User Comments - pearltowerpete

Posted on: Opening a Factory

选址的时候，除了行业配套和优惠政策之外，应该考虑到哪些因素和条件呢？

Posted on: Two Poems about Music -- 弹琴 and 听筝

Hi svik

You're right-- in the old days, educated people were supposed to be good at 琴棋书画-- playing the qin, chess, calligraphy and painting.

Hi tommaz,

Thanks for the friendly comments. The lessons are recorded fairly well in advance so there are more Tang poems on the horizon. But I am exploring modern poetry as well.

Hi rash

Sorry for the inconvenience this causes you. I will speak with the rest of the CPod team to see how we can fix this.

Hi user11695

Comments like yours make my day. My whole goal in this series was to get people thinking and talking about poetry and characters. They're not as hard as they look, and they're more rewarding than most people imagine.

Posted on: Picking Up 拿

During the Mao-era simplification of characters, 拿 was written with the 手 on the right-hand side. A few (my girlfriend's mom, for example) people still write the character this way. That solves the problem of squishing.

Posted on: Picking Up 拿

Hi all,

Courtesy of Connie, here are today's sentences.

最常听见的是“拿一下”。 Zuì cháng tīngjiàn de shì “ná yīxià”.

我们经常说：“帮我拿一下。” 特别是女孩儿。

Wǒmen jīngcháng shuō：bāng wǒ ná yīxià.  Tèbié shi nǚháir.

我可以帮你拿一下吗？很绅士。

Wǒ kěyǐ bāng nǐ ná yīxià ma？hěn shēnshì.

帮我拿一下包。Bāng wǒ ná yīxià bāo.

我刚拿到一个offer.  Wǒ gāng nádào yī ge offer.

拿到奖金，拿到工资，拿到绿卡

nádào jiǎngjīn,  nádào gōngzī,  nádào lǜkǎ

我拿到了澳大利亚的绿卡。但是很快就要过期了。

Wǒ nádào le Àodàlìyà de lǜkǎ. Dànshì hěn kuài jiùyào guòqī le.

那你可以再申请，再拿到。太可惜了。

Nà nǐ kěyǐ zài shēnqǐng, zài nádào. Tài kěxī le.

我听说，你拿到过奖学金。不止一次。

Wǒ tīngshuō, nǐ nádào guo jiǎngxuéjīn.  Bùzhǐ yīcì.

你拿到过什么重要的东西？Nǐ nádào guo shénme zhòngyào de dōngxi?

我拿到了学位。Wǒ nádào le xuéwèi.

而且我没有拿到签证。Érqiě wǒ méiyǒu nádào qiānzhèng.

恭喜发财，红包拿来。Gōngxǐfācái, hóngbāo nálái.

拿来主义náláizhǔyì

把别人的东西拿来用。Bǎ biéren de dōngxi nálái yòng.

把你好的经验、你的作品拿来。Bǎ nǐ hǎo de jīngyàn, nǐ de zuòpǐn nálái.

这个菜做好了，拿去。Zhège cài zuò hǎo le, náqù.

你们拿去吃吧。Nǐmen náqù chī ba.

把酒拿来。Bǎ jiǔ nálái.

这些东西我不需要了，拿走！ Zhèxiē dōngxi wǒ bù xūyào le, názǒu！kuài názǒu!

吃好了，拿走吧。Chī hǎole, názǒu ba.

你口袋里是什么？赶快拿出来。Nǐ kǒudài lǐ shì shénme? Gǎnkuài ná chūlai.

原来藏起来的东西，让你拿出来。Yuánlái cáng qǐlai de dōngxi, ràng nǐ ná chūlai.

把书从书包里拿出来。Bǎ shū cóng shūbāo lǐ ná chūlai.

把钱从银行里拿出来。Bǎ qián cóng yínháng lǐ ná chūlai.

拿好náhǎo，保管好bǎoguǎn hǎo

钱拿好，别丢了。Qián náhǎo, bié diū le.

