User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: A Magazine Subscription

The dialogue has a nice example of where Chinese is more precise than English (and surely it is usually the other way round?)  

Although there is some lack of consistency in English with 'bi-monthly' there should be no ambiguity in Chinese: 

半月刊 （一月两次的）- twice a month

双月刊 (两月一次的）- every two months

If the language is not enough is not clear enough, the context for 半月刊 in the dialogue makes the meaning clear.   However, it is unusual to have magazines published twice a month (I can't think of any examples, can anybody?) and in publishing the English word bi-monthly generally means 双月刊 not 半月刊.  Right?  

Posted on: Catching a Train

@socrates

in limited circumstances I agree. but if you are at the post office and the queue has 12 people all in the number 1 position then it is not effective. also it doesn't work at the bus stop. or fighting for a taxi. if you are ordering kids around it may work.

Posted on: Catching a Train

Hi Barbs, sorry I missed this. He used the term just as one bloke to another - like 'maaaaate' - I don't really know how common it is. I would guess more in my age group, among men rather than women. I do wonder if it is old Party guys just using it out of habit.

Posted on: Reviewing in Class

(On the blackboard)

一闪一闪亮晶晶 (obscured - I'm guessing)，满天都是小星星，挂在天空放光明，好像许多小眼睛,一闪一闪亮晶晶 (pin yin only partly obscured) 

Yì shǎn yì shǎn liàng jīng jīng 

Liǎng tiān dōu shì xiǎo xīng xīng

Guà zài tiān shàng fàng guān míng  

Hǎo xiàng xǔ duō xiǎo yǎn jīng  

Yì shǎn yì shǎn liàng jīng jīng 

Twinkle, Twinkle little star ..

I visited a primary school once (grade four room) where the kids sang this song in English.  They had no idea of the meaning of the individual words.  Kids usually start their English lessons in grade four.  

Posted on: Renting an Apartment through an Agent

Let's look at the positives. You are doing your bit to stimulate the Nanjing economy. :)

Posted on: Chinese Fruits

Hi egret

This is a little misleading I'm sorry - if you are after the word mint it is just:

薄荷 bòhe (mint)

凉拌薄荷 liángbàn bòhe (a dish mixing a number of things but using mint as the main ingredient);

凉拌 is a term applied (in Yunnan at least) to a whole range of cold dishes that are usually eaten early in the meal.

Posted on: Sex Education Class

I don't recall any awkwardness at all - she is my example of a young Chinese (about 24 now) who shows no awkwardness talking about sex. I also noted a saying discussed at that meal: 一切靠自己 (everything depends on yourself) - challenging the traditional life style.

Posted on: Sex Education Class

I wonder how shy Chinese kids are about discussing sex. I remember dinner our family had with a young woman (浙江 native) one evening in October 2006. Discussion went from roasted peanuts to language exchange to sex and then to the fire brigade (I still have key terms noted down from that dinner in my Notebook #1.)

油煎 yǒujiān (to shallow fry in oil)

交流 jiāoliú (exchange)

精液 jīngyè (semen)

精子 jīngzi (penis) - I think this is the colloquial term

消防局 xiāofángjú (fire station)

Alert poddies might follow the thread of the conversation; it was a wild discussion. It seems that terminology varies for penis and semen - or perhaps it is regional. Or did my young informant not listen in class?

Posted on: Catching a Train

Well, it was a bit of both I think. I remember seeing this guy coming to my queue from some way off - so I marked him as someone who might try to push in (he looked 'important'). I decided to try and head him off (I had already waited quite a while by the rules) by shifting my luggage into his path, which I did without looking at him, and in 'flapping my arm' so to speak in the process of lifting my luggage (with a kind of flourish) it caught him a beauty. You could say he was blind-sided. I think he was unsure about my intent, but my silence probably gave him the cue and he headed straightaway to another queue. The 'no look' is the expression used by Ray Warren in calling the Rugby league - it's when one player passes to another while looking straight ahead (the type of pass that the punters love but coaches hate.)

Posted on: Surprise summer visit!

Hi Connie

'得不得了'是什么意思？ 这是’真是XXX不得了‘的意思吗 ？ 是不是用以强调’好吃‘? 因为你谈到'brownies'所以我觉得'得不得了’是很好的意思。