User Comments - light487

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light487

Posted on: Good Morning!
May 17, 2008 at 10:25 PM

@nesevis: The difference is in the context. You will find, as you explore Chinese language more, that it is a very implied language. nǐ hǎo - literally means "you good". It's a bit like saying hello to someone with the phrase, "How you goin'?" In most cases you aren't really asking how the person is, just that it's casual way of saying hello. nǐ hǎo ma? is literally "you good?". The particle "ma" has made it into a question to invoke a response from the other person as to how they are. Another way of asking how someone is, which is similar but also is more direct would be "nǐ hǎo bù hǎo?" meaning, "you good not good?". With this question, the other person is forced to respond with a kind of true or false/yes or no/good or not good response. Also, for a pinyin IME, try the following link: http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?t=13005

Posted on: Chinese Universities
May 17, 2008 at 7:04 PM

Thanks for the information guolanusa. I appreciate the time you took to explain it.

Posted on: Chinese Universities
May 17, 2008 at 9:12 AM

As an example, I read in a book that an upper class person would not shake hands with a lower class citizen.. even in a setting where handshakes are normal. That would never happen in Australia unless the person was an exception to the rule.

Posted on: Chinese Universities
May 17, 2008 at 9:11 AM

Hrmm.. yeh but that's quite an overt example really.. Do you look down on the person who owns the 10 yuan dog? (I doubt you would.. it's a general question).. Does the 10,000 yuan dog owner look down on the 140 yuan dog owner?.. Could/would the 10,000 yuan dog owner associate with the 10 yuan dog owner in social context? In Australia, there is of course some upper class and everything-below-upper-class distinctions/separation.. but everyone else is quite happy to mix socially both in terms of work-mates and real friendships. The almighty dollar is not the only thing that separates the classes of course, it is the most obvious one though. I was curious more on the "separation" of classes in China.

Posted on: Cell Phones
May 17, 2008 at 8:08 AM

This is another of the re-made lessons. The original lesson was #18.. such a long time ago and it really shows in this MP3. While the lesson is still very good and worthwhile listening to for some additional dialogue.. it's obvious that things are getting better at cPOD: http://s3.amazonaws.com/chinesepod/0023/mp3/chinesepod_A0023pb.mp3 (Right-Click and Save As...) Also found some related lessons around the place. Below: Asking for a phone number: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/asking-for-a-phone-number Here's another old lesson - Phone Calls: http://s3.amazonaws.com/chinesepod/0020/mp3/chinesepod_A0020pb.mp3 (Right-Click and Save As...) May be this one will be re-done soon to compliment this lesson.

Posted on: Nakedness and Thieves
May 17, 2008 at 7:19 AM

Hrmm.. I have noticed this "prudish" nature in Australia as well. Whenever I went to the public swimming pools I never had a problem with stripping naked in the shower rooms. Even to this day I don't have a problem with it. I remember a couple of years ago discussing this with work colleagues and they were shocked beyond belief about this. I wonder why this is.. I can understand not walking around naked.. but when you are in the shower area.. what's the problem??

Posted on: Chinese Universities
May 17, 2008 at 6:54 AM

How obvious is the class (and caste as well) system in China? I mean, obviously there are the people living on the poverty line and those who are wealth, then everyone else in between.. but is there really a big distinction between classes in China? Understandably the wealthy tend not to mix with the poor but that is common in every culture.. I mean.. is there more to it then that in China?

Posted on: Cell Phones
May 17, 2008 at 5:28 AM

Awesome (in fact, perfect) translation section! I love how Jenny says all the words slow the first time, then the second time through she groups the chunks together; then on the 3rd time through she says it at normal speech speed. Awesome! This is exactly what I have been asking for! Thanks guys! I really appreciate these lessons that are a small amount of nouns and more usable words. An almost noun-free lesson is much more preferable to me. Also... 1. 是　> is, are, am, yes, to be; 2. 是　> indeed, yes, right; to be; demonstrative pronoun, "this", "that" I only ever saw the meaning of this word as the first dictionary definition. This lesson has opened my eyes to the "this" and "that" meaning in such a simple and easy way. Grammar question: zhè shì shéi de shǒujī? The translating given is of course idiosyncratic but literally the translation would be "[This] [is] [who]['s] [hand][device]". Is it written this way because you are announcing/addressing the subject before the definition/clarification/question about the subject? Just like when you say, "nǐ shì jiào shénme míngzi?" (What is your name?) you are announcing the subject of the question first.

Posted on: The Doggy Bag
May 16, 2008 at 1:15 PM

If you go out for 2 minutes, does she act like you have been gone for 2 days like my dog does? :)

Posted on: Chinese Music Taste and Registering with the Police
May 16, 2008 at 10:33 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFm7TuaiVA8 Not sure how to embed this like JP did but it's a song I found a while back and I thought it was quite easy to follow a long with, especially with the Traditional characters that play along like Karaoke.