User Comments - bababardwan
bababardwan
Posted on: Ice Cream Run
July 14, 2011 at 12:22 AMbtw, this thread reminds me. I think I've asked this before and come up zippo, but I'll ask again. Does anyone know of a Chinese equivalent to urban dictionary?
Posted on: Ice Cream Run
July 13, 2011 at 11:53 PM“that 巴士 bāshì (bāshi) is bus but long-distance, one that would go on the highway (freeway) like a Greyhound bus in the US for example. A city route bus I learned is 公共汽车 gōnggòngqìchē (then later I was also taught 公交车 gōngjiāochē)”
。。thanks for reminding me Zhen. Yes, you've reminded me...I'm sure we've had this conversation a very long time ago on the boards somewhere. In the absence of being told by someone informative like yourself, I find google images really helpful to see if there's a difference, and it indeed seems to back up what you're saying here. This one:
http://www.japan-i.jp/chs/traffic/bus/d8jk7l0000004lwa-img/d8jk7l0000004lws.jpg
was labelled 长途巴士
This comes up under 公共汽车：
http://www.jiaotong.gov.cn/UploadFiles/2005/11/17/11179211233.jpg
and this came up under 公交车:
http://www.tianchang.asia/Article/UploadFiles/200611/20061120213117392.gif
..and was labeled 我市城市公交车正式开通_本市_天长在线....so again looks like a local bus as for 公共汽车
Posted on: Car Decorations and Bumper Stickers
July 13, 2011 at 11:32 PMthanks zhen. Yeah, I think you're right. I think that's the gist of it, the tone. I'd love it if I could tell what make and model of car it was. If it had the meaning you suggest, I don't think you'd be likely to see it on a Ferrari.
Posted on: Detective Li 4: The Circus Troupe
July 13, 2011 at 11:24 PMI very much like you're theory and you may be right. I just thought:
"桌子上的确采集到了指纹，但比对之后发现，那指纹却不属于这里的任何一个人"
suggested there were finger prints but they just didn't match anyone there and I don't think a parrot will have finger prints, only primates.
Posted on: Ice Cream Run
July 13, 2011 at 7:58 AMI've gotta dash, but I'll just quickly say that 巴士 is a good example. It gets 134,000,000 hits on google, and the one you first learn 公共汽车 only gets 28,100,000. 巴士 sounds like a transliteration to me, whereas 公共汽车 sounds like the more proper term. I guess 巴士 is quicker easier to say and it also makes me think of the popularity of learning English in China and other words like baibai for goodbye. Examples like this are useful. Thanks wenjong :)
ps I'll just add...I'm glad I know both now.
Posted on: Ice Cream Run
July 13, 2011 at 7:30 AMok, moving on:
"when I got to Sichuan, Mandarin was completely and utterly useless in the outskirts of the city. They don't even use "ni hao" ...and "hai yao shenme" sounds like, "hey yo somo."
..yeah, you are not alone. I have heard these comments before. But this is sounding much more like a pronunciation/ accent issue rather than a vocab issue. There have been a couple of lessons trying to clue us in on these regional differences and there's always a demand for more. I gather that once you pick up the local differences [which I gather are usually consistent eg "l" instead of "n" in some places, "sh" often sounding more like "s" in other places ] you can usually tune in after a while. This brings us to a whole other old debate though..standard mandarin vs regional accents.
"I'm not exactly idiotic to SPEAKING it and picking it up"
...I don't think anyone is suggesting that you are idiotic for a second. I think we all have the same struggles in learning this difficult language. But the old expression, a good carpenter never blames his tools comes to mind. I mean sure, we should always be looking for the best tools and perhaps even contribute to improving them, but still, the current resources are pretty awesome I think. I think the only answer to the difficulty is patience and perseverance.
"I'm sure where we were eating it was a local dialect, but they clearly told me I'm never going to use it"
..that's slightly confusing. At first it sounds like the reason bingjiling or bingqiling wasn't used is because a dialect was being used and not putonghua. Yeah, we're just learning putonghua here because that's the universal language in China and it can't be applied to a dialect. But where I'm confused is what they meant by clearly telling you you're never going to use it. Was this because they expected you to use their dialect or did they have another word they used in Mandarin. And where was this? What was the product exactly?
