User Comments - simonpettersson
simonpettersson
Posted on: Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
January 25, 2010 at 8:48 AMJohn, I totally caught that Emperor's New Groove reference. I completely agree; it's the bee's knees. I should try to get it in Mandarin.
Posted on: Minor Changes, Virtual School, and a Lefty in the Studio
January 24, 2010 at 7:48 PMI read somewhere (read: I have no idea if this is true or not) that left-handed people have a significantly shorter life expectancy than right-handed people. Supposedly because of accidents.
Posted on: Computer Problems and Tech Support
January 15, 2010 at 11:02 AMI think it's usually said with a neutral tone, actually.
Posted on: Moving In Together
January 11, 2010 at 9:44 AMHehe, there are worse lessons, to be sure. There's even a lesson advocating having a giant monster invading Shanghai! :)
Posted on: Celebrating the New Year with Visitors
January 4, 2010 at 8:48 AM"Even the local Cantonese people said we'd better start learning Mandarin, rather than Cantonese."
That made me a sad panda.
Posted on: Celebrating the New Year with Visitors
January 3, 2010 at 1:38 PMbodawei: What's the fundamental difference?
Posted on: Addressing Family Members
January 2, 2010 at 9:47 AMThere's a Dear Amber on the subject of exceptions to the one-child policy, for anyone interested.
Posted on: The last news and features of 2009!
December 28, 2009 at 7:44 AMJwhitson: Me, personally, find it annoying when people switch languages in the middle of sentences. Thus, I pronounce Shanghai with an American accent if I'm speaking English, with a Swedish accent if I'm speaking Swedish, and with a Chinese accent (as well as I can manage) if I'm speaking Chinese. This makes it easier for people who do not speak the language to understand, and it sounds better, since I don't switch to a completely different sound system in the middle of a sentence.
A name is a noun, and Shanghai is not pronounced the same in English as in Chinese, just as "Roma" is called "Rome", "Bari" (attempting a phonetical spelling) is called "Paris", "Marcus Antonius" is called "Marc Anthony" and "普通话" is called "Mandarin Chinese".
Posted on: Christmas Dinner
December 25, 2009 at 9:58 PMIsaac Newton rocks.
Posted on: Introduction to Pinyin
January 26, 2010 at 7:44 AMAlso note the Dungan dialect of Mandarin, which is written with the Cyrillic alphabet and has been for a long time. It's interesting in that it completely refutes those who say that "Mandarin cannot be romanized". (Please note the differences between "should", "can" and "will".)