有的时候，比如你买了一个东西，卖的人会跟你说：“请拿好，慢走。”

Yǒude shíhou, bǐrú nǐ mǎi le yī ge dōngxi, mài de rén huì gēn nǐ shuō, qǐng náhǎo, mànzǒu.

东西拿好，别忘了。Dōngxi náhǎo, bié wàngle.

拿好自己的行李。Náhǎo zìjǐ de xíngli.

拿出来给我看看。Ná chūlai gěi wǒ kànkan.

你明天记得拿来。Nǐ míngtiān jìde nálái.

我们看好了，你就可以拿去。Wǒmen kàn hǎo le, nǐ jiù kěyǐ náqù.

或者我们很没有礼貌地说，拿走，拿走。这么无聊的东西。

Huòzhě wǒmen hěn méiyǒu lǐmào de shuō，názǒu，názǒu. Zhème wúliáo de dōngxi.

Posted on: How YOU doin?

Hi antony73

Yes, you can interpret 男生 that way. Another way to say "guy" is 家伙 or even 小伙子.

In my own experience, 家伙 is a little less formal, sort of self-deprecating in a fun way.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Halal

Hi sushan and bendidelaowai

I read an interesting article in Phoenix Weekly, a Chinese magazine, about a year and a half ago. It was about Yiwu, in Zhejiang. This city is called the Commodity Hub of China. If it's a made-in-China knick-knack, it probably passes through Yiwu.

A lot of Iraqi refugees have fled there. There are also a lot of Muslims from India and all around the Middle East. It has a huge Muslim community, and the one of the largest mosques in China.

A lot of unscrupulous business people found a market and started opening up "halal" restaurants. They were halal only in name, and broke all the dietary laws. Outraged citizens spoke up, and the situation has apparently approved. Maybe you've encountered something similiar, or maybe there are different schools of thought within Halal...?

Opening fake halal restaurants is really not kosher.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Halal

Hi dogangel

The 回族 (Hui minority -- huízú) are different from the 维吾尔族 (the Uyghurs-- wéiwú'ěrzú). Both are Muslim groups in China.

Hi tommy2tone

In Shanghai, I think饭店 and 餐厅 are about equally popular.

I have no idea what the best Halal restaurant in Shanghai would be. Best ask Mattt_C, product manager and foodie extraordinaire.

Hi bendidelaowai

I have not used Sougou pinyin in the past, but your endorsement has convinced me to download it. I will let you know the results after a week or two of comparison.

Posted on: Karaoke

Hi heather7

Good question. The implication of the word 小姐 varies depending on context. If you are just doing business, calling companies or whatever, it's fine to call someone 小姐-- 陈小姐，王小姐, whatever.

In Karaoke bars around the country, it definitely implies a "working girl." Karaoke is fun enough on its own. I've never understood why some people need to muck around with that kind of stuff.

Also, I've stayed in hotels that offer massages with 小姐服务. Need I say more?

I never made use of them, because my girlfriend is tops. In the words of the late, great Paul Newman, married for decades to the lovely Joanne Woodward: Why would I sneak out for a hamburger when I can have prime rib at home?

Posted on: Learning the Lei Feng Song

Hi stanimal (and everyone discussing provocative lessons)

We can do worse than follow the Wikipedia principle: Assume good faith. The overwhelming majority of CPod users are interested in learning, and in making the site as good as it can be.

If we were racists or dullards, we wouldn't be paying our hard-earned money or using precious time to learn such a challenging language.

So thank you all for your suggestions. Frankly, we have to reject at least as many as we implement. But your feedback and suggestions are invaluable as we try to provide fresh, useful lessons.

Posted on: Toilet Types

Hi carlosgg

When you add 的 afterwards, 蹲的 describes the toilet-- "a squat toilet."

的 does affect meaning. The phrase 我要蹲厕所 means, "I want to move my bowels." 我要蹲的厕所 means "I want a squat toilet."