User Comments - auntie68
auntie68
Posted on: Sneezing
July 7, 2008 at 5:41 AMHi man2toe, I'm sprinting out of my Tiny Flat to beat the rain now, but the humble print dictionary treats 似 as a 多音字. One reading is shi4, the other is si4. Will try to expand on this later if I can find the time. I'll be spending the next 6 hours or so trying to amuse the Stunt Toddler! His grandmother bought him a big toy that requires... eek... a lot of assembly. Wish me luck!
Posted on: Do You Remember....
July 7, 2008 at 4:58 AM@henning: Maybe we should tread gently in that direction? Although I'm not "computer"-savvy, I suspect that the problems being reported by jane and other Taiwan-based users may have something to do with an incompatibility between V4 and the plug-ins that are used to view CPOD Premium content in traditional characters. Judging by the tone of the recent posts by users like LostInAsia and even famously calm and positive users like calkins, I think they're very close to their limits.
Posted on: Sneezing
July 7, 2008 at 4:02 AMOne very useful thing that I was happy to take away from this lesson was the word 缘 (yuan2; as in 我人缘超好！).
I hope that CPOD will revisit this character and help us to explore the meaning of 缘／缘分, a concept which I "get", but have never been able to explain properly to non-Chinese friends!
For anybody who's interested, here are the example sentences I found in my humble print dictionary, with no pinyin (sorry!), only my loose amateur translation:
我们两个有缘，一见面就像老朋友似(shi4)的。
＝ The two of us have 缘，the moment we met we were like old friends.
我跟那个地方无缘，总说要去，可就是去不成。
= That place and I don't have 缘, I'm always talking of going, but somehow this is a trip that never happens.
他认为缘是一种说不清楚的东西。
= He considers that 缘 is something which can't be explained or defined.
My personal understanding of 人缘 goes beyond merely having good people skills, it conveys a sense of having a knack for dealing with all people as if brought to them by destiny. I don't know if such a word exists in Italian, but the best word I can come up with to describe it is: "simpaticisma". It's a bit like having a "lucky face" or "green thumbs", in relation to other people.
Thanks CPOD for this lesson!
UPDATE: Oh. Lots of references to 缘 in lessons when I did a glossary search.
Posted on: One-on-One Basketball
July 7, 2008 at 1:39 AMClay, at the risk of sounding like a negative Grumpy Auntie, will somebody PLEASE go and fix that ridiculous error in your "wonderful" Olympics page which has been pointed out at least three times over the past month?
The country with a green and red flag, which is called 孟加拉国 in Chinese, is BANGLADESH. Not Bengal. As I've pointed out before, it's actually pretty incredible that CPOD/ Praxis can ignore that. To persist in calling Bangladesh "Bengal" is to ignore a history that includes a painful civil war of independence. Why why why?
Posted on: Taking the HSK
July 5, 2008 at 11:11 PM[Self-censored. Yup - deleted by me, the poster. Sorry!]
Posted on: Taking the HSK
July 5, 2008 at 5:17 AMmartian2, are you really from this planet? Congratulations, I'm in awe of your achievement. A grade 8 on your first try, and you did the test prep yourself. You're a real inspiration for the rest of us. 真佩服你！
Posted on: Do You Remember....
July 5, 2008 at 5:15 AMcalkins, that's one lesson I would really appreciate. Even though I've been studying Mandarin for years, I'm not really clear how to say things like, "Thanks for your help with my Mandarin homework" or "Thank you for helping me to understand that grammar point" !!!
Posted on: Do You Remember....
July 5, 2008 at 3:52 AMOne more lesson request: Words connected with being thankful: 感谢，谢谢，多谢 etc.
Already covered in various lessons, but how nice if it could all be pulled together in a single QW. Thanks for considering this request!
Posted on: Pollution and Hot Drinks
July 5, 2008 at 2:48 AM@chinasoo: I'd like to help you defend Vegemite against evil people like maoxian! A little bit of Vegemite deepens the flavour of a "fond" or a deglazed sauce in an unobtrusive way (unlike, say, MSG or Maggi). It does the same job as adding a slosh of Guinness Stout, or 50ml of the water from soaking shiitake mushrooms.
The yeasty notes supply a hint of the "roasted" flavours which you get by making a roux or -- as the Filipinos and Vietnamese like to do -- adding a couple of teaspoons of ground roasted rice. But without the labour! Sometimes I get in the mood for Vegemite on hot buttered toast... yum!
Posted on: Sneezing
July 7, 2008 at 5:45 AMEg. it's 似乎 (si4hu1) but 似的 (shi4de). If it is any comfort to you, I haven't found the logical rule behind this!