User Comments - jjinfrance

Posted on: A Cell Phone Ad on TV

They are two words having the same vowels, but otherwise, different pronunciations and meangings.

化 means to dissolve (溶化）or to change （变化）

花 means flowers (玫瑰花) as a noun. When it's used as a verb, it means to spend (花钱/花时间）。

Posted on: A Cell Phone Ad on TV

One of 了's function is to indicate that certain state/action has been achieved. It's kind of like the present perfect tense in English (but not the equivalent). So here the 了 is necessary.

Posted on: Western Zodiac

In these two sentences of Lao Wang, the meaning of 跟 is different from the 跟 in 我跟他一见钟情. The 跟 in Lao Wang means "follow" (I am her follower), whereas the latter one means "and" (He and I fall in love instantly.)

Posted on: Return to the Hometown

是的。

Posted on: 考试制度

我觉得“推荐” 是“把一个人或一个东西推到某人面前，并建议他采用”，“引荐”则是“经由某人牵引认识，而被建议采用”。例如：他是经由王老板的引荐而进入本公司的。

透过各分公司的引荐，今年开发部门进用了不少新人。

Posted on: Leaky Pipes and Faucets

Pretzellogic is right. The problem is not only on the paper, but the plumbing system is not modern enough to accommodate the paper--even it's dissoluble.

Posted on: Leaky Pipes and Faucets

把汤匙扔到水槽里就好了。(bǎ tāngchí rēng dào shuǐcáo lǐ jiù hǎo le)

把 is a unique sentence structure in Chinese. I think an intermediate student should already know it.

就 - just

好(了) - ok

Posted on: Leaky Pipes and Faucets

First, I personally seldom describe that the toilet overflows. I usually only tell others "那个马桶塞住了( nà ge mǎtǒng sāizhù le) - that toilet has clogged" because it implies that the toilet will overflow.

But if you really want to use "overflow" I guess we can say:

小心，那个马桶的水满出来了。 (xiǎoxīn, nàge mǎtǒng de shuǐ mǎn chū lái le.) -Be careful, that toilet overflows.

小心，那个马桶的水快满出来了。(xiǎoxīn, nàge mǎtǒng de shuǐ kuài mǎn chū lái le.) -Be careful, that toilet tends to overflow.

马桶的水满出来了，我得清理清理。（mǎtǒng de shuǐ mǎn chū lái le，wǒ děi qīnglǐqīnglǐ) -The toilet overflowed and I had a big mess to clean up. -- I don't know where to put "a big mess". It's just very awkward add it into the Chinese sentence.

那个马桶很容易堵塞 (nà ge mǎtǒng hěn róngyì dǔsè) - That toilet clogs easily.

客人房里的厕所 (kèrén fáng lǐ de cèsuǒ) The toilet in the guest room. (When you say "the guest room," do you mean the room where your friends or family stay when they come to visit?)

紧急切断阀 (jǐnjí qiēduàn fa) - emergency shut-off valve

plunger--This one, I never know how to say it in Chinese. I just say 那个吸马桶的东西 (nàge xī mǎtǒng de dōngxi) - the thing that sucks the toilet....

So for "that toilet clogs easily", I would say "."

Posted on: Designing the New Apartment 2

Hi pretzellogic,

Concerning this remodeling thing, I guess it's really about the different basic concepts. People from different cultures have different ideas of what a thing should look like or how something should be processed.

When I lived in the States, I noticed that almost every kitchen had the same equipment: a big stove with a 4 burners ontop, a bult-in dishwasher, a cabinet-mounted microwave/ stove and a big counter in the middle of the kitchen. However, with my old habits of cooking (old habits die hard), I didn't really profit from its designed usage: the stove was used to store the saucers the dishwasher was used to dry the dishes (after I hand-washed them), and the big counter becomes the place where I stacked magazines.

Maybe my experience explains a bit why the couple never thought about remodeling their kitchen the American way.

Posted on: Designing the New Apartment 2

You don't know how important the rice cooker is for Chinese people. If there's only one appliance I could choose to place in my kitchen, I would definitely opt for the rice cooker.

And the stove top, I don't see the use of more than two burners. I never use more than two at the same time. Do the Westerners use more than two at the same time?