User Comments - lester
lester
Posted on: Vegetarian Eating
June 8, 2007 at 4:58 PMItaliana, "And" is usually "he2". But the "You...you..." construction may work for what you are trying to say. It links two phrases as an "and". For example "wo you shi chisu de you bu chirou". (I hope someone who really knows "zhong wen" is listening; my chinese is "elementary" at best.)
Posted on: Colors Song
June 4, 2007 at 11:14 PMcavadorossi, mandomikey, Thankyou for the sanity check and corrections on the chords. I'll try playing it when I get home. I still remember the colors after a few of weeks, and Washington DC weather been very cooperative (蓝的天空，白的云, etc.)
Posted on: What stop is this?
May 30, 2007 at 11:17 AMJenny, I thought those mirrors were to see the person behind you waiting patiently to read the sign. (could you hurry up with that eyeliner lady).
Posted on: What stop is this?
May 27, 2007 at 2:18 AMalwingate, Yeh, I think Pinyin would be useful. I started learning Chinese by just listening. The course I used was only listening; no reading; no writing. Not even Pinyin. Then I went to China. I am so glad I had a contact in China that new how to read Chinese. Pinyin is present on some of the street signs, but that's about it. That's when I decided I had to learn to read and write chinese characters. It is humbling to me to have to have someone read the signs to me. I had already learned to read Pinyin prior to the trip. I started by finding a Pinyin chart. I actually found 4 and compared them to each other. I began looking up the words I knew. I had trouble finding the words in pinyin having only heard them. So, I'd look up the English version and most times find the Pinyin I was looking for. But, Pinyin just wasn't all that useful to me in China. When I started learning the characters to match my vocabulary. It was difficult, and time consuming. But, my vocabulary began to increase even more because there are so many "related" words. In short, I think "newbies" would benefit greatly from learning the characters. But I can understand if they balk at it. It takes time. And you can't learn 'em by listening on your drive to work (please don't try :).
Posted on: Wrong Change
May 20, 2007 at 1:02 AMIf she calculated wrong and I should get 35 in change, would I say... 不对, 你要找我35快. ...or... 你说的不对, etc. ?
Posted on: Cold Beer
May 16, 2007 at 10:21 PMdanshi qing, bu he pijiu he kai che 但事情，不喝啤酒和开车，谢谢。 Peugot and pu tao jiu (葡萄酒) might be also be a good learning device.
Posted on: Ordering Xiaolongbao
May 10, 2007 at 9:46 PMMan2toe, Your post are great practice reading, but some of the characters are "traditional". The online dictionary I use does not list them all. Can you recommend one that does?
Posted on: Ordering Xiaolongbao
May 10, 2007 at 9:31 PMJenny, 谢谢您。Especially for the 50 vs. 500 correction. In the dialog, I was wondering if there were a useful construction of the form... "something::container/place::has how many?" (小笼包::一龙::有一个?). I should have simply asked rather than attempting an example. So, is this a "construction"? If so, are there any other examples you could offer?
Posted on: Ordering Xiaolongbao
May 10, 2007 at 1:48 PM小笼包一笼有几个 Is there a measure word for 笼? Can one say... jiu dian Ha'erbin you jijia? (How many hotels are in Ha'erbin?) or... 蛋一两有几个? (dan4 yi1 liang you3 ji3 ge?) (How many eggs are in a half kilo?) (I'm only guessing 'ge' is the measure word for 'dan4')
Posted on: Introducing the Fix
June 19, 2007 at 11:07 AMThe jingle stinks. This new feature is great and already helpful to me.