User Comments - bababardwan
bababardwan
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 5: Super Babies and Ultrasounds
April 22, 2009 at 1:11 AMDo many/any Chinese still use the ancient Chinese gender prediction charts?:
Of course ultrasound prediction of gender is not without an error rate,though in the roughly 90% of cases where gender is predictable,this error rate has probably fallen over the years with improvement in the technology from around 10% to around 1%.Of course this error rate will also be higher in the first trimester,and also higher in less experienced hands.
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Festival -- 清明
April 21, 2009 at 6:19 AM嘿，那个是我的 !! We had a kids party here a couple of weeks ago,and one of the games involved putting messages in helium baloons which they later popped to see what message they got.One of the balloons escaped into the atmosphere and I guess I must have left my written hanzi lying around on the same table the party messages were and they got mixed up.I'll send my homing pigeon to pick it up if you don't mind.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 5: Super Babies and Ultrasounds
April 21, 2009 at 5:01 AM唐氏 seems to be the name given by the Chinese to John Langdon Down,the English physician who first characterised down syndrome.I suppose it's meant to be a transliteration ,though not a very close one I reckon.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 5: Super Babies and Ultrasounds
April 21, 2009 at 4:43 AMAh,there is a 包子在炉子 after all.
Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?
April 20, 2009 at 10:23 PMraymondc,
I'm no jade expert but your first clue was the 5rmb.
Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?
April 20, 2009 at 3:24 PM也许[perhaps]∶
这不是人身攻击，只生意
。。this is not a personal attack,only business
..bit cumbersome though.
无关私，只生意
nothing personal,just business
Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?
April 20, 2009 at 1:55 PMpaulinurus,
..Surely they were just pulling his leg:
Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?
April 20, 2009 at 1:23 PMuser deleted
Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?
April 20, 2009 at 6:23 AMGreat lesson as always.Good idea looking at what the Chinese are thinking when dealing with laowai,but I think I was looking for something a bit more Freudian,which in retrospect was highly unrealistic,particularly for an Ellie lesson.But I would love some deeper insights into how laowai are viewed[I haven't listened to todays EPod lesson yet,but lessons where you hear someone's thoughts are a fabulous idea].Perhaps in a market the subject is a bit too simplistic,but in other settings it could be interesting.Perhaps more in a romantic or business setting or some other social setting.
I like laowai and wouldn't find it offensive [and liked Jenny's comment about it sometimes being endearing],but like all words the feeling behind it is going to be what is important.
I agree with Ken's strategy for the markets.The night markets in Taiwan were fascinating.You wouldn't want to watch "yes man" and walk out under the influence in to the markets.
I love the way ping 乒 and pang 乓 [from pingpong] are the same except for the mirroring of the bottom of the character.The characters somehow look appropriate.
Posted on: 沙漠寻踪
April 22, 2009 at 4:00 AMMap shows Lop Nur/Lop Nor to be SE of Urumqi:
One occasionally here's stories of people going 杳无踪影在中国；是真的吗？