User Comments - helencao_counselor
helencao_counselor
Posted on: Addressing Family Members
December 31, 2009 at 4:54 AMHi bodawei,
Yes, for godparents, it's really not necessary or not comfortable to call their godchildren 干儿子 or 干女儿. Like what you said, it only happens when you need to explain your relationship to others.
They call you 爸爸 shows that you are very close, as if they are your own children. That's very good! I have a 干姐姐 ever since I was 七岁, and I just call her 姐姐 instead of 干姐姐。
I am from a big family, so I have many cousins. But I have never called them 表姐、表妹、表哥、表弟 or 堂姐、堂妹、堂哥、堂弟，I just call them 哥哥、弟弟、姐姐、妹妹，or numbered them as 大哥，二哥，三哥 etc. when necessary.
Posted on: Addressing Family Members
December 31, 2009 at 2:25 AM@ orangina,
“stepfather” in Chinese is 继父 ji4fu4 or 后爸 hou4ba4（colloquial).
“stepmother“ in Chinese is 继母ji4mu3 or 后妈 hou4ma1 (colloquial).
In modern view, godmother is 干妈gan1ma1，and godfather is 干爸 gan1ba4.
Posted on: Addressing Family Members
December 30, 2009 at 6:46 AM@ pauley,
姨姐 (yi2jie3) is the title for your chirldren call the daughter of your wife's sisters. You can call them 外甥女 (wai4sheng1 nv3), and they call you "姨夫(yi2fu)."
Posted on: Addressing Family Members
December 30, 2009 at 4:59 AM@bababardwan,
偏旁 is more about Chinese radicals in general. It can be either on the right hand side or the left hand side, or even on the top/bottom of a charater, while "...旁" is used to specify a single radical.
For example,
“吃” 这个字是 “口”字旁
"chi1" zhe4ge zi4 shi "kou3" zi pang2.
--- The radical of the charater 吃 is "口"。
(The radical "口"is on the left hand side.)
“刚”这个字是 “立刀”旁---- The radical of the charater 刚 is "刂".
"gang1" zhe4ge zi4 shi "li4dao1" pang2.
（The radical "刂" is on the right hand side）
“吃” 和 “刚” 这两个字的偏旁是不一样的。
"chi1" he "gang1" zhe4 liang3ge zi4 de pian1pang2 shi bu4 yiyang4 de.
--- The radicals of 吃 and 刚 are different.
Hope that helps.
Posted on: 冬季进补
December 28, 2009 at 9:21 PM啊？! 甜的鸡汤？还真是第一次听说呢! 不过一定很补吧~~
我觉得煮八宝粥也挺好的，既简单又营养！放些黑米、糯米、黄米、红豆、红枣、银耳、麦仁一起煮，然后再加点冰糖。
大家一定都做过吧？
Posted on: 冬季进补
December 22, 2009 at 6:33 AM嗯。。。南瓜真的是好东西！颜色漂亮，营养又丰富！
我很喜欢南瓜鸡汤，里面放点西兰花，绝对是色、香、味俱全！~~
具有暖身效果的还有羊肉汤，但有的人可能会吃不惯。
@Tarsi,
哇，绝对的养颜补身佳品！！
Posted on: Time Period Patterns with 末, 底, 初
December 21, 2009 at 5:56 AM@hyperhorean, dahouxiaohou, Jasonsch,
这两种说法都可以。
The difference between “发工资”和“拿到工资” is that the doer of the two phrases is different. For example,
我 们（公司）明天要发工资了= our company is going go pay (our salary) tomorrow. (It is the company that sent out the salary.Obveriously, the doer of the action "sent out" is the company.) while 我们明天能拿到工资了= we can/are able to get our salary tomorrow. (The doer of the action "拿到" is “我们”，the employee.)
Here are some more examples,
Jenny 说她下个月一拿到工资就请我们去吃火锅。
John 说他下个月一发工资就请我们去唱卡拉OK。
:D
你们公司什么时候发工资？
上个月他没去上班，所以没拿到工资。
Hope that helps!
Posted on: I Want a Thick Blanket
December 17, 2009 at 3:05 AM根据对话内容，标题如果改成“I want a thick quilt”确实会更准确。
Posted on: 冬季运动
January 5, 2010 at 4:58 AMHi Bergmaaj,
hot tub 中文可以说 “浴桶”。Jacuzzi我还没有听说过，但我觉得你说得应该是中文里的“浴池 / 浴缸（bathtub）”吧？