User Comments - azerdocmom
azerdocmom
Posted on: Arrival in Jizhou
September 25, 2007 at 3:44 PMLantian, you're hilarious !
Posted on: Eating Tofu
September 25, 2007 at 2:40 PMAnd, the wife is always right!
Posted on: Godzilla in Shanghai
September 25, 2007 at 3:31 AMdubya I think it's "差一点" http://labs.chinesepod.com/node/4&search=%e5%b7%ae%e4%b8%80%e7%82%b9
Posted on: Eating Tofu
September 24, 2007 at 10:02 AMVery interesting. I was just wondering about this phrase. Thanks CPod. If it means "groping", it isn't as lewd or lecherous as I thought it might mean.
Posted on: Traveling and Chopsticks
September 24, 2007 at 12:16 AMAmber You indeed are a gracious hostess : ) 謝謝你！你太好了！
Posted on: Cycling
September 23, 2007 at 10:03 PMIn that podcast I cited above, it was taught that when confronted with twin third tones, the first one becomes a second tone. The main linguistic point relating to "有哪几种" you3 na3 ji3 zhong3 is that when confronted with a "chunk" of third tones i.e. more than just 2 third tones together, there isn't a simple formula to the tone change. As John said in that podcast, it depends on the meaning of the entire sentence or phrase; the logic of the changed third tones depends on the meaning. "有哪几种" you3 na3 ji3 zhong3 is most natural sounding when pronounced thus : you3 na2 ji2 zhong3. But there's another tiny subtlety. You3 is pronounce not as a true 3rd tone, but just the first half of the 3rd tone. So, it's as if you3 and na2 are the downward slash and the upward slash of a 3rd tone (which is represented by a check symbol) Does that make sense? I hope so.
Posted on: #17
September 23, 2007 at 9:15 PMScreen Actor's Guild (actor's union.)
Posted on: Traveling and Chopsticks
September 23, 2007 at 7:46 PMAi-ya, how did this weekly "insider's" column turn into such an intellectual linguistics forum? Amber, take your show back! Nah, actually, this is an interesting thread. I consider myself a native-speaker though only at about grade school level. I can usually tell where a native speaker is from when they speak Mandarin e.g. Taiwan, Beijing, Shanghai. And, I can usually tell what part of Asia a person is from when they speak English. But, I don't think I've ever faced a situation where a NNS speaks Mandarin and be able to ID what "foreign" country they are from. Just as one can tell what a English-speaker's primary language is, I bet the native Mandarin speaker can tell where a NNS is from.
Posted on: #17
September 23, 2007 at 3:58 PMYou're funny, lantian : ) It's just that it was so nice to have Henning and the Mrs. on DA; it would have been a treat to hear another "famous" poddie in the same week! You just have to hire some bodyguards next time to protect you from the mayhem that would surely ensue.
Posted on: Cycling
September 26, 2007 at 9:35 PMI'd like to ask again, which of these two terms, 脚踏车jiao3ta4che1 and 自行车 zi4xin2che1, is used most commonly? What about "spinning? "