User Comments - ideotek

Posted on: Long Time No See!

On a mac you just turn pinyin on in your language/keyboard prefs...

Posted on: Dining and Dropping

Am I right in thinking this sentence in the expansion can have two meanings?

我要再买一本字典。

wǒ yào zài mǎi yī běn zì diǎn.

I want to buy another dictionary(because I like them.)

I must buy another dictionary(because mine was lost.)

I suppose the context would make it clear, wouldn't it?

Posted on: Superman

Thanks Trevor, that's good to know.

Posted on: Superman

Can somebody tell me how come this expansion sentence is translated into past tense? I was under the impression that a 了le was required somewhere.

小鸟飞得又快又高。
(The bird flew both high and fast.)

The only character I don't really see the function of is 得 de。 Is this the marker?

How do you say the same thing in present tense?

The bird flys both high and fast.

Posted on: A Special Christmas Gift

You're making me homophonophobic. :P

Posted on: A Special Christmas Gift

I have a question about the expansion exercises with de的

这个手机这么便宜，肯定是假的

- This phone is so cheap, it's certainly fake.

The last de的 makes fake an object, or noun, doesn't it? Or something concrete?  Wouldn't a more precise translation be:

...it's certainly a fake one. 

I've been trying to keep these aspects separate as I learn them, and this seems like an obvious way, but there's no attempt to differentiate them in the translations. Is this a bad way to learn it?

Posted on: The Lazy Child

charley chaplin was the king of non-sequitors!

Posted on: Interested in Chinese Medicine

ah, cool, thanks! I didn't mean only genitive but in this case it seemed to work like that. I've also seen it look like a possessive. Thanks for the link!

Posted on: Interested in Chinese Medicine

I know it's better left unexplained, but I can't resist asking about my suspicions:

Is the 的 de in 中医的书 zhong yi de shu working here as the rough equivalent of the english 'genitive' form... that is, a book of chinese medicine?

I haven't seen it explained like this, so maybe there's a reason it shouldn't be learned this way...

Anybody?

Posted on: Interested in Chinese Medicine

I've just gotten to elementary level, so now when the lessons take 3-4 times as long to complete, it's nice to know what I'm in for ahead of time. And a little encouragement goes a long way.

I think the learning curve helps me understand when I'm ready to advance. The first intermediate level I tried sent me back to do a dozen more newbie lessons. The careful grading of these lessons is what I find to be the most valuable and impressive part of the site, (aside from the wonderful voices of course!).

@Jason, I had no idea you weren't just a regular on the elementary level! Congrats.