User Comments - calkins

Posted on: Job Shopping in Modern China

I live in Taipei and I have to say that I love the Southern accent, whether it is "bad Mandarin" or not. Or maybe I just love the people in general. That's cool if you want to be a snob and limit yourself to speaking to only those who speak clearly. Happy adventures on that, ha ha! And good luck on macking on some local ladies ... I hope they speak clearly with a standard accent while they are macking with you.

P.S. I think you're an imposter.

Posted on: Job Shopping in Modern China

What percentage of the population speaks Mandarin like a TV broadcaster? Maybe 1%? If you want to be a broadcaster in China, Cpod probably isn't the best place to learn it. And before slinging mud, you should take a look in the mirror at your own English, that is if you are so concerned about appearing in a higher class. Your writing, at least, is riddled with mistakes.

Posted on: Who is that?

You should be able to type nvhaier to get 女孩兒 (make sure you type 'v' not 'u'). But I think 女孩兒 just means "girl". Girlfriend would be 女朋友 nvpengyou or 女友 nvyou.

Posted on: The Hunan Accent

As others have noticed, it's usually the older generation of Taiwanese that have this 口音 that mixes up the 'f' and 'h'. I've also noticed that it only comes from those Taiwanese who also speak 台語 (Taiwanese). I may be wrong, but I think it has something to do with 台語 creating the 'f' and 'h' change when speaking 中文. I'm not sure why it's usually the older generation, but I also think it has to do with speaking very fast.

Posted on: Hawaii

When you see a double 了 like this, it usually means "have done something...and are still continuing to do it."

In this case:

"You have already drunk quite a few cups of coffee (and you are still drinking)"

If there was only one 了，it would mean that you drank quite a few cups but are now finished drinking.

Another example:

我在台北住了兩年多了。

I have lived in Taipei more than two years (and continue to live here).

Without that second 了, it would mean that I lived there for more than two years but don't live there anymore.

Posted on: An Introduction to Chengyu

No more rhyming now, I mean it.

Anybody want a peanut?

Princess Bride is one of the funniest movies of all time. Ranking "must see things before one dies", I rank this one ahead of seeing the Great Wall!

Posted on: Time to Go

I'm no expert, but 了 le doesn't always indicate past tense. It has a few uses. One of those, which I think is the case with 怎么了 zenmele, is that it refers to a "change of state" (something was one way, then it changed).

怎么了 zenmele basically means "What happened?" or "What's wrong?" The 了 le indicates that everything was okay before, then it changed after something happened.

You can see this 了 le in many examples. For instance, if you get sick:

我生病了。

wo shengbing le.

I'm sick. (there was a change of state from being healthy to being sick).

現在我好了。

xianzai wo hao le.

I'm better now. (change of state: I was sick, now I'm healthy again).

MTGG is right, sometimes it's just easier to learn these set phrases, especially when it comes to 了 le, which I still can't fully wrap my head around.

I was telling a Taiwanese friend the other day that I have the hardest time understanding all the uses of 了 le...she just laughed and said she does too (she's been speaking Chinese for 33 years!).

Posted on: 我不做剩女

I resemble that remark!! Ha ha, thankfully there aren't millions of us yet. We fat middle aged Western men still have great odds.

Posted on: Your First Mooncake

I just found a loophole in the "Only subscribers can comment..."

I'm not a subscriber and cannot create a "new comment" here, but I can if I reply to someone else's comment. Nice...maybe I'll hold off on resubscribing for now ;-)

Posted on: Your First Mooncake

I've noticed that most Taiwanese adults don't like eating mooncakes. I've asked why a few times and usually get "because I ate too many as a kid."

I think they look a lot cooler than they taste!