User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Son or Daughter?

@shi_lei

我明白。。 谢谢。

Posted on: Juiced!

@dunderklumpen

Thanks a lot for the mini-tutorial!  I have never used this expanded search function before - very cool.

Posted on: Son or Daughter?

@shi_lei

Could you please use hanzi?  Pinyin is not too useful without hanzi - Do you mean 小祖宗?  In my dictionary this translates as 'ancestors'.. 

Posted on: 老外批评中国

@kimlik

these are interesting questions you ask - I understand that some Chinese people are endlessly interested in the 'banana' question.  But why is 'white on the outside yellow on the inside' considered derogatory?  Are you thinking of 笨蛋 (stupid! idiot!)?

Posted on: Baby Photos

@shenyajin

I did have the impression (from somewhere I can't remember now) that the terms "弟弟” and "妹妹" were used for total strangers, a very colloquial way of referring to babies or toddlers - I must have that wrong, hey?  Is there a chance that it is a regional practice?

Posted on: Introduction to Pinyin

@changye

Your mixture of 拼音 and 汉字 looks like one of my 听写!  (No computers in class.)  I would write in pinyin if the character takes too long to write, or I couldn't remember the character, and then come back if I have time.  Needless to say I always worked in pencil, which actually makes your characters look better anyway. I did feel like I was in primary school.  Of course you get no marks at all for pinyin.

Posted on: Baby Photos

请问一下， 在这种情况下可以说‘弟弟’和'妹妹'而不是'男孩子'和'女孩子'？ 

(In this situation would it be okay to use the terms 'didi' and 'meimei' instead of nanhaizi and nuhaizi?)

Posted on: Introduction to Pinyin

@changye

that is interesting - once Mao got an idea in his head he was difficult to shift it seems, so we should perhaps be thanking those who stood around saying 'Yes, Minister' for still having 汉字!  [that's a reference to a UK television series]. 

But Mao went through the Confucian school system - that would be enough to drive anyone bitter and twisted.  It's hard to imagine going three or four years learning to read and write without actually being taught the meaning.  Apparently the meaning was reserved for those that showed great promise in rote learning. 

@John

I opened the dictionary at random and picked 洄 which has the sound on the right and the meaning on the left.  Try 菲, 扉 - the meaning for both is on top, phonetic underneath.  蚕 - the meaning is underneath.  The meaning is left, above, and below in these cases. What about 眯 - the meaning could come from either side (some dust or something like grain that gets in your eye.)  Tricky.  Can meaning be anywhere?  And with a more complex character how do you find the phonetic component and whether in fact there is one?

Posted on: Introduction to Pinyin

@changye

as you say it is designed for putonghua pronunciation - but the learner faces or hears many variations on the sounds in the chart.  You might use pinyin to describe some of these sounds, but other sounds do not occur in pinyin - dui bu dui?  For example, some sounds in Guangdonghua - surely they cannot be represented by pinyin?  

I think that there are examples where the pinyin is 'not quite right' for commonly heard sounds - such as the le sound (or something half way between le and re) for re.  And the errr sound on the end of many words.

Posted on: Introduction to Pinyin

I have read that Mao Zedong can take the credit for the widespread use of pinyin, and for character simplification.  I read that he was outraged to hear that Western children could 'learn' their native tongue at least one year quicker than their Chinese counterparts. These things were introduced to allow Chinese to learn their language QUICKER.  Then he also took away the two hour lunch ..:-)  All for the purpose of reasserting China's rightful position on the World stage.

No doubt the truth is not so simple - but I'm pretty sure about the change from two hours to one hour for lunch - but does anyone know more to the story about making the language easier to learn?