is that you are working at Happy School English Village.  Am I right?

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Taiwan

The mysterious appearance of the lessons:

Yes, I receive an email which directs me to the CP site.

The lesson is found.  It is in a hidden cave somewhere. Anyway, this is a common occurence for me.

If I want to wait a day or two long they appear in my iTunes stream.

It is a bit inconvenient, but it does bring me to the site.

This would be my experience.  It is the way it is and no problem for me.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Taiwan

I lived in Taoyuan for two years.  I must say I overgeneralized when calling Taiwan a nation of entrepenuers, but along Dayou Lu there were perhaps 10's of very small stands and small restaurants where you could see all manner of Taiwanese food prepared by families.  They had a special Sesame Sauce Noodle that was delicious; I never had courage to ask what was in it.  Also, in Elan they had the best bean milk shake and according to my dear Taiwanese friend, Elan was the only place you could buy one.  

Ulong tea is a favorite there also, but I prefer the red tea.  Ulong is dark and rather strong, but not bad.  Grown in the mountains they say, very healthy. hehe

An aside about Taoyuan.  The rent there is super cheap.  I paid maybe 150 US dollars per month and food also hun pianyi with you know a meal in itself soup or whatever for about a buck or two.  It really did not pay to eat out.  There was one small western style market that sold food, but most people ate out in the evening.

Very few fast food, western style places: McDonalds and the KY Colonel; students thought I looked like the KY Colonel and used to say as I was leaving the school grounds; "The colonel has left the building."  hehe

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Taiwan

Great.  A lesson about my former home, Taiwan.  Thanks for including us in your travels.

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

Nice lesson. Actually I found the whole enchilada to be easier to learn than the recent Ele.  

Anyway, a few of my notes.

Thanks John for:

qu le yiyuan  A completed action; I took my son to the hospital.  Maybe completed action is similar to past time.

I love patterns:

Notice the fixed patterns

tai..le

huai..le

Posted on: Big Bed

I must remember the 168 hotels in Shanghai.  Not too gui4.  But, I hope they are safe.

Jenny I really appreciate your work.  I must say this in order to see the good things in my life.

Ken, you too.  What a guiling Irishman ye be.  Perhaps, your background...sorry, my background as a pirate in my family will earn me that Irish personality although I am not all Irish I have the Eng-Irish-Scottish split.  Hey, my family had to move in order to be safe.

Enjoy.

Posted on: Big Bed

Wow.  jonsg  I think that 100 will not make this appear.  Maybe 1000?

Anyway, just joking a little.

I enjoyed the lesson.  Thank you Pod Dwarfs for mining the mysterious cavern of the Chinese language and bringing out hard earned gems to share with us.

Hi ho! Hi ho!

Posted on: Counting Coins

Big John gives an idea about the structure of the Chinese language which was very helpful to me.

He said, (correctmeifIamwrong) that Chinese will often present a topic first; maybe just one word.  Then something about the main idea of the sentence is formed.  Sorry, not saying it right, but here are two Newbie examples.

车不多。

Cars - not many

Che1 bu4 duo1
(There aren't many cars.)

东西多吗？
(Do you have a lot of things?)

Things-many?

How can you not love that?

hehe

Very efficient as Ken might say, but point is the main topic presents itself first.  Perhaps this is some kind of grammar pattern - don't know.