User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Can You Use Chopsticks?

Also, this post was made more than four months ago - they may not be still around.

Posted on: Can You Use Chopsticks?

Hi rags, not sure if you are aware that on Newbie and Elementary lesson threads the convention is to provide both pinyin and an English translation for anything you write. Intermediate and above go for your life.

Posted on: Can You Use Chopsticks?

Don't feel bad - the Chinese themselves undertake two or three years training to use chopsticks. If you did the same you would be just as expert.

Posted on: Possible, Possibly, Possibility

你好shiatk

两天以前有一个贴子上面介绍那个问题，看一下。 我们的回答可能帮助你， 哈哈。

You might find the thread started two days ago above (by bababardwan) helpful - the matter is discussed there. Possibly. :)

Posted on: Of Kings, Emperors, and Presidents

I inadvertently used the wrong gēn & can't edit it - certainly didn't mean anything untoward, sorry.

Posted on: Of Kings, Emperors, and Presidents

因为澳大利亚政府根美国好朋友（只是美国的一只狗而已？），所以我们不帮助Julian Assange了。但是对Wikileaks我觉得他没有违反任何法律了， 你呢？ 他可能有别的问题，对吧?

Posted on: Of Kings, Emperors, and Presidents

Oh, sorry, I see your post now, I didn't read them right through. Yes, we are making almost the same point about 王 and 皇. Although ... the dialogue and discussion here does not demonstrate my point about how close they are; many Chinese people pronounce them precisely the same way - but Dilu pronounces them in a very standard way consistent with the pinyin. I don't know for sure whether what I hear 'on the street' is a 'southern' thing and I don't want to get into that discussion.

I don't think that you would confuse 公 and 王 in contemporary pronunciation - again the pinyin lets you down a bit. Both are a little more nuanced than than pinyin suggests. They may have been closer in previous times.

Re: 王 and 皇 .. I should have been a little clearer. The way I hear them, they are both aspirated, al lot of air comes out of the mouth as you say these characters. But with 皇 it starts at the back of the throat - the more difficult of the two to get right (for native English speakers). So there is a difference, but with many Chinese people the difference is not apparent.

Posted on: Of Kings, Emperors, and Presidents

Speaking of leaders.. 

I think the expression 沈老师 is interesting, because

1. Here the 老 is often dropped, so it is 沈师.

2. This does not just apply to teachers, in fact it is a very common address.  You will be at dinner and people refer to someone as 王师 - it doesn't mean that she is a teacher.  She may be in business, or a public servant.  It's just a term of respect.  Particularly common in the workplace, and the standard form of address in any place of work that could be deemed to be cultural (eg. library, radio or TV station, theatre, temple, museum, concert hall, as well as schools and universities.)  

Posted on: Of Kings, Emperors, and Presidents

Hey Baba

'Interesting that 公 and 王 rhyme'

Actually they don't really rhyme, and I was wondering if you meant 皇 and 王? (I meant to raise this closeness earlier.)

皇帝的皇 and 王 are remarkably close in spoken Chinese, and I wonder about this is because 皇 contains the 王 radical. I still mix this up - often people say their name is 王 and it sounds to me exactly like 黄 (which can also be a family name.)

An interesting thing about this is that because of pinyin we assume that there is a clear difference between 皇 and 王 - the actual difference is much less than you would think if relying on pinyin to learn pronunciation. This is one reason to wean yourself off pinyin (my tutor's current campaign is: 'just forget pinyin').

Posted on: Keen on Clean

I assume that you are talking about the Chinese mainland?

Many public toilets do not have soap.

But it is not a rule. When you arrive at the airport, for example, there will almost certainly be soap in the toilets. And many major tourist sites will have soap dispensers - museums, concert halls, etc. And many restaurants also will have soap dispensers. But only a few will have toilet paper.

The five star hotels, and an increasing number of restaurants, have both soap and toilet paper supplied.

But you always travel prepared - with tissues, and many people also take disinfectant wipes, substituting for soap.