User Comments - miantiao
miantiao
Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 10: The Other Woman
April 25, 2009 at 8:23 PM@chris
it is conditional. a condition to come(about) followed by the verbso the object can be carried out.
subject (condition) 来verb object.
有时候我真想有人能来改正我(自己)贴的中文评论。
Posted on: Napkins
April 25, 2009 at 8:10 PM@waitingroom
don't know, looks ok, but a bit impoloite mate!
先生，麻烦你（再来）（外加）一条毛巾。
先生，请（再来）（外加）一条毛巾。
never studied 外加, and have always used 再来, however will start experimenting with this very useful word.
Posted on: Please Speak Chinese
April 25, 2009 at 7:57 PMsome vocab:
散文 san3wen2 short story
小说 xiao3shuo1 novel
杂文/文章 za2wen2/wen2zhang1 essay
论文 lun4wen2 thesis.
方言 fang1yan2 local dialect/language
新闻报道 xin1wen2 news bao4dao4 report/article
篇 pian1 measure word for written pieces; chapter; a section; a part; books;volumes.
Posted on: Please Speak Chinese
April 25, 2009 at 7:42 PM@tvan
there is a clear distinction between 四川话 and 普通话， for the very reason you have pointed out.
both terms refer to a spoken language.
my above post expands upon changye's explanation of the difference between written and spoken forms and terminology used to distinguish them.
in the end it doesn't matter whether you say
我中文只会一点点，我会一点点普通话。
incidentally,i have never heard anyone refer to their local dialect/language as 普通话。 taxi drivers in 广州 and 深圳 comment on my 普通话 and then ask if i can speak 广东话。上海 shopkeepers and taxi drivers have also commented on my 普通话 or 中文。whereas in 台湾 it is either 国语 or 中文。
there is a big difference between 普通话 and 国语, not so subtle as you suggest, and for obvious reasons.
it sounds somewhat strange that a person from 广东 would use普通话terminology to describe their own language. possibly, but i've never come across it before.
and if you speak to a chinese overseas, well, it will depend on from which side of the strait they come from.
中国话 is also a term i've heard before, in a popular nationalist song of recent times, to describe 普通话，and how they hope the world will all someday speak 中国话！I'm sure other poddies have heard this tune, very popular around a year or two ago leading up to the olympics.
Posted on: Please Speak Chinese
April 25, 2009 at 4:07 PMan extension to changye's excellent explanation.
语文,文学 literature. (high school students refer to chinese as a subject at school as 语文, rather than 普通话 or 文学 ）（我语文考不上了）.
语言 language. （外国语言，or simply 外语，foreign language)
英语 english language/spoken english. 英文 english literature. however, chinese will use them interchangeably. 我英语不太好，我英文不太好。
话 spoken word, 文 written word, 语 language.
Posted on: Asking the Bus Destination
April 25, 2009 at 3:30 PM@afghan2009
公（共汽）车gong1(gong4qi4)che1。 bus
（公）车站gong1che1zhan4。 bus station
车票 che1piao4. bus ticket
Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?
April 23, 2009 at 12:19 PM@bodawei
chanelle, tongue in cheek, mentioned why people like to grow blue grass. well you know草is grass, whereas one of the meanings for 操 cao1 is, to put it politely, do.
the chinese language has a great depth of vocab to 骂人 with.
i know that learning how to 骂人 is not exactly civilised and is probly the easiest vocab to grasp because it's vivid. nonetheless, i find it fascinating.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 5: Super Babies and Ultrasounds
April 23, 2009 at 10:38 AM曹操不用拿小乔打棒子，棒子够傻打自己！
Posted on: How Far Away are You From Understanding 离？
April 25, 2009 at 9:14 PM@jackfrombelgium
good question, both are ok, as far as i know.
here is another way using 距离(distance apart)
这里与公司距离很近.
月球与地球距离很远。
成都与上海距离3千公里左右。
a and b 距离+（modifier and, or, adjective) or ( specific distance).