User Comments - bodawei
bodawei
Posted on: International vs. Local Schools
January 22, 2011 at 2:02 AMVery well said tgif. If I was to make a rant in this thread (don't worry I won't) it would be about the remarkable absence of the 'rip off the foreigners' activity being commented on here. I think sometimes these fears of foreigners are fuelled by the fears of the Chinese people themselves. That is a difference in our cultures worth commenting on.
Posted on: Buying a Bouquet of Flowers
January 20, 2011 at 2:55 PM'old enough to have fathered a child as old as me'
I am not often shocked by the passing of time but just recently I exchanged emails with an old work mate, my age, who let on that he has five great-grandchildren. One great-grandchild is five years old. I remember his oldest child, did the sums and it still seemed slightly improbable. I offered the suggestion that his was a family of breeders. So I guess that almost anything is possible.
Posted on: International vs. Local Schools
January 20, 2011 at 2:46 PMGlad you're feeling better mate.
I'm trying to get my head around the process you are describing - care to elaborate? Maybe there is a good explanation for the change in weight (what was the weight change exactly?) - if I was being killed I'm guessing that I would lose a good deal of weight in the process. What exactly did they do to the chicken between weighings?
I am familiar with a similar situation when you buy fish - the fish is knocked on the head (bit hard to weigh when alive) and you pay based on the 'before' situation. Then they clean gut and fillet it if you so desire, you end up with probably less than half the original weight. Crabs same deal - you end up with a small fraction of the purchased weight but it is hard to eat the stuff that is removed. I haven't bought a live chicken myself. My son has and that is a whole nother story. The whole chicken cost roughly the same as a whole cooked chicken. That's why I don't buy live chickens.
For future reference, there is usually a standard Government paid weghts and measure guy you can take your issues to, even in the backward place where I live.
Posted on: How to Address Someone
January 19, 2011 at 3:03 PMHi ān (what a delightfully short user name, you set some kind of standard!)
This is a big question that can't be easily answered, but for starters I have a few questions.. are you worried about what people call you, or what you call other people? Which industry are you in .. the conventions are different depending what sort of work you do. For example, I teach at a uni and you can call anyone 老师 lǎoshī even if they don't teach. And even quite senior people are happy to be called 老师. Somewhat surprisingly in such a hierarchical society modesty is a virtue. In my province that is commonly abbreviated to 师 with their family name in front.. and this title applies in a wide range of creative or knowledge industries, library, museum, visual and performing arts, radio and TV to name a few.
A bigger problem is what you call other people - you should ask for advice from someone who knows the situation of the person you wish to address. Or you can ask them directly as in the lesson, but to be honest I cannot remember a single occasion of hearing one Chinese person asking another Chinese person this question. A default if addressing any woman over about 18 is 女士 nǔshì (as you suggest). Male of almost any age you can call 先生。 Any man doing a job for you, anything including the taxi driver, you can call 师傅 shīfu. Any shop owner you can call 老板 or 老板娘 but 老板 is okay as well. In the hotel or restaurant anyone except the boss can be 服务员 fúwùyuán (the boss is 老板), but someone doing a manual job I would call 师傅.
If you are a visitor I don't think that there are high expectations about what you call Chinese people - they won't expect you to get it right and they will not be offended.
Comment on: 太太 - more commonly a reference by a man about his wife (so you shouldn't need this) and 小姐 okay but I would probably leave it alone, go with 女士 (unless of course you are asked to use either form of address.)
Hope that helps. Corrections welcome! :)
Posted on: Funerals and Consolation
January 19, 2011 at 2:34 PM
两个星期以前我们把葬礼讨论了在这里：
http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/10991http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/10991
评论开始：在中国葬仪的习俗因小数民族不同而不同，比如藏族有天葬，水葬， 土葬还有火葬。 在天葬中尸体切开一百零八块，然后鸟来吃。。
Posted on: So (adjective) that...
January 18, 2011 at 10:51 AM哦, I should have guessed Tibet. Nice one. We're sort of planning to go later in the year; you'll have to go again! 你当导游，好吧?
By the way Lu 老师 has given you a better solution - :) Also you could use 和 here as much as 跟。
Posted on: How to Address Someone
January 18, 2011 at 4:59 AMHaha ..(oops sorry, you said don't laugh!) I heard you say the other day that you got your first computer when you were eight years old? When I was 8 the first people in the street were getting televisions. Paul Simon & Art Garfunkle .. well, they are not as old as the Beach Boys.
Posted on: How to Address Someone
January 18, 2011 at 12:44 AMPaul Simon songs do sound good in Chinese .. I have heard a rendition on CD, not Paul Simon singing but a reasonable imitation.
Posted on: So (adjective) that...
January 18, 2011 at 12:37 AMHi sven..
It's your first post I see. Welcome to ChinesePod, hope to see you more often :)
你认为。。我忙得都没有时间我跟我的朋友玩儿。。？
you could say 没有来得及。。
PS. What country is the photo taken in? (if you don't mind me asking.)
Posted on: International vs. Local Schools
January 22, 2011 at 2:12 AMRight - a typo, should be five and a half.
I think that the old 'Chinese count age differently' is disappearing, gone. Although the 了 I believe means/confirms that the child has already had their birthday in the current year. Without the 了 it means that they will turn five in the current year. I was taught that by a native speaker who is also an experienced teacher, but they may be a little 'traditional'/old fashioned. I'd be interested to get comment on that.
Baba - I can't get this link to take me anywhere - not sure if it is me.