User Comments - mayor_bombolini
mayor_bombolini
Posted on: Dealing with Praise
June 14, 2008 at 11:52 PMjill348:
nali nali 哪里， 哪里。
Literally means where, where....as in "where's the Chinese expert. You can't be talking about me."
Ken Caroll has a funny joke on one of the lessons about "nali nali".
"nali nali" is something I've only seen in text books. I've never heard a Chinese person use it.
I think something like "bu yong shou le" 不用说了..."you don't need to say that" is probably more common.
Posted on: Fortunate Cookies
June 14, 2008 at 11:39 PMjamesthron,
You are probably right about the Chow Mein noodle problem being an East Coast thing. I know for Boston Chow Mein is no noodles. I was just at a fast food place in St. Louis...no noodles. I'm going to be in Houston Monday...I'll check it out.
Posted on: Fortunate Cookies
June 14, 2008 at 10:11 PMDon't get me started about the awful Chinese Food here in the US (but I eat it fast food Chinese at least once a week). Every restaurant has to have some Szechuan (that's the way it's spelled here....we mangle this pronunciation...seems Sichuan would be easier) dishes. Order Chow Mein….there are no noodles (want noodles, order low mein).
Lately I've been seeing fortune cookies that have a fortune and also have a section below with "Learn Chinese". The characters are traditional. The pronunciation is not putonghua...maybe it's Cantonese pronunciation. Then on the back side there are lucky numbers.
No mention of the "in bed" game --?
Most interesting fortune:
"You have many friends due to your flexible nature --"
Not sure what it meant.
Posted on: Welcome to ChinesePod
June 14, 2008 at 3:56 PMcleverrat try the Help Section, technical questions.
Posted on: Two words for '2'
June 14, 2008 at 1:36 AMwjefferys,
Follow the Chinese Measurement link on Wikipedia. Modern measure is 1/10th of a jin.
I learned this lesson when I ordered 8 liang of jiaozi (dumpling) thinking that liang was a measure word for jiaozi.
I ate all of them, but it took the better part of the afternoon.
Posted on: Sightseeing at Tiananmen
June 14, 2008 at 12:53 AMMao’s Museum?
I used to fly through Beijing quite a bit, so I’ve been to Tiananmen a number of times. Most of the times I’d be there on a weekend due to my work schedule. The second time I was there with a Chinese colleague. I asked him about one of the buildings in the middle of the square. He said, “oh that’s Mao’s Museum. You need to come on a weekday to visit it….but you must go if you can.”
Next time through Beijing I was traveling with my colleague Manuel from our TJ Mexico plant. He mentioned to me on the plane that he hadn’t heard or seen much about Chairman Mao on his trips to China. I replied, “don’t worry Manuel, we’re going to Mao’s Museum tomorrow.”
We got to Tiananmen and it was a pretty cold day, overcast and windy, but there was a line that stretched around the building. We toughed it out. As we entered I got a peak around the corner before Manuel and said, “well we haven’t heard or seen much about Mao until now…but your going to see all of him now.” We were in Mao’s Mausoleum. I recommend the trip.
Posted on: Barbecuing
May 31, 2008 at 10:48 AMwaiguoren,
Hi. I'm in the limbo between Elementary and Intermediate.
I like getting a softball Ellie with the same old words used in a new way. It's great when the topic is fresh and of interest.
A lot has been made of the gap between Elementary and Intermediate. While the Intermediate lessons are a big step up, I've found that the Intermediate dialogues are not overwhelming.
I've been trying to master the dialogue by reading it through a few times (my reading ability happens to be better than my listening...others may want to listen to the dialogue 4 or 5 times...or maybe study the vocab).
After I have a good sense of what the dialogue is all about, I will listen to the full lesson. Oftentimes, in the chit chat about the lesson, you really get to hear how Chinese is spoken.
I guess the recommendation is to somehow get a foothold on Intermediate material. Work to your strength, then start chipping away at it.
Posted on: Chinatomy: Medical Treatments and Marriage Registration
May 31, 2008 at 12:12 AMWolson,
Looks like Xi'an, dui ba.
Posted on: Chinatomy: Medical Treatments and Marriage Registration
May 31, 2008 at 12:11 AMNot sure if there was any real health effect, but I really love Chinese foot masssage. Great in the winter...happy feet.
Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hong Kong
June 15, 2008 at 12:25 AMThis lesson would be a good candidate for the Canto Pod show. Cantonese is spoken at most of the Dim Sum places I've been to in the US.