User Comments - maryellen1

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maryellen1

Posted on: Introducing One's Spouse
April 22, 2012, 05:20 PM

Sorry, Tingyun, I didn't mean to reply to myself. I always get that wrong.

Thanks for your reply.

Posted on: Introducing One's Spouse
April 22, 2012, 05:18 PM

Since I am far from perfect in my tones, I think that I will stick to adding ma for clarity. However, this throws another wrench into my listening skills. Thanks for your response.

Posted on: Introducing One's Spouse
April 21, 2012, 01:24 AM

Hello For the expansion sentence for shi4, Are you American?, I noticed that there is no "ma" at the end of the sentence. Is ma only used when speaking?

Also, when is zhang4fu used for husband?

Thanks.

Posted on: When are you Coming to Hong Kong?
January 02, 2012, 04:53 PM

My mom and I traveled to mainland China and Hong Kong this past September. In Hong Kong, we found that English was spoken well enough in both the tourist-type places and the small shops. I tried Mandarin with several people, all middle-age or older, but they all offered to speak English as they said they did not speak Mandarin well. (But then, neither do I yet so maybe they were just being polite.)

Posted on: Don't push me!
August 16, 2011, 07:29 PM

Thanks Connie, I didn't think about your second version but it makes sense. Is one any more polite than the others or are they not something that would be said by native speakers?

Posted on: Don't push me!
August 15, 2011, 11:30 PM

Could someone give me the construction for the supplementary vocab verb rang4 yi1xia4 in the sentence "Please, let us through." Would wo3men come before rang4 as in Qing3, wo3men rang4 yi1xia4? Or, does it come after the yi1xia4 as in Qing3, rang4 yi1xia4 wo3men? Or, is it something else? I don't imagine uisng it in any form really would work on the rush hour subway but it might be useful to know.

Thanks.

Posted on: Where's the soap?
June 13, 2011, 11:59 PM

Very interesting comments, I always learn so much more when I read all the way through.  But, I have a cultural question regarding the dialogue. Is it true that Chinese men are willing to not only suggest that directions should be asked for but also actually ask for the directions?  If this is true, it would be a "zhen" hugh departure from the behavior of their American male counterparts. Just curious!

Posted on: Long Time No See!
May 05, 2011, 07:53 PM

Thanks. I wouldn't want to offend the customs or immigration officers when I come for a visit!

Posted on: Long Time No See!
April 30, 2011, 04:05 PM

Good lesson. Is ni3 zen3me yang4 used with any particular age group? It seems very casual. Would you be able to say it to persons who are older than you or to professors, etc.? Appreciate the little mix of grammar into the lesson. Even though Chinesepod doesn't stress grammar, your stating of the grammar rules helps to reinforce what I think I hear in the tones. But then, I'm a "rules" kind of girl.

Thanks.

Posted on: Diet Coke
April 23, 2011, 01:28 AM

Thanks, Bodawei. I have copied the information into my vocabulary list. I will practice the characters in the writing tool so that I can learn to recognize them. Will asking for a decaffeinated Jain2yi ke3le4 get me strange looks (well anything that I ask for will probably get me strange looks given the short amount of time I have to get words and tones correct) but our diet cokes are called caffeine free here so I wonder if my meaning will be clear? I'm not a big soda drinker but do have some concerns about finding water readily available.

Interesting chocolate fact. I haven't been able to eat chocolate in the evening if I want to get to sleep. If there really is so little caffeine in chocolate, maybe I just can't sleep and I can start eating all the chocolate I want! Thanks again.