User Comments - jennyzhu
jennyzhu
Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong
April 7, 2009 at 4:06 AMphilren,
设计/she4 ji4 means 'design', 格式 means 'format'. 设计 is both a noun and a verb. For example, 我的名片是我设计的。/I designed my own business card. 我不喜欢这辆车的设计。/I don't like the design of this car.
格式 is a noun. 这个文件是什么格式, mp3还是wave？/What is the format of this file? MP3 or wave?
Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong
April 7, 2009 at 2:23 AMYes, 要么 is a great ultimatum.
This lesson got me thinking about a broader issue: a general culture of sloppiness in China? On the one hand, you have a large selection of vendors in China, which means you can get things done fast and cheap. But at the same time, credential and quality are inevitably compromised. I have had printing people asking me 'it is only 50 RMB, what do you expect?'
Posted on: 金字塔销售
April 6, 2009 at 4:04 AMI remember when 安利/Amway first came to China in early 90's, the part time and commission based pay structure quickly attracted a massive sales force. People were absolutely crazy about this new way of making money that in Shanghai, almost every family had someone working for Amway. Many of my uncles and aunties did too. My parents must have bought Amway detergent that could last 10 years because they felt obliged to. Then, the craze got out of control and was about to become a destabilizing factor in the society. So the government banned Amway from operating in China. But the cause of the problem was not that it was a scam, but that the people in China and Amway were not prepared to handle this totally new way of economic exchange. A few years ago when the government legalised direct selling/直销, Amway was one of the first licensed operators.
Posted on: Dropping and Losing 丢, 弄丢，丢掉
April 6, 2009 at 2:24 AMmiami meiguoren,
Please don't apologise for your questions. Qing Wen addresses grammer questions. We give examples and translations in the podcast. In the comments, Pete and Connie provide Chinese and Pinyin of what we covered. You can start with earlier episodes of Qing Wen which cover simpler grammar questions.
Posted on: Which Finger?
April 3, 2009 at 9:18 AMYeah, 大熊 definitely sounds cuddly and harmless to me, probably because a character in the Japanese cartoon Doraemo is called 大熊。
Posted on: Which Finger?
April 3, 2009 at 2:25 AMtommy2tone,
I'll take the liberty to take it as a compliment.
Posted on: Toilet Types
April 8, 2009 at 5:21 AMOh, toilet humour.