User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Getting the Correct Change

We must be the only people awake in ChinesePod land Baba. :)

There is overlap but I think lao is used more generally, both people and things; it seems quite flexible. They both seem to have abstract applications combined with other characters in the case of jiu. They share the sense of outdated. They share the sense of worn out.

Okay this is my last - have to go. :) Wan an.

Posted on: Getting the Correct Change

元 is used after the amount and the symbol ¥ is used before - but they are not used together in the same expression, it is one or the other.

Posted on: Getting the Correct Change

I'm going to say 'no', or 'yes'. I feel a headache coming on. I am recalling my attempts to expand my knowledge of measure words on another thread. The measure words for notes are either 个 or 张. 块 is a MW for a slice or chunk of some things. Is it a MW in 三块钱? Maybe, I think it is three 'chunks' of money. But what about 元? 元 looks like it is also its own MW - as in 三元.

I haven't been much help.

Posted on: Getting the Correct Change

¥ is the symbol placed in front - you would type it as a 'special character' in Word I think. I also think it is the same as the symbol for yen. But sometimes it appears with just one horizontal. The yuan character is used after the amount, not before.

Posted on: Getting the Correct Change

The Paddlepop is a weird (extreme?) example of the concept of 'embedded water' - a topic I plan to discuss in class in a couple of weeks time. Some countries import goods that use a lot of water in their production (eg. wheat) - hence the idea of importing water 'embedded' in the good. In the case of the Paddlepop you don't have to search for the water, particularly if the frig goes bung. Australia being a dry country - it makes sense to import water, 对吧? Which reminds me I should be working. :)

Posted on: Getting the Correct Change

They are used on receipts. I was trying to reproduce/construct an imaginary receipt above. If it was real I wouldn't be eating Vienetta of course. ;) I think that, for example, 3.50 RMB would be read as 'san kuai wu' - dian would sound unnatural. (In my experience.)

PS. The other item by the way is an ice cream on a stick that allegedly contains red bean and green bean.

Posted on: Getting the Correct Change

Damn! You're too smart Baba. Vienetta it is! 杯 indicates that it comes in a little container or 'cup' - they also come on a stick (I haven't seen them like that in Australia.) And they do (like most things that use a Western brand or name) have a different formula. It is not the same as an Australian Vienetta. But then I understand (apropos nothing much) that the Australian Paddlepop is made in Shanghai - have you heard that?

实收 - yeah, I had done the breakdown too, and seen the possibility of 'real, receive' but I was looking for some confirmation - I can't find it in my dictionary, although the word 实收入 is interesting and gives a clue to its use in the supermarket. I wouldn't describe it as 'perfect' - I would have used any number of other characters to describe 'money received' before 实, which I always in my mind associate more with 'truth'.

Posted on: Getting the Correct Change

角 and 毛 are the same thing. It is not unusual to hear people refer to 角 - 毛 is colloquial.

Posted on: Getting the Correct Change

Hi yianli

I think you may be thinking of a 分 fēn - 1;100 of the yuan. Not used much these days except in the financial markets. What makes it like a 'penny' is rather elusive (to me at least) - pennies disappeared from Australia in about 1966?? There were (at changeover to a decimal system) 10, 11 or 12 to a shilling equivalent, the 10 cent piece. The similarity is:

10 分 = 1 角, which is 1/10 of the 元 yuan

10 - 12 pennies = 10 cents, which is 1/10 of the 澳币 Australian dollar.

Posted on: Transportation Card

I use 充值 for any stored value card - anything you put money on (but maybe you should rely on a teacher or a native speaker for confirmation). You can use 充电 for charging a battery.