User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Have you bought your Shanghai Expo ticket?

Barbs

Anyone can go and have a look ('cept the septic tanks), you just have to do 'the tour'. But even that is quite interesting; a couple of friends did it and I got the CD (movie of their tour, distributed to everyone.) Actually their tour is on Youtube (like everything); just search North Korea tour and you will no doubt find many tours.

Posted on: Do you have vegetables?

番茄炒鸡蛋 fānqiéchǎojīdàn [note 茄子的茄 qié]

西红柿炒鸡蛋 is also correct but I hear it less

There is a pattern X verb Y

eg. 鸡蛋 炒 饭 jīdàn chǎo fàn

Posted on: You Sing Terribly!

I think that there are not many at all, actually; foreign languages have failed so far to make significant inroads into Chinese. Compared to English; now there is a real bastardised language.

Posted on: 花木兰上集

Changye - you are so right.

Technical Chinese words are so 'explicit' that sometimes, if I don't know a word, I am tempted to make one up myself. I am disappointed when I get it wrong!

Posted on: 花木兰上集

Bilabial is a noun granted, perhaps used exclusively by linguists. Ordinary people are afraid to use it ... Using it as an adjective is bad enough. 'Bilabial fricatives'. It has a sensual ring to it.

I would like to try to put 'bilabial' into a sentence using it as a noun to demonstrate my concern, but I am afraid that ChinesePod would remove it with alacrity (so quick it would make those guys at the GFW proud.)

Posted on: 花木兰上集

Hi Changye

"bilabial" is “双唇音” in Chinese

I know that it is difficult to argue against the dictionary but to a native English speaker this Chinese expression is strange to say the least. I think that 'bilabial' is an adjective and I would favour 二唇的 (an alternative in my dictionary) or 双唇的..(dropping the 音). The word does not only refer to a sound. Whenever something has two lips it can be referred to as bilabial. In a similar way, something with two legs is referred to as bipedal.

BTW - I was surprised that you asked for pronunciation! Being a dictionary aficionado you would have the pronunciation in front of you? Don't you trust your dictionary for pronunciation?

Posted on: 花木兰上集

Wow - it's gone from not posting to posting as though it has a mind of its own. It was telling me that I had said enough.

Posted on: 花木兰上集

Thanks Changye and kang_jie

Nice informative answer - I had heard the 'first sounds made by babies' explanation before, but not so well expressed. Ta. (I wonder if that can be put in the same category as ba and ma. Probably, parents are always insisting that their offspring be thankful.)

B

Posted on: 花木兰上集

Hi Changye

I'm guessing then that 爹 is more formal, 爸 more casual? Likewise 娘 and 妈 respectively?

It is interesting how words sounding more or less like 爸爸 and 妈妈 (meaning father and mother) occur in several languages - did we all borrow from each other at some stage? That is why I wondered about the transliteration - maybe they borrowed from another language, not English?

Posted on: 花木兰上集

I wonder if 爸爸 is actually a transliteration of the English Papa? I also wonder when it came into common usage in China. It is interesting that the characters have common elements.

The 娘 does live on in 姑娘 guniang (girl) and other words associated with women.