User Comments - auntie68

Posted on: Post-Graduation Plans

P/s: Sorry, I corrected my own typo -- 后 for 候 -- three times but the edit just doesn't seem to "stick". It's 时候, of course.

Posted on: Post-Graduation Plans

@chris: Don't worry, it's just a shorthand way as you already inferred. But knowing when you can safely omit the "的“ and the “后" is really a question of experience.

Here I would say that it was fine to omit the words because the descriptive part of the phrase -- the part which corresponds to the "de" -- contained a fair bit of information: Eg. "zai4yi1yuan4" + "shi2shi2". I believe these are called adjectival phrases, ie an actual sentence which functions as a adjective.

If the adjective were shorter, you probably would NOT want to omit all (or any) the words:

Eg. "wo3 xiao3(de) shi2hou4" 我小的时候... or 我小时候 "When I was little..." It's a question of balance. HTH.

Posted on: Chinese Birthdays and Local Hospitals

@wjeffrys: Thank you SO MUCH for sharing that wonderful, wonderful story. I'll remember it for a long time. Again, thanks.

Posted on: Chinese Birthdays and Local Hospitals

Hi Amber. Just wondering (and too lazy to click through layers and layers of pages in the archives) -- Have you ever done a "Dear Amber" on how to praise Chinese children? Here in Singapore we seem to be neither here nor there, culturally, making every imaginable kind of cultural faux pas.

Eg. I have the feeling that I have upset at least one American mother and one European mother before, by saying that their baby was "fat" (as in "Wah! So fat!!!") Here in Singapore it's a stock compliment, we might say it even if the baby is scrawny. But the "Western" mothers -- to their credit, actually -- were barely able to contain their dismay.

So these days, with "European"-looking kids, I stick to safe compliments like, "Your child is really alert!" or "I do love the closeness between you and your son, it's very strong, he just loves to look at you." 

What kinds of things do Chinese-speaking parents enjoy hearing people say about their child, and what don't they like to hear? 

I'd be so grateful if you could also tackle the mystery of what you are supposed to do or say when you have just praised a Chinese infant/ tot/ child, and the parents say something like, "No, she's not really good at anything! This one doesn't listen to me! If only he would study!" and you JUST KNOW that they mean exactly the opposite of what they're saying.

When Singaporean people compliment my nephew the Stunt Toddler (well, he does have exceptionally good manners, and he IS cute), I am guilty of looking at him and saying, "Really? This monster?" Funny thing is, the monster loves it when I do that, and he plays along, basking in the coded compliment. Thanks!

Posted on: On Location at the Beijing 2008 Olympics

@xiaohu: That 的 could have been a nominalizing particle in this context. Eg. "Your Chinese, the speaking, is very good". It made sense to me. But I'm no native speaker, and I'm frequently wrong.

Posted on: Language Power Struggle

Uncle changye, I wasn't thinking of you when I wrote this! Your English is great. But thanks for the endorsement! 

Posted on: Language Power Struggle

Hello. This lesson was hilarious; so authentic!

I found myself nodding in agreement with marygrace when she pointed out how it can be rewarding to be gracious and generous about speaking English... because (eventually) some of them will get tired of practicing English, and slip into Chinese.

Now I'd like to share one perspective of my own on the Language Power Struggle:

Before you force any combatant to the mat and wrestle him/her into speaking Mandarin with you, do please consider whether this person has some kind of obligation to speak English with you.

The sales clerk or hotel employee doggedly speaking English with you may very well be the "Official English Speaking Staff Member", who won the job on the strength of "English Ability".

So have some mercy! I'm Singaporean, I know the mentality of Chinese bosses, and I can tell you that the "Mr Wang" kind of Chinese boss wants his employee to give an English performance. Even if "Mr Wang" isn't physically there, there may be jealous colleagues who may be only too willing to rat.

This happens all over Asia too. If you visit some remote part of China or Thailand, and they wheel out a middle-aged "English Expert" whose rusty English is so bad you can barely understand him/her, it is kinder to put up with the inconvenience (/your disappointment), and just do your best to try and make this person look good. You cannot imagine what a massive loss of face you could cause to this person. HTH...

Posted on: The 80/20 Rule

@tommyb: After you click on the "pencil" icon, you have to edit the comment from within the box beneath, you can't do it from the original post. Took me a while to figure that one out; it's not exactly intuitive. HTH. 

Posted on: 日本人的起源

Hi hitokiri. If you are wondering why countries can be reluctant to bring territorial disputes before the ICJ, I think you will have a clue if you go to Wikipedia and look up "Pedra Branca Dispute". The ICJ case between Malaysia and my own country, Singapore, over the sovereignty of "big rock" and "small rock" (I kid you not!) involved YEARS of litigation, not to mention a whole lot of public money. Our legal team during the final stages included our Attorney-General and our Minister of Justice, I think (but am not sure). Ouch!

Posted on: 日本人的起源

Hello hitokiri6993! Congrats on your first "Advanced" lesson, it's no surprise to me that you breezed through it.

Regarding relations between Korea and Japan, I'd like to offer some background to help you put changye's very valid -- and very measured -- points in perspective.

hitokiri, in my (humble) opinion, Korea is a country which still has a massive chip on its shoulder.

The country has made a massive leap in development in recent years, but the resurgence of Korean national pride has not always been channelled in a positive way, especially where Japan is concerned. That's just my personal opinion.

Given that Korea is a film-loving nation which takes its own local films VERY seriously, I can't help feeling sombre watching films like "Hanbando", "Blue Swallow", and "2009 Lost Memories", which are (sometimes startling) expressions of this national "chip on the shoulder".

In these films, Japanese people are inevitably portrayed as crude, devious, manipulative, Korean-hating, brutes (or snakes), and if I'm not wrong, all three films wind up with a cathartic plot development which amounts to Japan having to eat humble pie or being (metaphorically) slapped in the face. Some of these films are pure wishful thinking/ fantasy, a fact which some Korean film critics were brave enough to recognize. I would never allow the Stunt Toddler to watch these films before he develops the ability to exercise critical judgment. I hope I don't offend any Korean friends out there, but I would call these films, "Nationalism Porn".

This does not prevent me from being an avid and humble student of the Korean language, and an admirer of Korean culture and a lover of its other films. Remember, this is merely my personal opinion.