User Comments - bababardwan
bababardwan
Posted on: 把 Humbug
August 22, 2009 at 3:34 AMHey,I knew the pdf was coming [I don't really use them so I didn't personally mind either way],but I didn't know the dialogue tab was coming with audio.Bonus! Thanks CPod.
Posted on: Do you have...?
August 19, 2009 at 3:10 AMjaimemayo,
mei..not
you..have
So "youmeiyou".literally means... do you have or not have?.... This is one form of asking a question in Chinese.When a question is asked in Chinese it is usual to use the same verb in the reply..in this case the "you"..to have.
bushi on the other hand while it does mean no,it more literally means "not to be" or "not is",so not really saying not to have.It would sound strange in Chinese I think.
Posted on: SKRITTER!!!
August 19, 2009 at 2:58 AMuser11962,
My understanding is that if you paid for a 1 year basic subscription for example in April 2009 and thus you had only used a 1/3 of a year ,then 2/3 of the cost of your basic subscription is credited back to you when you then subscribe for a premium subscription from now.Thus if you renew your subscription now for a year [the minimum to get the guided upgrade] it will expire in August 2010.You should be able to see the available credit left by going onto the ME page and clicking on my account on the top right.If you are considering going to Premium I would highly recommend doing it now to take advantage of the guided upgrade.IMHO it's the best promo I've seen to date and well worth it.
Posted on: Excited About Traveling
August 18, 2009 at 12:14 PM我觉得小红已经喝小红【好的。。我知道应该说“一点红酒”从她篮子】 因为她打电话半夜的时候。希望他小心避【不见】那个大坏狼旅行的时候。
wŏ jué de xiăo hóng yĭ jīng hē xiăo hóng 【hăo de wŏ zhī dào yìng gāi shuō yī diăn hóng jiŭ cóng tā lán zi 】 yīn wéi tā dă diàn huà bàn yè de shí hòu xī wàng tā xiăo xīn bì 【 bù jiàn】 nà gè dà huài láng lǚ xíng de shí hòu
..I think "Little Red" has already drunk a little red [ok I know that I should say."a little red wine"。from her basket] because she made a phone call in the middle of the night.I hope she is careful to avoid [not meet] that big bad wolf while travelling.
Speaking of 半夜...does this specifically refer to midnight [12am..as per the rollover in the dialogue tab] or more generally "middle of the night" which is less defined?
Posted on: Excited About Traveling
August 18, 2009 at 11:27 AMI agree that Thomas Edison was the one credited with using hello as a telephone greeting,but I think the inventor of the telephone,the Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell [he who has heard the sweets song could not forget that name] was the first person to use the phone when on 10/03/1876 he uttered that famous quote "Mr Watson,come here,I want to see you" .Apparently his choice of greeting was "ahoy"..the greeting of sailors.
Ok,question from the dialogue,which may be splitting hairs a little.This line:
我要去海南旅行了。
..is translated as:
I'm going traveling in Hainan!
..whereas Ken translated it as going to Hainan.Now perhaps the Chinese are a bit vague on this point but I would say in English there as a small difference not only in meaning[to referring to your journey there and in referring to what you do when you get there] but also potential implication of what you do when you get there.I imagine some people travelling to Hainan would just be going there for a week or whatever and hanging out at a resort,lazing about,going in the water and not moving around much at all[however here English is a bit vague also because it doesn't really tell you what they are going to do when they get there..they may well do a little exploring when they get there and in fact may even be undecided at this point].Some others may want to seriously explore the island and go travelling in Hainan[I think this is more specific and would tend to exclude those that are going to the one spot on the island and staying put].My guess is that both translations of this sentence are correct and that the Chinese is just a little vague on this point,but I'd be interested in comments/thoughts from others.
Posted on: SKRITTER!!!
August 16, 2009 at 11:42 AMthinkbuddha,
It does seem to give a popuptranslator.What I like about this one is that you can turn it on and off easily.On my firefox at the top right of the screen there is a lime green cogwheel and selecting/deselecting the tooltip dictionary seems to toggle it on and off.
Posted on: SKRITTER!!!
August 16, 2009 at 9:03 AMthanks thinkbuddha,I've just added that.I'll give it a go.It seems to open in a separate tab whenever you click on it.I suppose I'll just have to check it out a bit more,but it'd be great if you could look up things without going onto a separate tab.
Posted on: Traditional Chinese Medicine
August 16, 2009 at 3:13 AMThanks changye.Yeah 先生。I just thought it a little 奇怪 to have it translated as Mr without any context.I mean if I were sitting the HSK or something I can't see how I would have come up with Mr as a translation for this sentence in isolation.
hehe,
Love this word 关门 from the expansion sentence:
上海的商店关门很早，尤其是在冬天。
the 关 in this context meaning to shut/close [up the shop] reminds me of the somewhat hostile English ...gwan git [go on get [outta here]]..anyhow,just a little mnemonic that works for me.
Posted on: The Monkey King
August 22, 2009 at 12:05 PMThe supplementary vocab has the 4 chinese classic novels as 四大名着 whereas mdbg has it as 四大名著 【as does google input].Are both correct or is it just a typo in the supplementary vocab?
四大名著..makes more sense...4 great famous books