User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: China Street Smart with John Chan

@pchenery

That is not only stupid (as Xiaophil says) but i think that it is also incorrect.  The critical age is 60 I am told, and thereafter you can get a work visa but only as a 'foreign expert'. 

I am over 55 and working in China with a valid Z visa.  Of course a sample of one does not prove anything, but I have met many foreigners older than me on valid work visas.  :-)

Posted on: A Mouse Upstairs

Our cat used to kill rats (she still does I'm sure but she lives with my sister now.)  One morning I found a dead rat in the kitchen.  We had a Chinese speaker living with us and when I saw her I told her what had happened.  She looked terrified (naturally), but then she said to me 'Are you saying that the cat killed a kangaroo and dragged it into the kitchen?'  Cheeky girl, she has always teased me about my Chinese. It's not fair as her first language is Shanghaihua. 

Posted on: Grammar Lesson

@chiongzibide

Thanks for telling on me - I completed about four years of school in Queensland, including the last three, and I chose not to formally learn grammar for the purposes of completing high school.  In fact it was taught, always has been in some shape or form.  The 'myth' of no grammar arises because it was not compulsory in University entrance exams.  Even in my bad old 'no grammar' years you were given the choice of learning, and attempting exam questions on, grammar.

This undoubtedly leaves a gap in your education, particularly if you want to communicate about the language (meta language.)  'Not teaching grammar' was (is?) a phase in the educational history of many countries I imagine.  It certainly was not restricted to Queensland. When my children went to school the fad was to avoid spelling out words (phonics), closely followed by special courses in remedial reading.  I never formally closed the gap; if I have a question I just look it up, Google it.

(I have never heard the phrase 'diagram a sentence' - I think the phrase in Australian English is 'parse a sentence'; is that right?)      

Posted on: Grab Some Veggies From the Store

@mandarinkoala

Jenny Zhu said 'I heard that in Taiwan, 土豆/tu3 dou4 means peanuts (花生/hua1 sheng1 on the mainland), not potato.'  And I understand that there was some support for that.  

Your question is not clear - are you asking how the same character can mean different things in different places?  In English this is like, say, 'port' meaning (i) a drink you have after dinner in one place, and (ii) a suitcase in another place.  

Posted on: Hotels, Hostels and Restaurants

When travelling I always ask for a 招待所 zhao dai suo.  It doesn't translate well in English but I object to the definition 'sometimes a bit sleazy'.  I guess it depends on your expectations.  :-)  

Posted on: Where Did You Go?

@matt

I am still having trouble with the nosy questions because (a) I don't have a reptoire of stock answers yet, thnks for 出去) and (b) I am not sure how to identify whether the question is genuine.  If someone says 今天你干嘛啦? or something like that, how does one know whether it is like saying 'gidday' or they want a run down on what you've done today?

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 14: The Finale

Thank you Jenny Zhu for writing out academic management system in full.  There are few things in this world more annoying than the 首字母缩略词 (acronym - I just looked up the Chinese.)  I have been reading the acronoym on ChinesePod for some time now, hoping that (i) it is not important and (ii) if not important that it will just go away.  Whether intended or not, the acronym serves to divide the audience between those that know about it and those that do not.  The acronym reminds the latter group that they are not terribly important.  [Some acronyms, such as the UN for United Nations, don't raise my ire, but it will be a long time before the acronym for academic management system reaches this level of recognition in the publics' mind.]     

Posted on: Grab Some Veggies From the Store

Re. 白菜 - I know a man who does not eat 白菜 because of the high risk of pesticide contamination.  He gives the green light to my current favourite green vegetable here, 南瓜尖 (pumpkin leaf shoots). Anyone have more information on the growing of vegetables? 

Posted on: Grab Some Veggies From the Store

@threecats33

the confusion may arise from dictionaries - mine says 白菜 is both cabbage and bok choy.  What do they know?  In fact 白菜 is Chinese cabbage and 青菜 is called bok choy.  In Sydney the situation is even more confusing - bok choy is often referred to as Shanghai bok choy, whatever that is.  

BTW, I would say Standard Chinese speakers outnumber Cantonese speakers by a large margin now in Sydney.  Even if you defined them by the language first spoken.  Few people would only speak Cantonese any more.  Even in Hong Kong, Standard Chinese is widely spoken or at least understood.  

The reason we use a lot of Cantonese names in Sydney is history - I tell people that these names are actually English now, they have become part of the English language.  A native Cantonese speaker may not even understand a Sydney-born native English speaker using these words.  'Aymate, gotne bokchoy?' :-) 

Posted on: What Type of Man do You Like?

Thanks Shenyajin for patiently explaining those points.  You point to interesting cultural distinctions - as a native English speaker I would not have guessed at the difference between the role of the human species in propogating grass, trees and flowers.  I will have to go and practice some of that - there are so many flowers, plants, trees, grass etc. here in KM!

Reminds me that in my first day in Hangzhou a couple of years ago I learnt to say .. 他把树砍倒了。 (He chopped a tree down).  We were looking at a 樟树 zhang1shu4 (Camphor Laurel) which is Hangzhou's tree but classified as a pest in Australia.