User Comments - auntie68
auntie68
Posted on: 八卦周刊：大闹现场
March 10, 2008 at 8:42 AMI can't find Zhang Wenwu on wikipedia; is this a real person? Thanks for letting me know, anybody!
Posted on: Flowers and Bugs
March 10, 2008 at 3:33 AMTo make up for the confusion which I have once again caused, here are the examples from my dictionary which might help to give a "feel" for the difference: 还是： 你坐车还是骑脚踏车去？ 你坐前边还是我坐前边？ 你吃饺子还是馒头？ 下午我们去打球还是去游泳？ 今天下午你去接孩子，还是我去接孩子？ 或者： 有问题体可以来找我或者我的朋友。 吃豆腐或者蔬菜都可以， 我不吃荤菜。 他想考博士或者出国留学。 爬山可以穿旅游鞋或者布鞋， 最好不穿皮鞋。 I think the last 或者example is really good; the sense is (my poor translation), "For hiking in the hills you can wear "travel shoes" (???) or canvas shoes, just try to avoid leather shoes". It makes it very clear that the first two options are not exhaustive.
Posted on: Flowers and Bugs
March 10, 2008 at 3:04 AMnicholas -- no, because you have only two possible alternatives there, ie. 对 or 不对. I was merely trying to explain why, as you and fudapeng put it, 或者 is not generally used in questions. Even the question, "Would you like a glass of red wine, or perhaps something else" is -- to a Chinese mind -- a choice between only two alternatives: red wine OR "something else". fudapeng -- I (non-native speaker) like your sentence, but I have the feeling that it might sound more natural as "对不对都..."
Posted on: Flowers and Bugs
March 10, 2008 at 2:23 AMMy two-cents worth on 还是 vs 或者 还是 is used where the possible answers are restricted to the options given in the statement/ question. Eg. Is it A or B? Meaning, the answer would never be "C". That's why it's used for Yes-No questions. Whereas 或者 is is inclusive. Eg. "Is it A or B... or something else?" or "We could do this... or that... [among other things which we could do but aren't mentioned here]."
Posted on: Flowers and Bugs
March 10, 2008 at 2:17 AMHello. According to this lesson, it's 播客 bo1ke4: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/using-chinesepod/discussion Cheers
Posted on: Flowers and Bugs
March 8, 2008 at 3:04 AMHere it is: http://chinesepod.com/extra/%E8%BF%98%E6%98%AF-haishi-or-%E6%88%96%E8%80%85-huozhe/discussion
Posted on: Flowers and Bugs
March 8, 2008 at 3:02 AMHi vandyke, there is a whole "Qing Wen" podcast devoted to the question you have just asked. You can find it under "Lessons"... it's tucked away in the "Extras" tab on that page. All the best -- auntie68
Posted on: The Fourth Tone
March 7, 2008 at 1:53 PMHello AuntySue, I think that the 2nd and 3rd tones are easy to tell apart if one is speaking in flat, even, tones, like a "borg", but once intonation -- the kind of colour that comes from emotions, rather than tones -- kicks in, it becomes less clear-cut. Eg. "鬼？？？？“ (gui3; "ghosts?") said in a totally incredulous way, with rising intonation. If the speaker doesn't have total control over the tones, that can sound a lot like the 2nd tone to me...
Posted on: Flowers and Bugs
March 7, 2008 at 5:07 AMDear Amber, I think I've also heard the word 采花 (cai3hua1) used for "picking flowers", normally in a negative sense (eg. "Don't pick the daisies!"). Does this have the same meaning as "摘花“, or is it only a Southeast Asian expression? Thanks!
Posted on: 八卦周刊：大闹现场
March 10, 2008 at 9:17 AMThanks so much changye. I can understand the blurb in Chinese -- and the idea that the presenter's wife turned up on the sound stage and blasted him for fooling around (is that right?) -- but I don't really know who any of these people are. Looks like it was an official ceremony connected with the Beijing Olympics? Yikes! I can't believe that this went on for nearly three minutes and nobody thought of cutting the sound or the transmission. Ooohhhh....