User Comments - rich

Posted on: Grammar Lesson

iena,  not sure where you've been in China, but I already lived there 5 years and heard 有意思 all the time, as well as overseas Chinese from various places, from Taiwan to Heilongjiang.  But Tianjin people (Tianjiners?), where I spent most of my time, like to say "benr ger" in their own dialect for 有意思. :P (and that is the only Tianjinhua I know...sadly)

Posted on: Hotels, Hostels and Restaurants

Thanks  Pete and Lujiaojie for your answers.  Funny how I have come to like 馆 as a suffix, where yeah, I know people in the south/Taiwan rarely use it.  I got blank stares from such friends also going to school in Scotland while I was there, as I always said 饭馆儿.  I still feel weird saying 饭店 for either restaurant or hotel for some reason.

Posted on: China Street Smart with John Chan

@Jenny,

A very big 恭喜恭喜 to you on your new show!  Is great to hear this, after spending the last two years just reading about doing business in China and China's economics/politics to get my masters, yet now to really see how things work in China first-hand, as I prepare to move back to Shanghai.  China sure is changing, and enjoy being part of that.

Rich

Posted on: Paris

Hi Carlos,

Yes, your example of 你是怎么做的 is good, as it indicates you are wondering how something WAS done and not the general question of how it should be done (你要怎么做？)

Other common examples:

Q: 你是怎么来的？ (How did you come?)

A: 我是坐船来的 (I came by boat.)

Q: 她是什么时候到的？ (When did she arrive?)

A: 她是昨天到的。 (She arrived yesterday.)

There is a QingWen done on this, so check it out for more info: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/the-是的-shide-pattern

Posted on: Tai Chi

But back to Baba's original question, why does the English translation have so much more?  Was the 汉语 originally meant to have more explanation?  Doesn't make sense to throw in more of an explanaation of what 太极 is in the English, when the purpose of these translations are to make sure we understand the Chinese...or am I wrong?

Posted on: The Jenny Zhu Show

Definitely great to hear about the Jenny Zhu Show coming soon... will be a listener.  It so much made me think back to the days of the Saturday Show, which I still have never found anything as entertaining and informative of life in China (well, Shanghai from Aric's viewpoint anyway), and while the Zhu show won't be the same, at least in the sense of the odd entertainment, will definitely be great to hear something not just about the language, but more on life/business in China.

Posted on: Hotels, Hostels and Restaurants

Great 请问 you guys.  And great to be back to listening more now that I finished my four months of being stuck in my dorm room writing my dissertation on the implications of the historical and recent Chinese language reform (文字改革). 

With that done, and heading back to China soon, I mainly took an interest in the different names for hotel and restaurant spoken in the north and the south.  Being that I lived in the north since 2003, but plan to move to Shanghai, I do hope to get my vocab straight! 

I only picked up the knowingly different 饭店(south) and 饭馆儿(north, which I can't help but say, so I really confuses Taiwanese, but anyone in the south too). 

I was wondering, are words using "馆" more popular in the north?  Or just the 饭馆 word?  I also have problems with 餐厅 because in Tianjin, from what I remember, ever school cafeteria had 餐厅 written on it, not 食堂 (althought I have learned that elsehwere).  Could that be a north/south difference, it being considered more classy in the south?  Or maybe not...

Any other north/south differences I should be aware of, hotels, restaurants, but even other daily words? 

-R

Posted on: Hotels, Hostels and Restaurants

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Posted on: What Would You Say You Do Here?

Note to self: don't go to a 蒙古医生, even if they are Chinese.... hmmm...

Posted on: Finally

I remember having a problem with "last" when first learning Chinese, as in which way to say "the last bus".  With this in English, you could have two meanings:

1) "When is the last bus (of the day)?"

2) "When did the last bus come?"

I usually want to know the latter, so I know how long to wait, yet I was tempted to say "最后的公共汽车是什么时候来的？”yet I learn fast that wasn't the way to say it.

Honestly, I still am not sure if I do it right, but I am guessing for #2, I should say “上一班车＂ right?  And for #1, "最后一班(公共汽)车什么时候来？＂

Looking for corrections here though if I'm wrong. 

(Write this assuming those you don't write characters know how to get programs that show the pinyin.  In a rush, so no pinyinization time)