User Comments - pulosm
pulosm
Posted on: Are you OK?
November 3, 2007 at 5:18 PMaert, I am not sure I 100% get the English phrase's meaning, but I gather it means something like "it's okay to be yourself" or "be yourself is alright." If that's the case, maybe using 行， as in, "我行， 你也行" would be better. Though, I am not sure that this captures the meaning you are going for. Maybe something like: 做自己没什么不好（there's nothing wrong with being yourself) 做自己行 (it's okay to be yourself) 做自己才行 (being yourself is the only way) Maybe if I understood the English, I'd be better off helping. I am a child of the 80s, so it doesn't resonate with me. :-(
Posted on: Buddhism and Taoism
November 3, 2007 at 4:54 PMThe Taliban destroys buddhas (the most famous being in Afghanistan) because they consider them graven images of a "false god" that contravene Islam.
Posted on: A Ghost Outside
November 3, 2007 at 2:35 AMscottyb, I actually don't think the difference between sh/zh/ch and x/j/q has anything at all to do with the consonents themselves. I think it has more to do with the vowels that follow. Indeed, none of them EVER have the same vowel following them. I.e., you have "cha" but never "qa". You do have "chi" and "qi", but that's the funkiness of the "i" in the "chi" that is making that something different, not the "ch" itself. Simply put, they are the same mouth placement for the most part, but with q/j/x you have to prepare the mouth to produce sounds with "i" colorations, basically either "i" itself or "u" (with too dots, which is really an "i" sound made with lips rounded).
Posted on: A Ghost Outside
November 3, 2007 at 2:27 AMSpeaking of Halloween, do they still have that little red dictionary that you can only find in China. It was the best thing out there when I studied in China (circa 2000). Once I looked up "Halloween" and the dictionary said "十一月三十一号”. I found that irresponsible. What if I didn't know any chinese and then went around asking people if they celebrated 十一月三十一号?!?!??!
Posted on: Are you OK?
November 3, 2007 at 2:22 AMLavinia, 头盔 is literally "head armor". If I were to point out a difference between the two words Amber gave, I would say that it is the word you would see on the box when you buy one, whereas 安全帽 (literally "safety hat") is what people are more likely to say. But they are interchangeable. Side note: there are two words for "bicycle", 自行车 zi4xing2che1 (more commonly used in Mainland China) 脚踏车 jiao3ta4che1 (more commonly used in Taiwan)
Posted on: 澳门赌博
November 3, 2007 at 2:07 AM赌博是罪孽。
Posted on: Vegetarian Eating
November 1, 2007 at 12:13 AMI love this one! I am vegetarian (not vegan), which was super easy in Taiwan, but not so much in mainland. My favorite mainland dish was egg/tomato dumplings. Delish! Oh, and that inverted swatiska is actually a character and is pronounced "wan4", and is a symbol for Buddhism (just for those who are curious). Another word that didn't come up, but is actually something you might come across is "chi1zhai1" （吃斋） which means to fast. In the Buddhist context, this means to not eat meat during certain times of year or never if you are hardcore. Sometimes you see "斋饭" for vegetarian food. In sum, 斋-vegetarian for religious reasons 素-vegetarian in the Western sense I will say that this dialogue isn't super realistic because no one will follow up with a question about eggs. The most likely question will be "do you eat fish?," because "fish" is not a 肉。 That is, you don't say "鱼肉". Anyway, thanks for the great lesson!
Posted on: Cold Will Kill You
October 30, 2007 at 6:14 PMJenny, how do you say "to round up" in Mandarin?
Posted on: New York City
October 29, 2007 at 11:51 PM(for Mandarin, that is, for Cantonese, I'd vote San Francisco)
Posted on: A Jizhou Child's Warning
November 3, 2007 at 9:37 PMActually, northern Chinese speakers pronounce "q" "j" and "x" with only a SLIGHT difference. Some true Beijingers make them so soft you can scarcely hear the difference. The child just sounds like an adult pretending to be a child. Not "weird" to me. As for the accent of the one character. It is not a Cantonese person speaking (necessarily). The accent is just a southerner speaking. Could be a Taiwanese person. Actually, listen to how Jenny says the "peng" of "pengyou" at 3:51. Or her "beng" at 6:50. That "ong-ish" sound is a bit of southern accent creeping in. :-) Also, John is really into this third person thing! As if we don't do that in English!??! "Johnny, tell mommy where you hid the remote control." Totally legitimate American sentence.