User Comments - calkins

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calkins

Posted on: Paying the Bill
December 15, 2009 at 12:10 AM

都可以。

Posted on: Stinky Feet
November 9, 2009 at 3:04 PM

Hi Vallance,

They both have the same pronunciation but different characters (I can't see the supplemental vocab. so I'm not sure which characters are used).

脱鞋 tuō​xié​ : to take off shoes
拖鞋 tuō​xié​ : slippers

So you could say:

进房子前要先脱鞋，然后再换上拖鞋。
jìn fángzi qián yào xiān tuō xié，ránhòu zài huànshàng tuōxié.
Take off your shoes before you come into the house, then change into slippers.

Hope this helps.

P.S.  you can use 脱 tuō (to take off) for many things...like taking off clothes, socks, hats, etc.

Posted on: Getting Off the Metro
September 20, 2009 at 7:21 AM

Actually, I think 对不起，借过一下 (duìbuqǐ，jièguò yíxià : I'm sorry, excuse me） or just 借过一下 is much better (and more polite) than 让一下。

Posted on: Getting Off the Metro
September 19, 2009 at 12:40 AM

One of the few things I dislike about Taiwan is getting off of public transportation.  For some reason, most Taiwanese think it's okay to bowl you over when they are trying to get on the subway (or bus or elevator) and you are trying to get off.  I'm talking just about everyone, old ladies being the worst culprits!  They will even lower a shoulder to get through.  Don't they realize that it makes much more sense to let the people off first??  This drives me nuts.

Anyway, a polite phrase that I just learned to put those kinds of people back in their place is:

先下车。
xiān xiàchē
People off first.

It diffuses them becasue first they think "Oh waiguoren can speak Chinese" and second they think "Oh, waiguoren is more polite than me."

Posted on: Farewell, Sweet Pete
September 17, 2009 at 12:16 AM

Just curious...who's going to fill the following holes left after Pete's departure?

- translation

- community care/management (personally, I think this is where Pete was most valuable.  He always took the time and care to answer questions thouroughly and honestly.  I've always appreciated his candidness and at the same time his diplomacy.  These shoes will be very hard to fill, but I hope they can be because I think it's very important for the cpod community, especially as cpod grows).

Posted on: Farewell, Sweet Pete
September 13, 2009 at 1:46 AM

Pete, congratulations on moving closer to your goals.  I hope some of your new ventures are related to your sustainable farming dream.

Many thanks for all that you've contributed to cpod in the past couple of years.  Your valuable insights will be sorely missed.  I for one hope that cpod will pay you enough to do a second season of PWP.  The first season was invaluable.

Best of luck!

Posted on: Getting Nationalities Straight
September 13, 2009 at 1:09 AM

You can say:

我要買這個，不要別的。
wǒ yào mǎi zhèige，búyào biéde.

I want to buy this, I don't want any others. (i.e. please don't try to sell me any other crap ;-)

Posted on: Where Did You Go?
September 2, 2009 at 12:08 AM

jimijames, it could also mean that she doesn't trust you...quite the opposite of love!

Posted on: Treating and Foreigners on TV
August 30, 2009 at 2:06 AM

The best advice I can give.......SING!  If you go to China, you will eventually be in this situation.

I hate singing in public, my voice is terrible, but I've had to do it...even at work functions where I have to face my coworkers on Monday.

The thing is, Chinese are not as self-conscious as we westerners, so they don't care if you're singing is horrible, they just want you to sing and have fun.  Which actually, it is a lot of fun once you stop worrying about how everyone is perceiving your singing...not easy for us westerners I know, but it's a good thing to let it go.

If you move to China and do not do KTV at least once, you'd be missing out on an important part of its modern culture.

Posted on: Is China Scary?
August 9, 2009 at 5:23 AM

"The US never wanted to win. The US economy depends on the production of weapons."

I've never heard of a more ridiculous statement, starting a war to boost the economy by production of weapons.

The war in Iraq has cost the US $670 billion, the war in Afghansitan $220 billion.  That's almost $1 trillion...that's a helluva lot of weapons to produce and sell.

"And they also used Vietnam as a training ground (they sure as hell need it)."

If that's the case, then Vietnam was a huge success for the US.  The US military won every single major battle in Vietnam.  Every one.  We lost the war politically.

Very flimsy claims.