User Comments - bostonphil

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bostonphil

Posted on: Knowing the Teacher
September 20, 2007 at 10:53 AM

I've found it helps to distinguish between "renshi" and "zhidao" by translating them as: "renshi" = "acquainted with" or "met" "zhidao" = "undertand" or "know about" I agree with go1040, understanding the exact meaning of words in translation can be tricky. (Heck, it can be a problem when translation isn't involved.) A friend told me to always remember a different language (Chinese/ Spanish) is a different language, not a coded version of English using funny-sounding words. You have to stop thinking in English and learn to think in the other language. Easier said than done, but that is part of the fun.

Posted on: Election Candidates
September 2, 2007 at 1:31 PM

Ingmar, The correct phrase is "suits to a T" or "suits to a tee". I hope you don't take offense. Actually many people misquote the phrase. Here is a possible explanation of its derivation. http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-toa2.htm I have been looking at cheng2 yu3 (idioms) lately. It is particlularly fun to find out the back-story for the phrase. One of my favorites is "san1 ren2 cheng1 hu3" (three men create a tiger). I gather it means if you hear the same story from enough people it is probably true. Seems applicable here.

Posted on: The Olympics on TV
July 12, 2007 at 12:22 PM

nadilu, You might also want to take a look at the "help" link below. You will see a menu with a choice marked "technical questions". Click on that. Hope that helps.

Posted on: Two Little Tigers Song
June 8, 2007 at 11:39 AM

Tomtom, I wonder if your version would sound better if the last lines were: Zhen yi han, zhen yi han (What a pity, what a pity)

Posted on: Where Children Come From
June 2, 2007 at 10:08 AM

There is, of course, the story of the little kid who up to his parents and asked "Where do I come from?" The parents sat him down and gave a long and careful explanation about " the birds and the bees" When they had finished. the child sat thinking for a moment, then said "That's interesting. Timmy next door says he comes from New York."

Posted on: Shut up!
April 22, 2007 at 11:39 AM

In the actors' dialogue, it sounds like "Mr. 250" is saying "wo de lao po bu sha si wo de" rather than "...hui sha si wo de". Is this due to my "newbie" ears or is this an optional way to express the thought?