User Comments - christine30550

Posted on: Assembling IKEA Furniture

Hi sido,

令 (ling4) can also have the meaning of 让 (or 使, same meaning but 使 is more 书面语, I think), to make (e.g. to make sb feel a certain way), so in the above: this really moved me. I haven't listened to the lesson yet, so not sure about the context.

Posted on: 淘金热

@Connie and Pete: many thanks! Yeah, I think I'd rather be a Viking, considering the diet of some of the gods..

Posted on: 智能手机

Does 并不为过 mean "without exaggerating, not at all exaggerating"? Ie, "过" = "过分"? And is this a commonly used expression?

The expression is at the end of the first para of the 2nd heading: "...., 因此说它是苹果iPhone的劲敌也并不为过。"

Posted on: 淘金热

俗语"不食人间烟火"的背景应该怎么理解? 原来的意思是不是

不食 =不吃?

人间 = among people?

烟火 = food made with fire and smoke? （b/c nciku 的说明是 "does not eat cooked food").

那么就是 "somebody who does not eat the food of mortals" 吗?

Posted on: 80后民工开博炮轰城里人

这是很有意思的Media课。我与Changye一样,曾经也没大关注到*80后农民工这一群人。也许万小刀身份不是农民工，但他写的文章表示出一些固定想法（也包括一些偏见）。

* grammar question: or should it be 关注过? or would 注意到 be better here?

Posted on: Budget Meeting

Hi Shenyajin and Pete,

Many thanks for your comments! I like the Tao De Jing verse on water, very wise :-). Shall try to find the Wang Fei song, too. It may be hidden somewhere in my Chinese CD collection (a bit dusty now..)

To follow up on the 节日补贴: what kind of compensation is this, then? Do most Chinese companies pay this 补贴, and how much is usually paid?

Posted on: Budget Meeting

More questions..

1) 冻结: is it correct that this is only used for "to freeze" in the abstract sense? How would one say

- the lake froze (in winter)?

- he froze to death?

Frozen Pizza = 冷冻Pizza, 是不是?

2) 节日补贴: is this a compensation different from the statutory (min.) 300% vacation-加班费? If it is the same, can they just cut that without getting in trobule? As far as I know, the Labout Law requests employers to pay an employee at least 300% of their (daily/hourly) wages if the employee works on a statutory holiday (e.g. on May 1).

3） Does 细水长流 mean "to economize"? Is there a story behind this expression, e.g. refilling the water so it would keep for a long time or something? Is the 细 in this expression a verb? I find it easier to remember such 4-character expressions if I understand how they are composed.

@John: some Swiss companies pay lunch money to their employees, too. I think it's an old tradition some companies still adhere to, though probably they, too, have 削减-ed away with it now..

Posted on: Lessons and Comment Policy

I like having all comments (drivel or not) in one forum (as opposed to separate links), and what I don't want to read, I scroll away, very simple.

Some of the "drivel"-postings are amusing, and others have actually helped me with my Chinese. I will always think of the Jackson Five when I hear or attempt to use 三长两短 (san1 chang2 liang3 duan3, not quite sure about the tones. Means "unexpected disaster"). Someone posted a photo of the Jackson Five, 2 in front (the two short) and 3 in the back (the three long). I don't remember who came up with this photo, but 多谢 to you!

Posted on: 沙漠寻踪四

麒麟人的眼睛肯定是红的, bright red.

关于“监视”这个词，和“监控”有什么区别呢? We had “监控” in an earlier lesson. 比如说，在广场安装的surveillance cameras 是监视还是监控行人呢? Does the 控 (as in 控制) in 监控 imply that not only does the person or device oversee something but is also able take measures to control/correct what it monitors? Could you give some examples?

Posted on: 无性婚姻

Hi Dunderklumpen, Sydcarten, bodawei,

Thanks for your input! 公,母 is of course much more appropriate for animals, I had totally forgotten, thanks for reminding! I think I learned another Chinese word for "female" and "male" animals some time back but can't remember now..

Sydcarten, interesting info about the etymology of jungle. I guess it makes sense that the word would originate from a place that actually has jungles - or are there no jungles in India? My geographical knowledge is extremely limited :-(.

@Zhenlijiang: wasn't successful with googleing Rilke in EN/GER and Chinese, either...

@Changye: interesting question about the grammatical genders in German and their connotations. I thought about it in a quiet moment (while dipping in an Onsen). For me, the gender does not carry any implications or connotations. Actually, I found I had to consciously name an object first to identify its gender. E.g. looking at a table, I would first have to say the word out loud ("der Tisch") in order to realize what its gender was. The table itself would not come across to me as more masculine than, say, a window (das Fenster) or a door (die Türe). Yeah, leaves you wondering why German has three genders. Maybe (probably) because Latin has them as well (but in Latin, the above words do not have the same gender, e.g. window, fenestra, is f, or table, tabula, is f as well. May well be possible that in a few hundred years or so all nouns will just have one gender, most likely that would be "das". But who knows...