User Comments - johnb
johnb
Posted on: Moving In Together
July 23, 2010 at 1:50 AMI think that it's just the way that men tend to talk. Not all, of course, but men (I think in most languages, not just Chinese) tend to speak less clearly than women (deeper voice, etc.).
Posted on: 汉语保卫战
July 22, 2010 at 1:29 PM嗯，我同意，日语还是更厉害的。不光是有那种用片假名写的外来词，但是还有像コンビニ类似不是日文但也不是英文的单词。。。有时候真的很难搞明白。
Posted on: Changing a Plane Ticket
July 22, 2010 at 8:26 AM"Don't let the local accent influence you to conform to Chinese influenced by the local dialect." But then again, make sure that you speak in a way that the people around you can actually understand. Admittedly standard Mandarin has more legs than any particular dialect, but since communicating with other people is the goal, and the people around you say 'zwee' and not 'zway,' then you should at least get used to hearing it, even if you continue to pronounce it the 'proper' way.
Posted on: Philosophy: a Useless Major?
July 9, 2010 at 11:39 PMLooks like: 知者不惑，仁者不憂，勇者不懼。
Posted on: Philosophy: a Useless Major?
July 9, 2010 at 12:42 AM天有不测风云，人有旦夕祸福。;)
Posted on: Philosophy: a Useless Major?
July 9, 2010 at 12:41 AMMaybe I didn't understand your question the first time. I thought you were asking "How do you say 'Confucius says' in Chinese?" (the classic English translation, "Confucius says, blah blah blah." If that's what you meant, then my answer is correct -- in the original texts, that bit is "子曰," which is just "孔子说" in modern Mandarin.
If that's not what you meant, then... what do you mean? :)
Posted on: Philosophy: a Useless Major?
July 8, 2010 at 1:25 PM在古代的原文當中，"Confucius says"就是：“子曰”
Posted on: Get in line!
November 27, 2008 at 12:49 AM@checkingoutchina,
No, I was just adapting "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" for my own nefarious purposes.
Posted on: Get in line!
November 26, 2008 at 11:31 AMgunnellr,
That's basically what I've done. Learned to adapt to "a metro with Chinese characteristics." I still do what I think is "right," but if you push I'll push too, and I'm probably a lot bigger than the person that pushed me :)
When in Rome, leverage your height and body weight and knock the crap out of Romans that try to push you out of line.
Posted on: A Magazine Subscription
July 24, 2010 at 12:07 AMI think you're on the right track, but I'm pretty sure 刊 itself is totally phonetic. The 说文解字 entry for it is: 剟也从刀干声, which is saying that it means 剟, and that the sound comes from 刀 and 干 mixed. These days that would make it dān, but I guess when 说文解字 was written the sounds lined up. 剟 means to carve, so I'm guessing it had something to do with woodblock printing.
That's my take on it.