User Comments - rich
rich
Posted on: Repeat after Me
July 27, 2007 at 5:09 AMThanks Amber. Guess I forgot the 了as well. Ooooooh that waskily 了bit！
Posted on: Repeat after Me
July 26, 2007 at 5:17 PMTips on Buying and Selling No, not here to give the little "buy low, sell high" spell, but actually, that kind of fits into what I thought I'd share with you newbies that find it hard to remember which character 买 is buy and which one is 卖 sell (just because it was a radical in the character 读[dú to read] in my little character thing above) Just writing the "buy low, sell high" I realized that on the sell character it has something high on it (the 十) or could say it is taller/higher than the 买 character in a sense. But then there is also the tones of mǎi and mài, where actually 买's tone goes up at the end (3rd) and 卖's goes down (4th), so the tones are "buy high, sell low" :P But the way I learned it was that sellers are buyers too, right?, because they have to buy their merchandise. The character for 10, 十, also has the meaning of "complete" such as in 十分. Once a seller has completely 十 bought 买 his merchandise, he can 卖。Now the buyer, originally, has nothing, right? So he needs to buy things and so there is nothing on top of 买。He must go to the one who has 10 十 items in stock. As for remembering how to write the 买 part of both characters, the top is 乛zhé which means "bent". The bottom is 头tóu meaning "head". Originally these two radicals were 网 net and 贝 money, respectfully, having a net full of money to buy things, or "catching things with money." Now you could think that if you have a 乛bent 头head you are poor and need to buy things. That's the best method I can come up with to remember! And don't forget to not get 买 mixed up with 实 (shí true, real), which is a head 头 under a roof 宀(mián)！
Posted on: Repeat after Me
July 26, 2007 at 4:40 PMApparently I got my bold tags messed up in my characters this time, making their descriptions not so pretty. Saw no guesses, but still thought I'd encourage your character learning with the answers:
Characters for Staying, Going and Following:
1) 家: This is the place with a roof(宀mián) where you have domestic animals such as pigs(豕shǐ) = jiā HOME, HOUSE
2) 读: You might have your customers do this with the words(讠yán) on the brochure of the product you are trying to sell(卖mài) = dú READ
3) 跟: No matter whether he goes forward on foot(足zú) or stands still(艮gèn) you will do this = gēn FOLLOW, WITH
4) 遍: As the world becomes more and more "flat"(扁biǎn) and easier to go(辶chuò) places, the same people and things seem to be ... = biàn EVERYWHERE, UNIVERSAL
5) 起: To get yourself(己jǐ) going(走zǒu) you need to do this = qǐ RISE, START
All characters meanings are in this one sentence (hope it is correct, but if not, was my attempt):
“我读过了他多么奇妙,所以我愿意起来连离开我家都为了到遍地的地方跟从他。”
"I read that He is so wonderful, that I am willing to get up and even leave my home to follow Him to every land."
Posted on: Please Speak Chinese
July 26, 2007 at 3:52 PMKennyK, It even bugs me more when I walk up, all knowing what I want to order at McD's or KFC in Chinese, start rambling off my order as I've done many times perfectly even knowing how to say 巨无霸 for Big Mac and the such, but just as I do that, they appear to not be listening but finding the laminated menu that they can put in front of me which I clearly don't need. But then I've lost my thought and my order, and ended up pointing out my order because that is how they expect me to order, not even listening to my Chinese. *sigh* But then, after paying, they always ask me in Chinese 在这里吃还是带走? as if I was a native speaker, sometimes saying it too quick, catching me off guard... some things just don't make sense.
Posted on: Social Networking
July 26, 2007 at 3:39 PMGreat points and ideas LostInAsia. I 2nd that. I think I learn more from The Fix on how vocab words can be used different ways in the couple of sentences the Fix has me think about, rather than I do from the main podcast. I love it most when John, playing student as if he never seen the grammar before, says something like "Can I say..." and sometimes says it in a way that we would in English but not in Chinese, Jenny then pointing out they don't say it that way, but say it such-and-such way... that is when my ears really perk up. Thanks J & J if you guys can do this more!
Posted on: Repeat after Me
July 26, 2007 at 3:42 AMHere again to clog up this page with my lovely avatar...hehe. Another GUEST THAT CHARACTER! :) Staying, Going and Following - Guess the characters: (some come from the supplementary vocab) 1) ?: This is the place with a roof(mián) where you have domestic animals such as pigs(shǐ) 2) ?: You might have your customers do this with the words(yán) on the brochure of the product you are trying to sell(mài) 3) ?: No matter whether he goes forward on foot(zú) or stands still(gèn) you will do this 4) ?: As the world becomes more and more "flat"(biǎn) and easier to go(chuò) places, the same people and things seem to be ... 5) ?: To get yourself(jǐ) going(zǒu) you need to do this Hint (read only if you need help!): I tried putting all these characters in a sentence I think can use all of them in. It is a sentence that pretty much answers the question everyone askes me: Why China? I read that He is so wonderful, that I am willing to get up and even leave my home to follow Him to every land.
Posted on: Repeat after Me
July 26, 2007 at 3:25 AMah, so doesn't have the meaning of watching/reading/saying something complete again? I thought something like 这部电影，我们再看一遍，好吗？would sound weird with 回 or 次。
Posted on: Repeat after Me
July 26, 2007 at 3:20 AMErr,...post before last, meant to say "...be able to UNDERSTAND Chinese girls...". Don't want any 误会 or anything on my intended meaning, ha ha.
Posted on: Repeat after Me
July 26, 2007 at 3:18 AM再说一遍 Remember, 遍 here means "one time THROUGH" (actually has the meaning of EVERYTHING), so you are actually saying "please say that one more time through". Recently I had asked my teacher how many times she had taught a particular book (not really knowing how at the time, so I struggled to ask her) and she replied 我把这本书教过十遍。So Amber or whoever can answer, is the question I should have asked something like 你教过这本书几遍？ 我把这本书教过十遍。 Are both those sentences correct? And could/should 把 be used that way? Could be either or, right?
Posted on: Introducing Oneself to the Family
July 27, 2007 at 5:50 AMIt's a Hard-Knock Life for this Family of Characters (dang it! Now I got a song from "Annie" stuck in my head): 1) ?: For him to talk so big(dà) about himself makes the rest of the team feel treated unfairly(kuī). 2) ?: I feel in my heart(xīn) it's impossible for the grass(cǎo) to be this heavy(zhòng), I just don't... 3) ?: Taking a metal(jīn) tool and beat(shū) roots to pulled them out of the ground(pulled up roots: pull 而ér out of the ground and put it on its side) takes a lot of this. 4) ?: When the letter(jiǎn) is put in the fire(huǒ) it does this. 5) ?: Rice(mǐ) that is green(qǐng) is _______ for making spirits and alcohol. (I don' t know if this statement is true, just pretend it is... or just say "In China, rice is ...")