User Comments - sushan

Posted on: Post-Holiday Preview

dianping.com is fantastic I use it all the time. Looking forward to the lesson.

Posted on: I'm pregnant!

Maybe it's a prequel to this lesson. Prequel = 前传, 前篇?

Posted on: Pearl Tea

I will give this a shot....you don't need please or I want or the 'de' though it sounds  a bit rude translated back to English. If you need to add descriptions it's easier to separate the adj at the end.

巧克力 奶茶、 大 杯子、 不要 (whatever topping is)

Drinks often come in 杯子 (cups) so you order a 小、 中、 or 大 杯子

For portions of food, you ask for

small order: 小份

medium order: 中份

large order: 大份

99% of the time I hear 'fer' instead of 'fen' for portion.

You can say 大份 炒饭, or something like 炒饭, 大份、 加 一点 香菜, 少一点油

Posted on: Reading Faces and Shanghai Architecture

@user20941 In the Architecture group I posted a link to a web video series that features interviews with Chinese architects, whose perspective on these issues I found very interesting.

Part 3 (Agriculture) starts with: "In the last 2000, 3000 years every, every square metre in China has been planned, many times." The same architect, in an earlier segment, laughed about how so many of his earlier works have already been demolished.

Posted on: Street Food Buffet

yeah, but that's a little too specific for all the zillion filled, stuffed,and wrapped things you might find along the street. For anything you can use 里面 是 什么 to ask what's inside and 叫 什么 for what is this called.

flaky, puff pastry with spicy (or sometimes sweet) fillings sound a lot like guo kui but these are more regional to Sichuan.

Posted on: Massage Therapy

Hah, the question is 'does that hurt'? I'm not sure how to translate your answer - 'hurts so good'?

Posted on: ID Check at the Internet Cafe

I got the check in Shanghai but never anywhere in Sichuan.

Posted on: Teaching English in China

Should have mentioned what I found valuable about TESOL training - specifically, how to conduct a class when you don't have a language in common with your students. I've never had the benefit of a co-teacher but have also never had to handle large classes of children. Good luck.

Posted on: Cosmetic Surgery and Mooncakes

Female attractiveness is highly valued and cultivated in China, but the results of the eyelid surgery can be horrendous - I worked at a university with mostly female students last term and a few of them had the telltale scar across their eyelids. Sometimes it was barely noticeable and sometimes it looked like it had been done with a hacksaw.

Posted on: Reading Faces and Shanghai Architecture

Loved the architecture segment. I really wonder if a distinct modern Chinese architecture will emerge. Many buildings here that date from the latter half of the last century are pretty soul-sucking, and much newer construction looks very Western - the gardens and grounds sometimes look Chinese to me but not the buildings themselves.

In the touristy areas sometimes more and sometimes less faithful replicas of ancient buildings are going up, but these bother me more and more - there's no patina of history on them, and they are being constructed at the same time other real historic streets are being bulldozed.