User Comments - light487
light487
Posted on: Heading Home
May 13, 2009 at 8:07 AMWhy is it: 我明天回国 wǒ míngtiān huíguó rather than 明天我回国 míngtiān wǒ huíguó?.. I always have issues with the construction of subject and time in a sentence.
Posted on: Pain and Suffering 伤心, 难受，郁闷 ,不爽，难过
May 9, 2009 at 10:12 PMHere's the PDF for this QingWen:
Posted on: Big Bed
May 9, 2009 at 12:50 AMYeh.. I'm curious as to why this one was singled out?
Posted on: Funny Business
May 8, 2009 at 8:57 AMI'm just going to try and ignore this lesson.. some of you know what my job is.. :)
Posted on: Excuses for Being Late
May 7, 2009 at 9:55 AMI've had the MDBG thing for a while.. it costs $49USD after.. but if I remember correctly, it doesn't stop working after the trial runs out.. just that you don't get any more updates, support and it runs slower. However, that may have changed since I got it..
Even though there is a Firefox plugin available that does a similar thing, called Chinese Pera-kun, it is of far less quality and has many errors in the translations. I remember the other day I had the FF plugin running instead of MDBG and translated 西路 as East Road.. I recognise those two characters anyway and know of course that it is actually West Road. There are other errors and inconsistencies in the dictionary for the FF plugin that makes it a pain to use. I've contacted the author of the FF plugin numerous times about these inconsistencies but nothing ever gets done to rectify them. On the other hand, every time I have asked for support on the MDBG product, I have received a reply and a solution in a timely fashion.
It's a shame that the MDBG tool is so expensive.. if it was $29USD it would be probably get a lot more use.
Posted on: Big Bed
May 7, 2009 at 9:34 AMThis is the sentence that holds the most value for me:
| 我们现在只有一间大床房。 | |
| wǒmen xiànzài zhǐ yǒu yī jiān dàchuángfáng. | |
| We only have a room with a big single bed. |
The reason is that it has a lot of "stuff" that I normally have trouble with when trying to form my own sentences. All the pieces themselves are fine and I understand them and the way they work in the sentence. What I have trouble with is the order of the words when I try to make my own sentences, and also I would have trouble with 一间大床房 simply because I would likely end up reversing the order and having a 的 in there. I also have trouble with where to put 现在 and 我们 (or other subjects) in the sentence.
Is there any other lessons that use this type of "only have" language or can someone provide further examples of it or explain the ordering rules etc?
On the topic of hostels/hotels:
I stayed in a decent hostel called "Shanghai City Central International Youth Hostel". Here is their website:
http://www.hostelshanghai.cn/ (opens in new window)
The rooms are clean and affordable with a few different options available. They also give a free breakfast every morning plus many other extras.
Posted on: Are You Happy, Content, or Delighted?
May 4, 2009 at 8:55 AMHere's the PDF:
Posted on: Awesome Promotion and Monks to Japan
May 3, 2009 at 8:13 AMIt's "Sim's Cozy Guest House" in Chengdu.. standard room rate for single, private room is 80rmb.. but if you stay for more than 3 nights you get one night off. I think it's 3 nights.. but I could be wrong.. I stayed 5 nights.. so it worked out to be 5 nights for the price of 4 basically.. so 64rmb.. sorry.. maths were a bit wrong.. but still a very good price :)
Posted on: Awesome Promotion and Monks to Japan
May 3, 2009 at 3:10 AMBig beds.. yeh.. hrmm.. and soft beds! :) I did get used to the beds in China after a little while though. When I stayed in Chengdu I had the best bed of all.. it was very large (by comparison) and while it was not soft by western standards, it was still quite comfortable.. I was so happy with it that I decided to take a picture of it! :) hehe
Awesome! :) Queen-sized bed, 54cm TV, DVD player, free Wi-Fi and all to myself for roughly 62RMB per night! :)
Posted on: Heading Home
May 15, 2009 at 11:00 PMThanks paulinurus for the explanation.. I guess I'll have to get out my grammar book again.. hehe.. It's not so much that I have trouble during the study.. but the usage is where I become unstuck.. as I found on my recent trip to China. It's one thing to know the language, it's another to use it.. :)