User Comments - andrewm
andrewm
Posted on: Buying Batteries
March 14, 2008 at 2:19 AMHi raychenon "一般 Yībān" in this sentence means "in general" or "generally" or "ordinarily", etc. user21377 and depredadora I definitely agree. However, I think once we're able to understand Jenny's Chinese explanations, we'll be able to progress by leaps and bounds. Bazza, indirectly pointed this out.
Posted on: Mainland & Taiwan Lingo: Transportation
March 8, 2008 at 8:36 PMNoo, there is no such thing as "International English".
Posted on: Just Say Yes
March 8, 2008 at 8:15 PM嗯 "ng" is also written in pinyin as "en". It seems to have the same meaning as "uh-huh".
Posted on: What does 厉害 (lìhai) mean, anyway?
March 8, 2008 at 6:59 PMI often equate "厉害 lìhai" with "awesome" or "fierce", depending on the context.
Posted on: Mainland & Taiwan Lingo: Electronics
March 8, 2008 at 6:48 PMWe do say the computer is down, or the internet is down, or the system is down a lot where I'm from. I was told by my Taiwanese-Mandarin teacher that "sǐjī 死机" sounded too much like dead chicken "sǐjī 死鸡".
Posted on: Flowers and Bugs
March 7, 2008 at 6:26 AMWhen the female voice said "你" instead of "它" at the end of the last two sentences, I thought she was talking to the caterpillar that she was about to smash. As it turns out, she's requesting the guy to take action. Is "你" always used this way in this type of sentence structure? Can "它" be used in place of "你"?
Posted on: What's up?
February 27, 2008 at 9:37 PMCan the reply to "最近怎么样？zui4jin4 zen3me yang4?" also be spoken as "还好。你怎么样呢？hai2 hao3. ni3 zen3me yang4 ne?" No matter how many times Jenny uses Australian words she still sounds like an American. I also enjoy listening to Ken's accent. It sounds very Irish to my ears.
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 21, 2008 at 4:05 PMThank you bababoo for responding to my questions. I think once I am able to understand how Jenny articulates herself and explains the lessons (in Mandarin), I will then truely be qualified as an intermediate level cpoddie. By the way, Jenny has a lovely voice and a great personality.
Posted on: Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant
February 21, 2008 at 6:53 AMI have more questions about what Jenny is saying rather than the contents of the lesson. Some examples: 1. 今天我们又要着看刘家的故事。 Is 又要着 the same as 继续着 or "continuing" in English? 2. 这儿也是有一点 讲/长 一个 "warning" 还有一点点 "mocking" 讲/长 的。Is it 讲 or 长 zhang3? To my ear it sounds like Jenny is saying 讲 jiang3, but that wouldn't make sense, so it must be 长 zhang3 or something else. 3. 对。所以这两个女孩子 她是坏人；她是 "villian" 好像。Is that what Jenny said? If so, I'm confused about 好像 being positioned at the end of the sentence. Anyways, thanks for your advice Clay and sparechange. I will of course, press on.
Posted on: Getting Nationalities Straight
March 15, 2008 at 6:42 PMI guess Ken's accent in a state of limbo, because as an American I can clearly identify his Irish accent.