User Comments - light487
light487
Posted on: Measure Words for Counting People
August 18, 2008 at 9:34 PMHaha you're such a crack up Amber. :) You're not corrupting our sweet, innocent Connie, are you? :) lol
口 kǒu - could mean sort of dependants? But in a more communal way than the often used western way of using the word dependant. So could 口 kǒu be used to ask "how many people in your work unit?"
Posted on: The 是...的 (Shì...de) Pattern
August 18, 2008 at 9:23 PMCan you expand on:
你是什么时候开始不喜欢我的？
Nǐ shì shénme shíhou kāishǐ bù xǐhuan wǒ de?
我是昨天开始不喜欢你的。
Wǒ shì zuótiān kāishǐ bù xǐhuan nǐ de.
You skipped over this one a bit too quickly for me without explaining the intrinsic meaning.
Also.. 你是怎么美丽天天的？ "Why are you always so beautiful?" :) As a way of giving a compliment with a question.. :) Haha.. I am always looking for more pickup lines.. so may be we could do a Qing Wen on pickup lines and romantic stuff? :)
Posted on: Chinglish in Reverse and University Culture
August 18, 2008 at 8:51 PMI'll have to make a list but there's people I interact with on a daily basis and when I hear them speaking mandarin, and sometimes shanghainese, there are certain English words that they will use in place of the mandarin counterpart. The word "honey" tends to get used a lot.. I asked them once why they don't just use the mandarin word for honey and they said that it's just easier to say "honey".
This is a common thing in every language though. I worked with some greek people once and there wer certain words, usually words related to technology, that were simply easier to say in English. Like CD-Player, Car, TV.. much easier to say in English than in Greek. I'm sure JP could have a similar lesson on SpanishPOD.
Posted on: The More Than One Child Policy and Taking Trains
August 9, 2008 at 9:21 AMConnie seems to be uncharacteristically shy in this one. Really informative Dear Amber. Glad to hear you all having fun and enjoying yourselves at work still after all this time. :)
Posted on: High Maintenance Girls and the Elderly
August 7, 2008 at 9:45 AMHehe.. I couldn't resist coming back to this lesson as I have my eye on a girl from Shanghai at the moment. I don't think she would be high maintenance compared to the western girls here. :)
Posted on: Rock, Scissors, Cloth
August 7, 2008 at 9:40 AMWoo! My suggested idea has become an actual lesson! :)
I came up with the idea to suggest this lesson when I was sitting on a train in the suburbs of Sydney, and a young Chinese boy and his mother were playing this game on the train to pass the time. I heard the repetition, and thought that it would ideal for a lesson.
And Jenny.. you can come and wash my dishes any time you want! I have a stack of them today! :) haha..
Posted on: What's your type?
August 5, 2008 at 9:57 PMOops.
Yes I meant: I like small (petite) chinese ladies/women. :)
So 小女 little girl.. but 小的中国女人 is a small chinese woman. I was going to put the 'de' particle in there but I took it out after looking at the sentence again. However, I still had the characters in the wrong order.
I thought that you only used 'de' if the adjective had two syllables.. xiao3 is only one, so I took it out even though I thought that it needed it.
［小女］ - one object with no description.
[小] 的 ［女］ - one character describing a characteristic about the object.
Posted on: What's your type?
August 4, 2008 at 10:36 PM你喜欢小女中国人。 ：）
nǐ xǐhuan xiǎo nü zhōngguórén
Posted on: Weekend Plans
August 4, 2008 at 10:15 PM不知道
bùzhīdào
I love this chunk.. I will always remember it by the lesson about shapes where the dialogue is between a father and their child, and the child keeps saying bùzhīdào over and over because she or he doesn't know the name of the shapes. I will always remember it that way now.. so it is a very cute phrase for me.
你周末干吗？
nǐ zhōumò gàn ma?
I made this up and used it a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure how accurate it is but the girl behind the counter, who I like incidentally.. hehe, understood what I meant. She commented once that my Chinese is very good and of course I replied with 那里那里。。 哈哈！ It got the desired reaction.. :)
So would that actually be the best way to ask if someone is working on the weekend?
Posted on: The 是...的 (Shì...de) Pattern
August 18, 2008 at 10:55 PMYeh I came up with it and try to get some feedback on if it is right or wrong.. and if wrong what would be a good way to say that, that isn't too forward and is a little playful.. I don't want to embaress her.. that's why I thought I could use this construction to ask it as a question rather than just say it..