User Comments - bodawei
bodawei
Posted on: Guilin Mifen
April 14, 2009 at 12:04 PMHi Matt
I don't want to spoil the reputation of the average Chinese fuwuyuan but in the place in question they were usually polite and helpful. You just can't steal the menu.
It was a great lesson and must have been fun to make. Putting on my amateur film critic hat may I point out that the 'cook' is not a cook? Did you see the way he cut the carrots? I have watched Chinese cooks at work - let's just say time is money. :-)
而且秦皇帝的军人的历史很奇怪，对不对？ 你说他们不能吃米饭，可能吃米粉， 可是都是米做的。 这没有道理， 这说不通。 如果他们不能吃面粉，可能吃米粉我明白。 我觉得他们想面条样式的食品，所以不喜欢米饭， 喜欢面条。 对吧？
Posted on: Guilin Mifen
April 14, 2009 at 3:49 AMFirst experiences in China: the menu at our local canteen hangs on the wall behind the counter, safe from thieves. Guarded by a fierce 服务员. Each meal is on a separate tag. The meals change according to season and availability. We ask those people already eating and repeat what we hear at the counter. Gradually we learn the dishes and write them down in a notebook but never refer to the 'menu'.
Posted on: GPS Fail
April 14, 2009 at 2:58 AMA useful term when directing the taxi driver (maybe when the GPS fails):
U-turn... circumrotate (ok, circumrotate is not a real word)...回转! hui2zhuan3 (v) U-turn
My Chinese dictionaries seem undecided on the noun:
掉头 diao4tou2
向后转 xiang4hou4zhuan3
Which is the best one to use? Can either be used also as a verb?
Posted on: The Bride Makes Soup - 新嫁娘
April 14, 2009 at 2:14 AMHi again Pete
I'm interested in your comment that the CCP banned the keeping of concubines. Do you think that this statute is still on the books? I wonder how it is enforced, if at all? In my ACADEMIC studies of Chinese culture I have read about the prevalence of 'second wives'.. but I think the aforementioned soapies cover it as well.
Posted on: The Bride Makes Soup - 新嫁娘
April 14, 2009 at 1:56 AMHi Pete
I love the poem and the commentary. Great atmosphere and sound effects again. And the unsimplied characters - thanks. Only 4 out of 19 characters have a simplified form - but this low proportion of characters affected is typical of the 'full' character set isn't it?
A couple more questions:
the title 新嫁娘 - I have only ever come across the term 新娘 xinnaing for 'brides' - as in the Chinese soap my wife like called 百万新娘 - which incidentally has lots of scenarios where the new wife has trouble settling in with the wife's family. There is always a crisis involving the cruel mother-in-law.
Is the Book of Rites the 礼教 li3jiao4?
Posted on: Toilet Types
April 13, 2009 at 9:29 AM@barbs
Love your photos mate.
This is a bit late for 复活节 (Easter) but if
十字小面包 = hot cross bun (!)
then I don't think anyone can object to:
挂十 = hang ten.
Perfect. Parfait. I'm a fan of making up Chinese words, at the risk of not being understood by anyone.
@pete
I expected better - but this raises a question: is there any really good surf anywhere in China? Have the Chinese lexicographers actually experienced the real thing? If so they might have come up with something less like the swish and gurgle you get when you flush the toilet.
Posted on: Picking Up 拿
April 12, 2009 at 1:52 PM哈哈- very funny. Too late for me to reply in Chinese (I'm slow).
我女儿住在成都 - 她没有跟我说过这个。 大概我可以找人带给你袋鼠肉！
Posted on: Toilet Types
April 12, 2009 at 8:44 AM@barbs
I'm not close to surfing (I like to read about it more than experiencing the reality of being dumped) so this might be why I just learnt from a Chinese friend, while gazing out at a very flat wave at Manly Beach, that surf (n) can be referred to as 波澜起伏 bolan qi2fu2 (is this poetic? wrong?) and surf (v) is 冲浪 chong1lang4. Neither of these terms really grab me - is there a better way to talk about surfing in Chinese?
Posted on: The Bride Makes Soup - 新嫁娘
April 14, 2009 at 12:46 PMHi Pete
Are you being too harsh about Zhou Yimou? I probably watched his later films (我的父亲母亲， 一个都不能少，英雄，等等） for the spectacle, sentiment, just because it's Chinese, etc. and the politics went straight over my head.
BTW thanks for your responses to my queries - and the little elaborations, good value. Or to continue my education campaign in the Australian arts I should say 'real beut'.
And I've learnt a new saying (上有政策， 下有对策）- there just had to be a saying covering this fact of life in China. I'm going to probably over use it I like it so much. I was intrigued by the number of motorbikes that buzz around HZ in the area where motorbikes are banned - I'd just like to say 上有政策， 下有对策..