User Comments - orangina

Posted on: Thank You Note

I agree jimijames!

Muscle memory is a great thing. When your hand knows the character, your mouth is more likely to remember what to say, and your ear will better differentiate what you are hearing. At least this is my experience.

Posted on: City Stats

Oh, wow! I was totally off! Learn somethin' new everyday.

Posted on: City Stats

go_manly, I think it is what I know as a "college town" where the population is significantly larger during the school year. I grew up in a town with a university and the population during the summer was about 20,000, during the school year it was I think 30-40,000. Of course, these are not the same additional 10-20,000 people every year. Some people don't like it, but I liked the contrast it created. Come to think of it... I live in a university town now! But it is a city, so the population fluxuation isn't as noticeable.

Posted on: How have you been?

@bodawei

Now you know to say:  "哼！好吧，下一次你自己做！hēng! hǎoba, xiàyīcì nǐ zìjǐ zuò!  Well! Fine! Next time you cook for yourself!"

But don't worry, I believe you.

Posted on: How have you been?

miantiao, I loved your example! I think you were quoting my Nana (grandma) for your first conversation... Since this is a newbie lesson, I have taken the liberty of adding pinyin and English.

我wǒ煮zhǔ的de菜cài，怎么样zěn me yàng？How is my cooking?

还好hái hǎo吧ba！Alright.

哼hēng！好hǎo吧ba， 下一次xià yī cì你自己nǐ zì jǐ做zuò！Well! Fine! Next time you cook for yourself!

我wǒ煮zhǔ的de菜cài，怎么样zěn me yàng？How is my cooking?

还hái可以kě yǐ! It will do very nicely! (with warmth and a smile)

真zhēn的de！谢谢xiè xie你nǐ喽lou！Really! Thank you! 

Posted on: Picking Up a Friend at the Airport

Excellent discussion 谢谢 xièxiè vs 辛苦你了 xīnkǔle! Just what I was hoping for... I will now work 辛苦你了 into my vocabulary as an over apologizing American.

Posted on: It's cold, wear more clothes!

changye, I was unable to follow the link you gave me, but I did look 换 up on nciku and found some good examples. This was my favorite:

郭嫂对女儿每几个月就换男朋友带回家来的做法不感冒。 guōsǎo duì nǚér měi jǐ ge yuè juì huàn nánpéngyou dàihuí jiā lái de zuòfǎ bù gǎnmào.

Aunt Guo was not happy about her daughter's practice of bringing a new boyfriend home every few months.

And this one was interesting, because unless the person in question wears a wig, I doubt they exchanged their haircut. But since it was a new style, I can see that 换 would be appropriate. The hairstyle wasn't exchanged, but it wasn't transformed either.

Even though I was wide awake, I didn't recognize you with that haircut.

尽管我很清醒，但你换了头型，我还是没能认出你来。jǐnguǎn wǒ hěn qīngxǐng, dàn nǐ huànle tóuxíng, wǒ háishì méinéng rènchū nǐ lái.

Posted on: Picking Up a Friend at the Airport

Yes! I was gong to ask about 辛苦你了! Was 辛苦 what was said during the National Day parade? Would you use it in place of 谢谢 xièxiè when someone has done something for your benefit?

辛苦你们给我们这播客课了！xīnkǔ nǐmen gěi wǒmen zhè bōkè kè le.  You went to so much trouble to give us this podcast lesson!

Posted on: It's cold, wear more clothes!

Hi changye,

Yes, I understand. That what I meant by 换ing the leaves... It is a very silly image and clearly absurd, so that will help me remember it's usage. What really happens is that they 变 (biàn). But I wasn't sure if 换 (huàn) could only be used as exchange, so thanks for clearing that up. When we change clothes, we are really exchanging them for a new set. Could 换 be used in brianhz's example of changing a nut on a fan motor?

Posted on: It's cold, wear more clothes!

So, in this case the leaves 变 (biàn) color... they are not exchanged for new leaves of a different shade. It looks to me that 改 (gǎi) can also mean transform, but that 换 (huàn) cannot, it means change or exchange. It just seems like too much work to 换 all the green leaves for yellow and red ones, when you are just going to have to take those ones off soon anyway. 变 is much more effecient!

Is this correct? 对不对？

变: change, transform

改： change, transform, alter, correct an error

换： change, exchange

Now I hope I remember my 生词。