User Comments - pearltowerpete
pearltowerpete
Posted on: Delegating Tasks
June 11, 2009 at 3:42 AMHi 8811777,
不是啊！我们所有的演员都是中国人。就说明中华地区的口音和方言实在很多！
Posted on: 赤壁之战
June 11, 2009 at 2:36 AMHi heroius and yingshilangbu
英文好像没有“苦肉计”这类的说法。desperate measures 不太对，因为只要你快绝望了，没路可走，施行任何一种做法都可以叫做desperate measures. 我们还有一句话叫做 desperate times call for desperate measures.
而苦肉计最好理解为"to trick the enemy by appearing to harm oneself." 这就是周瑜打黄盖，一个愿打，一个愿挨的这种情况。
Posted on: Dubai
June 11, 2009 at 2:23 AMHi bendidelaowai
其实，据了解，迪拜经济并不是以石油为主的，远不如旅游和房地产。它外来人口特别多，大部分都是南亚来的，在迪拜打工。
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 11: Wang in the Doghouse
June 10, 2009 at 2:20 AMHi rj
Point taken. We're all making an effort to explain structures like this more clearly.
Posted on: Funny Business, Part Two
June 10, 2009 at 2:17 AMHi jjfoerch,
You are too kind. And you're right-- the mysterious caller is getting dangerously close to flagrant wrong-doing. But, maybe out of habit, he still uses the slightly less hostile or abrupt way of speaking.
It's funny to see this in real life, for example when people will push someone on a gurney down a hospital corridor while shouting 当心一点啊！ Because we wouldn't want to rile people up by simply saying "Look out" ;-)
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 11: Wang in the Doghouse
June 10, 2009 at 1:30 AMHi raygo,
Excellent observations. And I agree with your methods of study. This is a simple enough construction. It would be an excellent starting point for poddies who want to start making the jump from thought to Chinese without walking across the bridge of English (or some other language.)
In other words, practice this phrase and this structure until it seems natural, and you don't even think of the fact that it seems to mean "this person." It doesn't-- that's just your English brain talking.
Posted on: Funny Business, Part Two
June 10, 2009 at 1:17 AMHi jdough422, changye and jjfoerch
Great discussion. We can interpret the 少 in this as a way of making the phrase a bit less harsh. 一点 is often used in the same way. It would seem rude or too harsh to say 别，even though that is the real meaning. To put it a different way, the speaker wouldn't be satisfied if Zhao "reduced" his meddling-- what he actually wants is NO meddling. But people will rarely say things quite so directly.
Chinese is always about hedging your bets, allowing your counterpart a bit of wiggle room and a way to back down, while not exposing yourself too much. 中国人最怕说死-- speaking in absolutes, pinning things down.
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 11: Wang in the Doghouse
June 9, 2009 at 11:31 PMHi dangrayson,
Chinese often uses phrases like "这个地方“ or "这个人” to call attention to or reinforce the subject or object, or to soften the tone with a bit of wordiness.
You will hear people say things like "我去杭州那个地方,” which would literally mean "I'm going to that place, Hangzhou." But the 那个地方 here is really just softening the tone. Like some other languages, Chinese often sounds politer and less threatening when it is wordy. If you say 我去杭州 people understand but to a degree will feel that you are being abrupt.
The meaning of the sentence is unchanged without 这个人. That phrase just adds a bit of intensity. It definitely does not mean "these people of yours," or even the plural "you," which would require 这些.
Posted on: “80后”的消费心理
June 11, 2009 at 9:03 AM现代年轻人跟长辈有个很重要的区别-- 有了互联网就可以看到国外的新闻，受到国外的一些文化上的一些影响，比以前容易多了。想出国留学也比以前方便一些。
当然这不一定是什么好事情。不知道别人日子过得怎么样，就不会攀比甚至嫉妒。而现在有这个意识了，贫富差距显得特别明显，谁都感觉到。怪不得金正日坚决不让朝鲜人看韩剧呀！