User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: Taipei
July 7, 2009 at 2:54 AMHi dedsall78
你这个问题问得好。 台湾人就是不说“地铁”的，他们说“捷运。” 台湾人也不说“站台”-- 他们说“月台。”
对了，因为你下个月才要到台湾，最好说 “下个月我要搬到台湾去..."
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 8: About to Give Birth
July 7, 2009 at 2:50 AMHi alexyzye
Lao Wang was in enough trouble before he fathered an illegitimate child.
Now he'll have to become a smuggler, just to make the hush money alimony payments.
Posted on: 小太监进宫
July 7, 2009 at 2:03 AMHi bababardwan,
Good questions. Actually, the 路上 here means something more like en route (to the palace). But you are right, later on in the dialogue, it's referring to his abstract journey through life, instead of a physical road.
You are right about 你快来。 This came from an edit to the script. I didn't edit the translation accordingly, but I will do so.
And re: your question about 跟 and 和, 跟 is a bit more oral and informal, but both are OK here. The meaning is the same.
Posted on: Traveling around China
July 7, 2009 at 1:29 AMHi ruyide,
It's my pleasure. And other poddies may have wondered the same thing.
Posted on: What Would You Like to Eat?
July 7, 2009 at 1:28 AMConstructions like 好吃 （hao3chi1 tasty) and 好听 （hao3ting1 pleasant-sounding） are easy to understand. “Good" plus "a verb" equals "lends itself to that verb." Tasty food is "good for eating" and so on.
Posted on: Saying Good-bye at a Tavern in Nanjing -- 金陵酒肆留别
July 6, 2009 at 8:14 AMHi Xiaoan,
Thank you very much for the kind words. And I'm interested to see that you chose a Li Shangyin poem, as he is my favorite Tang poet. For melancholy and resigned reflection, he hits all the right notes.
Posted on: Interesting or Boring?
July 6, 2009 at 5:31 AMHi woyaodalanqiu,
I just saw your comments. Thanks for stopping by.
The pop-ups are not my favorite thing to do. But people do find them useful, so we do them.
But the real reason that Qing Wen does not have PDFs or more legit-looking lesson transcripts is that our current publishing setup does not permit this. We are testing a new system now. I look forward to the day very soon when we can satisfy your request.
Posted on: Pregnancy Series 8: About to Give Birth
July 6, 2009 at 2:13 AMHi raygo,
还好吧...they might have said that it's a story that began and ended in bed...
Hi all
剖腹产 -- This is an interesting word. The Chinese is quite literal-- "delivery by means of cutting open the stomach." Note the knife radical 刂 in 剖 and the flesh radical 月 at the left of 腹.
The English word Caesarean section (shortened to C-section) comes from a legend that Julius Caesar was part god (Venus, to be exact) and too mighty to pass through a mortal woman. He could only be cut out-- much like Shakespeare's Macduff.
Posted on: Traveling around China
July 6, 2009 at 1:28 AMHi ruyide,
We continue to monitor the older lesson discussions.
Jiaojie and Shenyajin confirm that in this phrase, the 白勺的 is the correct one. It is technically called a "nominalizer." Basically, it allows you to omit a noun, such as 样子.This structure is very common in Mandarin.
The "de" here is not describing the way in which one is imagining, but rather the thing that one imagined.
Posted on: What Would You Like to Eat?
July 7, 2009 at 5:01 AMHi bababardwan
I love the French Concession, and lived there last year. Some of the architecture is wonderful and charming. But there's not much Frenchness left there. Actually, even back in the old days, there were many more Russians (many "White" exiles from the Soviet Union) than French.
But then you add in forty or so years of often-anti-foreign political turmoil and it's no wonder the Frenchness is almost non-existent.
Hi mikeinewshot
I chuckled to read your comment about overenthusiastic cleaning. Actually, you can thoroughly clean a house with nothing but vinegar and baking soda, but no one seems to.