User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: The Hunan Accent

哇, 你太棒了。。。you've not only cracked out a beauty, but it also happens to be one of the supposedly [according to John in recent QW Chengyu lesson] rare 7 character 成语's . I love the expression too. Well done Tal. The other one is very fitting also. Thanks :)

Posted on: The Hunan Accent

Excellent answer...thanks mate. That table's got 'em all. It's funny because I've heard Beijing referred to as the jing by Aussies before and I thought it was just part of an Aussie habit of shortening everything. Just like we do with Hongkers, Singers, Bangers,etc [or maybe we got that from somewhere else as well...I dunno]. The Jing sounds really cool to my ears.

Posted on: The Hunan Accent

Ok, what's up with this line?:

在我们湖lan2，lan2人都很帅，lv3人都很漂亮

...firstly, I always thought Chinese reputedly prized modesty and humility. So not only is she making this statement about her own people, but the dou dictates that she's also calling herself piaoliang [I'm guessing she hasn't quite made that connection..or it's somehow ok because she's not specifically referring to herself...or maybe it's a little bit of a loose dou...not necessarily stating 100%...I guess I'm being a little to literal, dui ba?].

Secondly, I never really understand such generalisations. While beauty is in the eye of the beholder [is there a Chinese equivalent to this saying?] and thus not easy to measure [though of course some do try to with facial mapping using computers and looking for symmetry and other parameters and I think China's cultural preferences for large eyes and small mouths have been mentioned elsewhere ...partic personal ad lesson] I'm sure they are likely to have a similar spectrum to elsewhere.

Posted on: An Introduction to Chengyu

"[BTW I like it that the Chinese up the ante on our English 'sixes and sevens' - in the sense that 'she was all at sixes and sevens'.]"

...lol. Yeah, good point mate.... that, or they just have a higher tolerance for chaos.

I like your take on "genuine idiom" ..interesting. I know what you mean anyway.

Posted on: The Hunan Accent

ok, trivia time. I've read that Hunan is sometimes called 湘 for short as 湘江 runs through the province. How common is it to hear this? Do many other provinces if any have shorter names in this fashion? If so, any examples?

Posted on: The Hunan Accent

Wow..super useful lesson and well done. At the risk of having "let's have a series" start to sound like my catchcry, I think it would be extremely handy to have more such lessons covering some of the other regions of China [at this level would be fine...just need to get the idea of the common discrepencies or bufen]. In the interim I'm wondering if it's possible to squeeze a few more square km's out of this accent by finding out if it applies to any parts of the provinces surrounding Hunan. I'm guessing these accents don't stick strictly within the borders.

Posted on: Outdoor Survivors (Part 1)

for what it's worth, I think the action of signing up to participate has already happened. Seems to me that 参加 was telling us what the signing up was about and not referring to the action of participating itself.

Posted on: An Introduction to Chengyu

zhen,

That's interesting. My rollover [mandarin popup] has 心胸狭窄 as narrow-minded [成语 saw] ; petty, ungenerous. I don't know what "saw" means in this context. I can see that it can be broken down as you say into 心胸 [breadth of mind] and 狭窄 [narrow]. I just don't know enough about these chengyu's so forgive my ignorance. Your comment raises several questions in my mind that I'm very curious about. Firstly, other than it being [usually] a four character expression with some great meaning [ like a saying I guess] what defines a chengyu? Who decides what is and what isn't a chengyu? What is the best reference. mdbg says it's an idiom. How is this different ? Chengyu's can be broken down too right. I know what you mean though. Compared to some others I've seen, this one doesn't have the same feel. The others I've seen are more metaphorical. Describe some situation that almost tells a little story [ if you can do that in 4 characters].

Posted on: An Introduction to Chengyu

yes, downloadhelper works for me. Good luck :)

Posted on: Too Many Food Allergies

thanks xiao_liang. I think there are a few lessons on this in the archive. I realise there are more titles for chinese rellies as opposed to the west and so its a bit more complicated, but the advantage you have is your gf and time and specific people to address. I'd be getting her to draw you up with a family tree and learn it as best you can, and then given you know your itinery now and should have a reaonable idea of who is likely to rock up to each occasion, I'd be swatting up on the relevent branches just prior to going. Even if you slip up, you may well get some points/face for trying. Good luck :)