"autobus"
...I know a lot will agree with you on that and disagree with me, but I would have no problem with "autobus". Sure, it would not be the word I usually use [I'd just use bus, or coach maybe for a longdistance bus], but I'd immediately understand what you meant which is the main point. But this will bring up the "sounding like a native" thing. So I admit it would make me think you're not likely local, but I'm sure I already know that from other cues [well particularly in China if you're not Chinese]. But I get your point.
"it's never spoken like that...."
...my reaction would be ....great, a learning opportunity, something else to put in my vocab bank, and try, if I could, to get an understanding as to why the word choice I went for wasn't the go. It doesn't mean the word I was going to use was invalidated, it just means it may be more applicable in another setting. I'd like to throw out another comment, which I know may not be well received but I'll chance it and throw it out anyway. When you start learning Chinese, I think you can have this black and white kind of view that all native speakers are going to be absolute "experts" in Chinese and as a learner, of course , "what do you know". But the more you learn, there are occasionally times when you start to realise that they may not be "experts" on every bit of vocab. Sure, they're still light years ahead, but that doesn't mean they'll have it 100% right or know every bit of vocab there is. I just mean, I think sometimes you have to take things with a grain of salt and see what others in other settings have to say. Just think about it in English. Not every native English speaker is at expert level, and there can be quite a variance in educational level and aptitude. understanding. Heck, even well educated folk will have some significant gaps, and may even have the odd error in there.
This was to someone else:
"Not many lessons are in real speed. This is what I'm talking about. "
...sorry, you've given some general indication above, but I'm still unclear which level you're at when it comes to listening to CPod dialogues. Are you listening to higher level lessons and still finding them too slow?
Posted on: Ice Cream Run
July 13, 2011 at 6:58 AMSorry, that post got long, and I'm only onto replying to your second sentence:
"You have never been to China, correct?"
...sort of. I've never been to 大陆。Yes, believe me it is my dream 就是我的梦想 to get there and have all the wonderful experiences, no doubt including being completely confounded at times, hehe. I'm optimistic I'll get there one day.
"How many Chinese friends have you had?"
..not as many as I'd like to have. I've had quite a few in my life that only ever spoke English [ they were usually 2nd or 3rd generation and tell me now with some sadness that they never wanted to learn their parents tongue when they were growing up]. I only have a few Chinese friends that speak Chinese.
But these questions raise a very important question in my mind that I'd like to canvass opinions on. I come across and converse with a number of Chinese folk who have only very recently arrived in Australia. You seem to suggest I will only understand your problem if I go to China. I'm wondering just how valid or not is the conversations that I have with Chinese folk here? In my mind there are 3 main potential differences between chatting in Chinese in Australia and chatting in China. Firstly, if they had been here a long time, there may be a chance some of their expressions are considered a little dated. But as I said, many of them are very recently arrived and thus I can't see this as being much of a factor with many of them. Secondly, the range of situations I'm meeting them in is much narrower. So, for example, I'm already set up here and not likely to set up a bank account here with a Chinese person whereas if I was living in China I'd have to. Thirdly, I have a much better chance of defaulting to English if the going gets tough. Believe me, I'd love to try the full immersion thing, but hat's not possible for me here. But, the question remains,...the conversations I have here in Chinese...what's the difference? Is it not the same language? Shouldn't I be confronting the same difficulties? [barring of course the essential nature when living in China and trying to cope...the necessity factor...but language wise...is it not the same?]. In fact, I could be way off here, but I would guess that there are some places in China, rural places I'm thinking, where the language is more homogeneous than it is here, as I have met zhongguoren from all parts here.
Posted on: I'm gonna be Late
July 14, 2011 at 12:31 AM"放鸽子"
...release doves? shenme yisi? Do you mean make a grand event of something? Bit like make a mountain out of a molehill?