User Comments - rich

Posted on: Language Exchange

Great explanation Tal. And as I mentioned above, there is a Qing Wen that covers more of this:

WithstAnding 和，跟，and 与

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/withstanding-%E5%92%8C%EF%BC%8C%E8%B7%9F%EF%BC%8Cand-%E4%B8%8E

Posted on: Language Exchange

There are always exceptions, and also goes by what is commonly said.

I'll just let a Qing Wen do the talking, a very helpful lesson even to Intermediate poddies!:

WithstAnding 和，跟，and 与

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/withstanding-%E5%92%8C%EF%BC%8C%E8%B7%9F%EF%BC%8Cand-%E4%B8%8E

Posted on: Language Exchange

Has botfa said, it is kind of like having the "ing" in English. It doesn't have to mean "now" because I could say 我在休息的时候你可以来 (wǒ zài xiūxi de shíhou nǐ kěyǐ lái) means When I'm restING（在休息) you can come. Even if I were to say "I am studying now" I would say 我现在在学习, so it is fine to have two 在s in a row (the first one is part of the word "现在"). But of course if I said 我在学习 without implying any other time words it is taken to mean as now: I'm studying.

Posted on: Applying for a Work Visa

Remember also the 是……的 structure...it is just used to stress the question word in the sentence as the main focus.

Posted on: Applying for a Work Visa

You're welcome. It almost seems here that the missing noun after the 的 in your case is just 人..."You are a person from what place?" This "missing noun" is is almost like in English when we say "IT is a nice day today" or "IT is said that..." What is IT? haha

Posted on: Applying for a Work Visa

Very good question, and yes, a useful phrase. I deduce that from this phrase and other examples, that a noun has been left off after the 的 as often the case in Chinese, most likely here it is 地方 that is left out, "come from which place" "Where does it come from" instead of "Which place is it coming from"? Or if not place, who? This came from which person?

Examples from 有道 online dictionary:

他走进屋子，看见萝卜，很奇怪，说：“这是哪来的？”

And he walked into the house, and noticed some carrots which was very strange. He asked, "Where did these come from"?

有谁可以告诉我，那个吵死人的噪声是哪来的？

Can somebody please tell me where that awful noise is coming from?

而我却完全不知道它是从哪来的。

I have absolutely no idea where it came from.

为什么有这个方法，它是从哪来的？

Why do we have it and where did it come from?

但是现在希望我们明白,那是从哪来的，我们为什么要用简化形式。

But now, hopefully, we understand where that comes from, why it is that we use the shorthand notation

(haha)

Posted on: Braised Pork in Soy Sauce

放 has more of a meaning of "place into" or here "put together", especially in the dialog as "一起放进去". However, in that same sentence, we have "放两勺油". You could say 加 if there were other things already in the pot, but this was the first thing, so it sounds better to imply "putting it into the pot." So then later when said "放盐和老抽，再放一碗水" that is more likely you can use 加, but sounds like 放 is a word often used for cooking. :)

Posted on: Cell Phone Connectivity Issues

"Mobile phone" works too. I've been in China for most of my mobile-phone life (since 2003, only had one for emergencies in the States from 1999-2002, didn't even know what a text message was then) so I'm not sure if in the USA how common it is to say mobile, but cell phone is most common.

Posted on: Long Time No See!

Glad you enjoy it!

Posted on: The Tea Scam

LOL. I admit I have fallen for both the art scam (in 2002, Beijing) and the tea scam (in 2003, Shanghai), and now I know better for it. I actually am glad I experienced them, despite being ripped off, because now I know what people are talking about in both of these instances. My tea scam I don't think was too much, maybe a couple hundred RMB, but the worse was they came back and said one of my 100 RMB bills, which I had just gotten from Bank of China ATM that day, was counterfeit! There's no way it could have been, as that is the biggest denomination and I only get them from BoC, so they much have switched the one I paid with with a counterfeit one. Sure enough, I went to BoC and found it was fake....I lost that bill and the money at the tea place. I kind of wish I had just kept the fake bill, but BoC made me handed in and took all sorts of ID and questioning as if I was the criminal!