User Comments - orangina
orangina
Posted on: Pin Number
August 2, 2009 at 3:18 AMstevegeerligs
I couldn't find 还是对 in this lesson. Although, interestingly I did find it in the c-pod glossery and it does seem to have a different meaning. In this lesson 还是 means “or". Sometimes I like a quite literal translation to explain these idiosyncracies. This way your sample sentance reads "cash still is card." The connotation being other than cash, there still is the option of using a card. 还是对 (as far as I could pick up) means there has been some previous context and the speaker is expressing their opinions of the situation. "I know there is a warning system, but I still is toward hurricanes am afraid." 我知道有行驚的信号， 还是对飓风害怕。
Then of course there is 还是不对 which just means "still is not correct."
Sorry if this was more harm than help! Sometimes the thinking process I use to make things make sense just confuses other people, But I ｌｅａｒｎｅｄ ａ ｌｏｔ ｆｒｏｍ ｗｏｒｋｉｎｇ ｉｔ ｏｕｔ！
Posted on: Measure Words for Food
August 2, 2009 at 2:41 AMchangye
You have a measure word dictionary? Just for measure words? Or is it a dictionary that has a good measure word section? What is this magical measure word dictionary?
Posted on: A Lot of Sisters
July 27, 2009 at 9:29 AM大妹 is oldest, 小妹 is youngest. 大妹 is the most senior of the younger sisters. I myself am a 中女儿... just kidding, made that last one up.
Posted on: A Lot of Sisters
July 27, 2009 at 7:01 AMbababardwan
It is my understanding that you aren't saying 1st, 2nd, 3rd but #1, #2, #3. So from the oldest sister's point of view the #2 older sister of the girl in this story would be the #1 younger sister.
第二姐 = 大妹 di4er4jie3 = da4mei4
第三姐 = 第二妹 di4san1jie3 = di4er4mei4
Someone correct me if I am wrong...
Posted on: Pinyin Sections 5-6
July 23, 2009 at 6:03 AMMy biggest pronunciation problem (that I am aware of) is er vs ri vs re. As the sylables get longer, they get easier... or at least there is more there for my native speaking friends to recognise. I am not confident the pinyin program will contrast them because they are all in different sections of the chart. Any tips?
Posted on: What Would You Say You Do Here?
July 23, 2009 at 5:33 AMYou can also "butcher" a language.... which I do on a regular basis. But I'm getting better!
Posted on: What does she usually do?
July 21, 2009 at 8:25 PMjanmusi-- 哈哈！ I also name characters...
常 is d'Artagnan, 显 is Froggy
Posted on: Bringing it All Back Home With 回去 and 回来
July 17, 2009 at 7:57 PM我希望不久去中国。 我不知道回美国来的时候。
wǒ xīwàng bùjiǔ qù zhōngguó。 wǒ bùzhīdào huí měiguó lái de shíhòu。
I hope to go to China soon. I don't know when I will return to the US.
How did I do?
Posted on: Finding an Apartment
July 16, 2009 at 4:47 AMstanimal had a great question:
i guess i was thinking about a generic formula to decide what part of speech a word is, based on the position of characters (e.g. if a first character is a verb - the whole word is, too). any rules of thumb...?
any thoughts?
Posted on: Measure Words for Food
August 3, 2009 at 1:38 AMSlice never bothered me before... but now that I think of it, it does sound like a verb. One would slice pizza into pieces. And "piece" by definition, is most definitely not a whole object. Not that I have any qualms about nouning a verb or verbing a noun. Nor would I have any trouble ordering a slice of pizza. hmmm.... would you order a 部分 of pizza in chinese? Interesting...