User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Thanks Changye,

Now if I use pinyin input for the above and select the first option each time I get:

一级与西至七十堰为据吴湖固因波又应叙自刭吃去近

Which google translation renders:

"Level with the west for seven Shiyan Lake, according to Wu solid due to Syria since the wave should also cut the throat near吃去"

....Now that makes perfect sense to me.Aha,I spy a way to go from dill to speaking profound Chinese.I could be the Chinese version of Chauncey Gardiner.

这是一样的电视, 只有你可以看到很多进一步

我喜欢看看

只要根基没有断绝,一切都很好.和所有将在花园里

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 10: Lao Wang Plans to Sue

加油，加油 老王 ！！ Finally listened to this lesson and it just gets better and better.I'm so glad Lao Wang is going to represent himself and match his wits against the defence lawyer.That's the spirit,and will make for a good showdown.How good was the final line:“我口才好。到时候，我去法庭。” ？哈哈。The acting in this is just superb.I love the vocal expression.e.g.Could 老王 possibly have spat out 狗屁 with any more expression? And of course,as ever,great discussion with Jenny and John,hehe.

Getting back to my original post,I'm now wondering if court proceedings have to be conducted in Mandarin throughout the country.For example,in Guandong,where Cantonese is the first language and presumably stronger than Mandarin for many are they conducted in Cantonese or Mandarin.Just curious of course;not expecting any trouble myself,hehe.

Also,I take it that it is possible to represent oneself in court in China?

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

bodawei,

Brilliant ! I just wish I'd thought of that.太好笑的

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

bodawei,

Great information mate.Thanks heaps.Perspective is priceless.I'm a forest man.

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

...or perhaps we could reach our goals much sooner if we had a few drinks.I'm pretty sure after a few I've come out with your above shi shi shi shi shi ...quote without even realising it.Maybe this is the closely guarded secret of the vinegar tasters in my avatar.They were telling everyone it was vinegar ,thus putting others off tasting,while they were in reality getting plastered on the magic tongue loosening stuff.

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

calkins,

Come on mate,bit of optimism hey.I was hoping to do it by the time I'd reached the combined ages of the 3 learned gents in my avatar.You can see they have the light behind them.

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Calkins,Changye,Matthiask,

谢谢你们。Actually,on reflection,there is a bright side to this passage.Even remembering the English,which should be easy,will mean I'll have an headstart [without tones] of what the Chinese is for all these words.Every word in that passage is made up by some combination of shi in the various tones.I haven't come across the word for lion but now I know it involves shi.Looking at the passage I see that it is shi1,which will be easy to remember now as the 1st thing I'd say to my mates if I came across a lion in the wild is shhhhhhhhhhhhhhi.

Thanks also mikeinewshot as it's always nice to know one is not alone in these struggles.It's a bit like that old wisdom that the more one knows,the more one realises what one doesn't know.Hopefully there will be a light at the end of the tunnel one day,as perhaps reflected in the journey in the famous Bruce Lee quote:

"Before I learned martial arts, a punch was just a punch and a kick was just a kick. When I studied martial arts, a punch was no longer just a punch and a kick was no longer just a kick. Now I understand martial arts, and a punch is just a punch and a kick is just a kick."

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Calkins,

Ah,of course.Thanks mate.Just shows how easily Chinese perakin can lead me astray,partic when in a hurry to dash off.I thought it looked familiar [from 石头]but was scanning across with perakun and came up with that anomaly.Perhaps not as bad as the homophones,but the similarity in some characters means I'd believe anything told by a more authoritative source,hehe.

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Calkins,

When I saw your pinyin I thought you were joking until I saw the Hanzi.Now that really is demoralising.Can the Chinese really make head or tail of that? Maybe it's a bit like she sells sea shells [I know this is not a good example but off the top of my head I can't think of a closer example ] and thus a familiar little piece,but would they have gotten it otherwise?

Actually closest English example i can think of :

11was a racehorse

22was12

1111race

22112

btw Isn't the very first character dan4 [which appears about 4 more times] ?

Maybe Matt the tongue twister shifu can shed some light on this.I hope he can be a beacon of hope.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 10: Lao Wang Plans to Sue

Ok,so I was wrong.Not able to listen to lesson yet but looks like we are getting a court case from Lao Wang after all.Talking of higher level language required for court reminds me of when I visited Ireland many years ago and met an Irish teacher who could speak Gaelic.She was quite a character and said the ability to speak Gaelic had got her off a few minor charges as one can insist that the court proceedings be conducted in Gaelic and hers was way ahead of the lawyers.