User Comments - podster
podster
Posted on: 好咸好香赔健康
May 25, 2016 at 4:20 AMGwilym, I would think that the abbreviation of 管理控制 (the word in the BaiDu link) would be 管控, and in fact this word is in my dictionary, whereas 控管 is not.
Posted on: Train Station Announcements
May 22, 2016 at 9:16 PMThe first one in in the term that means "at this station" . The second one is in the phrase that means "in the station." So "at this station there is no smoking in the station." (implying that you may go outside to smoke.) I believe that your proposed alternative is also correct and has the same meaning ( I hope Constance or someone from the team will correct me if I am wrong) but as the introduction to the lesson says: "...announcements usually contain quite formal or specialized language that you're unlikely to hear it in day to day speech. " By the way, I had to learn a new English word in the lesson description: Per Wikipedia --The term 'tannoy' is often used generically in colloquial English throughout the British Commonwealth to mean any public-address system or even as a verb - to "tannoy", particularly those used for announcements in public places;although the word is a registered trademark, it has become a genericised trademark. I am getting two languages for the price of one! Thanks, CPod.
Posted on: Train Station Announcements
May 21, 2016 at 9:11 PMhilbert2547, zhàn ( 站 ) means station, but you have to read in with the character that follows it to get the meaning of "inside the station" .
车站 (train) station : zhàn.
本车站 this station : běn chēzhàn.
站内 in / inside / within the station: zhàn nèi.
At THIS STATIONsmoking is prohibited INSIDE THE STATION. In Chinese the location precedes the verb phrase, but as you can see the English translation has the location at the end. You can refer to this week's Qing Wen on word order in Chinese. https://chinesepod.com/lessons/play-this-game-to-learn-chinese-word-order
Posted on: How Far From Here to There?
May 19, 2016 at 2:07 AMI learned something new today. Thanks for that. Previously on ChinesePod I learned another measure word for meals, as in 一顿饭。Is 顿 interchangeable with 道 in this usage?
There are other nouns that seem to take multiple measure words, such as the words for dog or ship. I believe that the measure words in these cases refines the meaning slightly, but I'm not sure about this. Might be a good topic for a Qing Wen, if you haven't covered this already.
Posted on: 外交辞令 2/4 (Diplomat Series)
May 17, 2016 at 3:15 PM我也觉得很有用。 让我们提高讲演的能力。
Posted on: 习马会 Xi-Ma Meeting
May 1, 2016 at 8:46 PM领导人 lǐngdǎorén leader
两岸 liǎng'àn bilateral / Taiwan and mainland
对岸 duì'àn opposite bank (of a body of water), cross-straits
愿望 yuànwàng desire / wish
展望 zhǎnwàng outlook / prospect / to look ahead / to look forward to
回顾历史 huígùlìshǐ to look back at history
顺 shùn favorable
潮流 cháoliú tide / trend
所需 suǒxū necessary (for) / required
民间 mínjiān among the people / involving people rather than governments
效果 xiàoguǒ result / effect
不和谐 héxié inharmonious
唱反调 chàngfǎndiào to express a different view / to take a different position
表示反对 biǎoshì fǎnduì to express opposition
合作 hézuò to cooperate / to collaborate / to work together /
依托 yītuō to rely on / to depend on
务实 wùshí pragmatic / dealing with concrete issues
先进 xiānjìn advanced (technology) / to advance
提升 tíshēng to upgrade
人文 rénwén humanities / human affairs / culture
素质 sùzhì inner quality / basic essence
修养 xiūyǎng training / self-cultivation
主角 zhǔjué leading role
主政 zhǔ zhèng head the administration, lead a government
上台 shàngtái to rise to power (in politics) / to go on stage (in the theater)
Posted on: The UK is Too Far
April 27, 2016 at 5:12 AMNow I'm curious . . .in this lesson we learned that the UK is 英国 yīngguó, which actually sounds like "England" but in the supplementary vocab I see that the word for England is actually 英格兰 yīnggélán ，which helpfully sounds even more like "England." However, in the intro Gwilym says that this dialog is about going to England, even though the title and dialog translation show it as the UK. So, is Gwilym from the UK? And Welsh? He clearly knows that the UK is the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales) and Northern Ireland, so maybe he just got tripped up on the similar sounding words in Chinese. (Actually my popup Zhongwen dictionary shows that 英国 can EITHER mean the UK --联合王国--OR be an abbreviation for "England." How confusing is that?) I think many (most?) people outside the UK are confused about the differences, so thanks to Gwilym for the explainer at the end and the supplementary vocab. Finally, does anybody in the Chinese speaking world ever use the term 联合王国 (literal translation of UK)? It's in the dictionary, but I'm afraid if I use it people will think I'm talking about the United Arab Emirates or something.
Posted on: How Relaxing
April 26, 2016 at 11:26 AMAccording to the dictionary 干吗 is simply a variant of 干嘛.
Posted on: I'd Like an Americano Please
April 25, 2016 at 3:03 AMare you sure you are not hearing "打包“？
这里 喝 还是 打包 ?
zhèlǐ hē háishi dǎbāo
Also note the character for drink is a different writing and different tone, but same letters as 和 in pinyin.
喝 hē (drink)
Posted on: How Much is that Check Shirt?
May 25, 2016 at 3:57 PM哈哈， Gwilym,
7:55 ~ 7:59 : not "loser" but "green" 绿色 lǜsè
Chinese has a slang loan word now, 撸瑟, (lūsè) which actually does mean what it sounds like, "loser" though you probably won't find it in the dictionary.
I am one of those people Fiona is talking about that gets tripped up by this pesky dotted u vowel. Usually when I mean to say that I am going to "consider" something (kǎolǜ 考虑) I end up saying that I am going to "roast a deer" (kǎolù 烤鹿) . No wonder I get so many strange looks.