User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: It's Stopped Raining

@clowder, zhenlijiang, jimijames

thanks very much for the contributions about wind and rain. 

clowder, funnily enough i wasn't really trying for an English idiom at all, I started with the Chinese. I spelt it out in English because this is a Newbie lesson. 

But as zhenlijiang says, it does depend on what I am experiencing - in this case 不是呼啸的 , just a gently rustling of the gum trees.  I have a forest of gum trees outside my window and it does not take much of a breeze at all to hear them - and it does sound like a light rain falling. 

zhenlijiang - it may be a poetic idea. I am searching for the poetic expression in Chinese. Maybe i should consult Li Bai and his friends.  

I used to  live in a part of Australia where the 木麻黄书 mùmáhuángshù (Casuarina) is native. A forest of 木麻黄书 produces the sound of waves hitting a sandy beach. A lovely sound to go to sleep to.  这个微风比波浪海滩上打了过去声音一样差不多。

Posted on: It's Stopped Raining

@jimijames,zhenlijiang

Thanks for your translation (zhenlijiang i do mean that the wind sounds like rain, but I can see how the English is ambiguous.)  I didn't think of using 着 here  - I think of it as applying to the verb in relation to tangibles.  The tree is in the back yard, the house is on the hill.  I better review that.

Posted on: Happy Birthday China

@barbs

I read your reference on 中庸, thanks.  I am interested in the interpretation: 'Even common men and women can carry the mean into their practices, as long as they do not exceed their natural order (Internet Sacred Text Archive, 2008)'. I wonder if this has anything to do with another 'value' discussed in class, that 'The King is King, the Minister is Minister, the Father is Father and the Son is Son'?  I was told that this refers to the need for an orderly society.  

@tvan

Thanks for your comments on the birthday - 我同意. The present is a stamp album (real postage stamps) on Yunnan themes.

Posted on: It's Stopped Raining

我在听得见风声音的地方， 听起来像下雨一样。

wǒ zài tīng de jiàn fēng shèng yīn de dìfāng, tīng qǐ lái xiàng xiàyǔ yī yàng. 

(Where I am I can hear the sound of wind, sounds like rain.)

I find this talking about what I hear difficult - how do you say ‘I can hear the wind' and 'sounds like rain'?

Posted on: Love Tangle 3: One Night Stand

@tal

I haven't experienced any problems at all - I'm getting the usual super-fast Internet.  maybe they  don't worry about us way out West.  maybe they think we don't have computers yet?

Posted on: Happy Birthday China

@barbs

Your comments on '#1' are perceptive as usual - but I am not saying I understand this at all.  I am just listening to what I hear.  i did say to them that the Chinese migrants to Australia tend to dominate the university entrance exams - isn't that wanting to be #1?  (And yet I know that migrants are a special  breed.) 

This whole teaching experience is instructive - I'm learning, I  hope they are.  You may be familiar with the 班长 system - when I was a classmember 2006/07 I thought 'this is just plain weird' but my experience over the past month has me respecting the system.  My four 班长 show incredible leadership qualities.  I am  also intrigued how the weaker students are protected/nurtured by the stronger students - collectivism at work? 

Incidentally, I attended a 'birthday' celebration tonight - I hope that doesn't offend anyone.  I do think that there is plenty to celebrate.  (I will declare that I got a great meal, interesting dinner companions and a cool gift.)  

Posted on: Not Cooked Enough

@jenny

I agree that finding a Shanghainese restaurant in Shanghai is a bit of a challenge, and when you find one i think that you need a local guide to explain the unfamiliar dishes... :-)   I think that Shanghainese food is perhaps the least like what Australians' have come to believe is Chinese food.

Posted on: Happy Birthday China

@barbs

Thanks for the run-down. They celebrated Teachers' Day one or two weeks ago here - close, but not actually on his birthday. 

One of the messages I was getting was that they think that Australians always want to be #1, whereas it is not so important for Chinese people (from that point the reference to 中庸 came up.)  Interesting, because I think a common perception in Australia is more or less the reverse - that it is China that wants to be number one.

Posted on: Happy Birthday China

@barbs

I am not up on 孔夫子 - what is that all about? 

You probably know about 中庸 zhōngyōng as well? Some of my students were trying to give me a crash course in Chinese values today in class.  if I say that they were trying to demonstrate the link with Greek philosophy you will know that I was out of my depth Chinese wise.  :-)

Posted on: Happy Birthday China

大家好， 国庆节快乐!  dàjiā hǎo,guóqìngjié kuàilè (i just wanted to see the cool new application at work.) 

For those who don't know how holidays work in China - here's how mine work: Thurs - Sat (1-3 Oct) inclusive are 国庆节法定节假日 (National Day legal holidays), Sun 4 Oct is a 照常公休 (usual official holiday).  But  中秋节 (Mid-Autumn Festival) falls on Sat 3 Oct, so 中秋节分别调至10月5日 (Mid-Autumn Festival is shifted to Monday 5 Oct.)  照常公休分别调至10月6日 (the usual official holiday is shifted to Tuesday 6 Oct.)  To get an uninterrupted eight days, 9月27日，10月10日公休日调至10月7日，10月8日 (the Sunday before the holidays and the Saturday afterwards are shifted to the 7 and 8 of Oct.)  As the last two of the eight day holiday are just for the purpose of achieving eight days straight, people are obliged to make these up by working weekends. So, 9月27日，10月10日上班 (that is, we work the Sunday before, ie. today, and the Saturday afterwards.)  It's simple really once you get the idea (not.)

But I shouldn't complain - many people get no holidays at all.  They will celebrate 60 years of the PRC from work.