User Comments - go_manly
go_manly
Posted on: Picking things up: 拿、带、取
November 28, 2009 at 9:27 AMvitruvianman
I can't say I've noticed any attempt by her to cover up her accent. Being a proud non-American, I much prefer her accent to Ken's. Not that I find Ken's accent an issue - I'm too busy listening to the content to worry about such trivia. And I don't understand your point about Connie or Jenny - they are Chinese.
Anyway, we all have our favourites, and there is no problem with you having yours. There was just no need to tell her to take a hike (in your round about way).
Posted on: Picking things up: 拿、带、取
November 28, 2009 at 8:28 AMvitruvianman
What is wrong with Liliana??
Posted on: Expressing Location with 边 and 面
November 28, 2009 at 8:23 AMorangina,
I don't know about your example, but my Chinese teacher gives an example for shàngmiàn / shàngbiān. She says if something was sitting square on a table you would tend to say shàngmiàn, but if it was sitting near the edge, perhaps in danger of falling off, you would more likely say shàngbiān.
I agree with your take on yòumiàn / yòubiān, but that is only a gut feeling. That is, use yòubiān to indicate that an object is 'to the right of' something else (ie. relative position), and yòumiàn to indicate the actual right hand surface of something.
Since the logic of Mandarin is often quite different to that of English, could a Chinese speaker make this clear for me: If I say 'Māo zài lǎoshī yòubiān', on which side of the teacher is the cat - my right or his (assuming the teacher is facing me)?
Posted on: Job Interview
November 28, 2009 at 2:27 AMCpod,
This lesson does not appear in a lesson search.
Posted on: Negating Verbs: When to Use 没有 (méiyǒu), When to Use 不 (bù)
November 27, 2009 at 10:44 PMdoodlemonster
This lesson is pre- Qingwen PDF days. I assume it was an error to actually include a PDF with this lesson at all.
Posted on: What are your hobbies? (original)
November 26, 2009 at 2:11 AMilles
The problem with your understanding is that in English, the verb 'to be' is used to convey more than one meaning.
The meaning we would all give for 'to be' if asked would be something along the lines of 'equates with', or 'is precisely the same as'. This is the meaning of shì. eg. I am a teacher - you could refer to me as 'him' (instead of I) or as 'the teacher'. In Mandarin 'Wǒ shì lǎoshī'. Think of it as 'I = teacher".
Another use of 'to be' in English is to assign a quality to the subject. In Mandarin, shì is not used here. You either use a degree word, eg. The book is large - Shū hěn dà, or use yǒu - to have. eg. Tā yǒu míng - he is well-known.
Another use is to express location - eg. 'I am here'. In Mandarin, zài is used for 'to be' in location phrases - Wǒ zài zhèlǐ.
A fourth use of 'to be' in English is the present continuous tense - eg. 'I am ____ing'. Zài is again used here to mean 'ing'. eg. I am swimming - Wǒ zài yóuyǒng.
Posted on: Expressing Location with 边 and 面
November 22, 2009 at 12:42 PMwadecloudfly
Thanks for your explanation. Very helpful. I had not heard 对过 before.
And your English is good enough to get your message across very well.
Posted on: Expressing Location with 边 and 面
November 21, 2009 at 1:40 PMOne word that was not mentioned was duìmiàn. Am I correct in saying that duìbiān cannot be used? (At least I've never seen that word before.)
Posted on: Salt and Pepper
November 18, 2009 at 8:43 PMWho or what is that comment directed at?
Posted on: Manila
November 29, 2009 at 3:15 AMCpod
As lostinasia stated over a month ago, this lesson does not appear in a Lesson Search.