User Comments - paulinurus

Posted on: Bringing it All Back Home With 回去 and 回来

Hi Changye,

Will the directional words below also follow the same structure as 回 using 来 or 去  depending on whether the direction is towards or away from the speaker?

Directional words : 近，到，出，过，上，下 

For example, can we say 上来 （speaker is upstairs)， or 上去 (speaker downstairs) ？

Posted on: Bringing it All Back Home With 回去 and 回来

Hi Sebire,

到 is a 'directional word' indicating direction of movement "to" a place.

回 is also a directional word - return (to a place)

When 来  or 去 is tagged on to 回 it makes the verb directional: 回来 return to a place coming towards the speaker, and 回去 return to a place away from the speaker.

When you add 到, another 'directional word' to 回来/去 in a sentence, it becomes superfluous, unless I suppose you're talking to a stranger and really want to emphasize where you're returning to. Otherwise,回英格兰 is sufficent to say 'return to England' :-)

Other common directional words:

进 jin4 - into

出 chu1 - out of

往 wang3 - towards

Note: when using 往 or 到, the place must immediately follow, whereas 进 and 回 the place can be omitted if quite obvious.

eg.

他跑到公园去了。Ta1 pao3 dao4 gong1yuan2 qu4 le. He ran to the park.

他走进来了。ta1 zou3 jin4 lai2 le. He walked in.

Posted on: Pinyin Section 4: R

@RJ, thanks for posting the clip. The father of pinyin perhaps also revealed the potion for health and longetivity... keeping busy and the brain cells young.  

@mystic.. hi, just wanted to say that a friend from China gave me a CD of pinyin taught to children there. The kids look at a picture first then relate the Chinese pronunciation to the English pinyin letter. For example, the teacher shows them a picture of a clothing and ask what is it... they say "yifu", then the teacher shows them the letter "Y".   

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 13: Wang Meets the Big Boss

老王回家对他太太说:

"老婆，我找到一份那么好的工作。这个公司，赚钱、亏钱不是最重要的。"

太太说："太棒了！你真我的男主人公！你不必担心啦，我付了好人寿保险的费。"

Posted on: Lessons and Comment Policy

Hi RJ,

My observation on the incident was not based on 'who' joined in the group's stoning of the individual but rather a staff person did. Even if the person was not Pete, I would have still made the same observation. It is such irony that just at a time when Cpod management is making changes in the  comments policy as Matt said "to reduce flame wars" that a staff person would have participated in one. 

As for the upcoming changes in the Comments Policy, after reflecting a bit more, I'm now in the OK camp for two reasons:

1. We already have two segregated playgrounds from the main board - Pete's translation board and Raygo's transcripts board and they're both thriving nicely. So what's a few more separate playgrounds such as Baba's Jolly Fellows and Poddie's Rants. Seems to me not only will the community environment continue but even thrive further in a completely unrestricted area to share photos, jokes, etc, including getting more Chinese words. 

"Let's go meet at our coffee shop (or bar) to chat and have fun after the main show !!" 

2. Being in the management field myself, I have to support another manager attempting to make changes for the sake of the organization. When a company thrives, employees' prospects improve, and more jobs are created. We have to give Matt a chance to implement his objective of "enhancing the learning value of the Lesson Comments sections".     

As for the PMPing posts, I don't know what you mean since I have not seen those.  

Posted on: Budget Meeting

哈哈，对我的办公室熟悉！我想在西方国家 "Chief Inspector" 是所谓的 "Chief Financial Officer".

Posted on: Language Exchange

@cassielin, 哈哈，"过气明星”是很有意思的习语 "guo4 qi4 ming2 xing1" is a very interesting expression. Easy to remember this phrase because it is like the past lesson 过期牛奶 expired milk, but since they are celebrities, they are higher up, so 气 (vapour) instead of  期 (time period).

@shenyajin, they are politely called "former celebrities", but in tabloid magazines they are commonly described like you said as "washed out" or "has been" celebrities.

Posted on: Lessons and Comment Policy

Hmm, I also think dogupatree's idea is very good. It can be very quickly implemented since the codings are done by individual posters. 

How about going one step further and have Cpod sort the thread daily? We'll then go to the color postings that we're interested in. Surely it is technically simple to sort the thread. Of course, besides using color font, we also would need to put a code to the post to enable Cpod to sort the thread.

For example:

Red font (code 1) - questions to Cpod

Purple (code 2) - ramble, jokes, photos etc

Green (code 3) - rants (where conceivably flaming sessions would ignite).

When I look back at the "flaming sessions", most were resolved by the poddies themselves. And those few that got too hot, just a simple reminder from Cpod staff ended the war, just like the (Horse Racing) one which carried threats of physical confrontation but came to a stop when John simply said "come'on guys". There was no need for authorative deletions in the past and I don't think either in the future. Moderation and deletions bring their own problems of unhappy campers, as those of us who have participated in moderated boards before have seen. The color coding will enable people to go to areas they're interested in, and to leave poddies to resolve by themselves differences in values, views, and opinions (we're all just as intelligent and reasonable people as Cpod staff right?). 

Posted on: Lessons and Comment Policy

It is ironic that during a time when Matt is establishing further policies to reign in poddies' comments that an employee would see fit to join in mocking a poddie in the Baby Photos discussion board, a week after the others have already quieten down.   

_____'s style of gloating would be appropriate from someone about to drop James Bond into a pit of acid.

If he spent as much time studying Chinese as he does cooking up grand schemes to make us change our comment policy, he probably wouldn't need to pay for our service anymore. Secure in his Fortress of Solitude, he could live out his days tenting his fingers over his chest and chortling at the foolishness of organized religion.

Ah, sweet victory.

I don't know about China, but in North America customers are regarded as the life blood of the organization. People working in service industries are restrained either by corporate policy or by just common knowledge to never argue with a customer, much less mock one in public, notwithstanding how much of a jerk the customer may be. All industries servicing customers in North America invariably follow the saying "The Customer is King". Personal policies and codes of conduct  regard insulting or mocking a customer, especially in public, as a very serious matter leading even to a justifiable cause for an immediate pink slip for repeated offenders.  

Posted on: Lessons and Comment Policy

Being a bit of a rebel myself, I understand the fear of rules, tighter regulations and issues with authority. It is my mission to at least try to help steer these LESSON COMMENTS in a direction that will encourage more participation and attract and even greater diversity of Poddies

Matt,

Seems to me to get more participation from lurking poddies they have to feel assured that when they post a language question, it will be addressed - if have not been by other poddies, then by staff. I share Mark's observation that there seems to be a pot-luck answering of questions by staff.

Is there a Cpod adminstrative policy to ensure responsiveness, consistency, and fairness by staff in answering questions raised by poddies?