User Comments - miantiao
miantiao
Posted on: 户籍制度
February 1, 2009 at 6:09 PMgoulniky
mainland chinese children also learn bopomofo.they learn the pronunciation but not the symbols. pinyin are symbols representing phenomes.the one major difference in pronunciation between the two is 'y' , for eg; 用 yong in pinyin and iong in bopomofo, and 原 yuan in pinyin and uan in bopomofo. but this subtle difference is difficult to pick up unless you've lived and studied both in taiwan and the mainland.
mainlanders learning standard pronunciation (bopomofo) but using pinyin to symbolise phonetics do not face the difficulty that pinyin gives to english speaking(and other alphabetically based languages) mandarin learners. in my view bopomofo is the better learning system
i beg to differ, i don't think there is a difference between the 'i' sound for say, 'si' and 'shi' or for the others you mentioned except for ji qi xi, which bopomofo symbols differentiate from the former. might be that your ear is supertuned. however there are regional pronunciation differences mainly as a result of regional dialects, generally referred to as an accent. 'ri' in this part of china(sichuan) is pronounced with a thick layer of 'z'. 'hu' is pronounced 'fu'.
mandarin pronunciation is very well structured. much more so than english, which is a nightmare to study for many chinese because of the plethora of pronunciation inconsistencies
all english vowels have two phenomes, A has three. Y has three phenomes, and about 5 or 6 other consonants have 2 phenomes.
then there is the tricky part, compound letter phenomes. in mandarin they don't exist
a chinese character rarely has more than 1 phenome 行 being an example.
Posted on: Ordering Chinese Take-out
February 1, 2009 at 4:42 PMcalkins
打包，带走 v. take out or take away 老板，青椒肉丝炒面，打包，谢谢。
我不想煮饭，我们在外面吃好吗？to eat out.
叫外卖 to call for delivery(of food).
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 2: Pregnancy House Ar-rest
February 1, 2009 at 7:47 AMpete
哈哈哈 你怎么知道我是宇宙创造者？这是秘密啊！还有，我的‘条’字并没有你说的所谓noodly appendages，它们就是我的腿啊！
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 2: Pregnancy House Ar-rest
February 1, 2009 at 1:59 AMtvan
to expand upon barbadawan's translation.
ole chook; mother,old lady.
chook; darling,honey,babe etc.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 2: Pregnancy House Ar-rest
January 31, 2009 at 5:43 AMpete
yeah, like a headless chook. he's running around after her every whim.
i think the key word in the sentence is 居然。without it i would agree that he has been fooled or taken for a sucker.like 被骗了. 被耍的团团转
here 居然 implies that the speaker knows the subject is conscious of what he is doing. to go so far as to; unexpectedly(from the speaker's point of view); even to the point of
being a headless chook in order to please his girl, which the speaker dissaproves.
Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hunan
January 31, 2009 at 5:18 AMpete
yeah your spot on about that pete, china is a big place with probably thousands of local dialects and many different languages.
i guess it's the same in any language. we all like to shorten phrases for convenience.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 2: Pregnancy House Ar-rest
January 31, 2009 at 4:39 AMtvan here are some other translations that would work well.
your useless, even to the point of being played at every turn by a women
you really are pathetic, to go so far as to let a women play you at every turn
your pathetic, i didn't expect you to let a women play you at evey turn
regarding团团转meaning dizzy or confused, i doubt it. the second sentence means that the mother is anxiously worrying about the whereabouts of her son/daughter
Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hunan
January 31, 2009 at 4:03 AM我很少听见本地人说 稍微。经常要说，请稍等，请稍后再拨。
稍(微） a little, slightly
微 tiny, minute；profound, abstruse.
微观 micro 微观经济学 microeconomics
细微 minute
精微，微妙 subtle, delicate 微妙的关系。 这个事情很微妙
微型 minature, mini 昨天我邻居买了微型汽车，真可爱。
微波 microwave 把这些菜放在微波弄热
微笑 smile
微乎其微 hardly noticeable, next to nothing
微不足道 insignificant, of no consequence
谨小慎微 be overcautious 谨慎jin3shen4 cautious, prudent.
Posted on: 中国崛起
February 2, 2009 at 4:45 AMtgif
oz has no aircraft carrier not because of lack of skill or logistical sophistication. why buy and maintain such expensive military hardware when our friends are doing it for us.
pete
australian nationalism nearly bought us to civil war during the depression, and forced its way into mainstream politics in the mid to late 90's. we lock up refugees and illegal immigrants on pacific islands that take our bribes or succumb to economic threat, but only if we cant blow their boats up first.
so dont be so hard on yourself mate ; )
in general
i dont want to enter into the debate on chinese nationalism, suffice to say it stems from the huge chip chinese have on their shoulders concerning the 19th century. rather than looking inward for reasons why china rejected modernisation they have instead looked outward to blame others.the late qing were stubborn, corrupt, and suffered a complete lack of foresight.
the great game will continue, and nationalism is the tool with which modern empires use to motivate its people. we have yet to reach a point in human evolution where nationalism becomes obsolete. our basic intincts for competition, loyalty and fear still drive our decisions and our world views. we may sit and anguish over the starving millions, over human rights, over the unfair nature of life, but we are also hard wired to protect our own interests. maybe one day in the far distant future empathy and trust will become a dominant instinct in human beings, subduing competitive instincts and irrational fears and usher in a truly harmonious world, but not for now.