User Comments - sushan

Posted on: Surfing Online

browsing in a shop is 随便 看 sui4bian4 kan4

If you are in Sichuan, qio yi ha.

Posted on: The 是...的 (Shì...de) Pattern

 Here is a list of Chinese nicknames for NBA players:

(Thought this was discussed here somewhere before, but couldn't find it.)

Posted on: A Month in Recovery and Being Civilized

My Vietnamese friend told me that you don't shower or brush your teeth for one month after; she'd been in Canada long enough to think that a bit strange.

Posted on: Microsoft

No fair picking on the lesson, it's not this lesson's fault that it is a very useful technology/business lesson as opposed to a farm lesson.

Not sure about listeners' urban/rural demographics, but would also like more farming lessons. I would definitely appreciate more vocab to ask basic questions about seeding/germination,fertilizing methods, irrigation, harvest, equipment, soil, animals, breeding/birthing seasons, animal feed, etc.

This kind of dialogue is also very useful for the farmer's market - a far, far better place to buy food in China than the big supermarket. Food cheaper, noticeably fresher, and how can you beat  swapping recipes with the vendor while they peel and slice the potatoes you bought for no extra charge?

A lesson on 'green food' labels or organic food would also be great.

Posted on: Colors, By Degrees

camo - mi2cai3 迷彩

Could someone please comment again on black eye? I've always heard 熊猫眼 xiong2mao1 yan3 - panda eye. But a baidu picture search seems to mean that is heavily made up eyes, a la Captain Jack Sparrow, or even too-tired eyes. Which is most common term for a) a black eye as a result of a blow or b) stayed up late eyes?

Posted on: Money Values and Beating the Summer Heat

If you don't like the chemical ice cream, a nice refreshing 绿豆沙 lǜdoùshā (sweet frozen bar or slush of green bean) is good.

Also, 饱冰 băobīng - shaved ice packed with your selections of fruit, jelly, jam, condensed milk, tapioca balls. There is an art to making them with the right ratio of bao to bing.

双皮奶 shuāngpínăi - milk pudding, made with eggs but not eggy enough to call a custard. Often served with fruit or red/green bean.

龟苓膏 guīlínggāo - a snack of herbal jelly made from Chinese medicinal plants designed to cool you down. The dessert places serve it doused with honey or fruit syrup since it's slightly bitter naturally, but lots of people spoon it up as is.

I've wanted to make real ice cream in China but have had a hard time finding an ice cream maker - even the simple Japanese ones with a crock that you freeze are not available in the local Japanese department stores. It still can be done but is a hassle - you make your ice cream base and then freeze it, but you have to stir it periodically to keep the ice crystals small during the freezing process.

Posted on: Finding a Taxi

Could preface the 'I want taxi' request with 麻烦你 Máfan nĭ, (trouble you...) but it really doesn't sound abrupt in Chinese.

Posted on: Finding a Taxi

打的  da3di1 is pretty common in Chengdu.

Sichuanese taxi terms:

'deng yi ha' - wait a moment

'man di dier' - slow down a bit

'qie ler?' - hey, where are you going?

'go gai' - cross the road

'yi ha hao duo?' - how much $$ total?

Posted on: Finding a Taxi

出租 chu1zu1 is a very helpful combination of characters to recognize in China - bikes, apartments, anything like this.

My  Beijing hostel front desk was going to charge me 150Y to call a taxi to the airport. The actual distance was only worth around 100Y, so there was a 50% surcharge for those who can't say the word 'airport' (机场 ji1chang3) in Chinese.

And the trike driver who originally brought me from the airport shuttle had the nerve to ask for a 小费 xiao3fei4, tip.

Posted on: Golf

Would do it even more simply. 成为球 - cheng2wei2 qiu2.

This lesson was great, so was Sound Check. Lots of contextual clues for new vocab, good explanations and repetitions of new material without making it monotonous. I passed Elementary some time ago but these lessons are well worth a listen; whoever is working on this level these days is doing some good work.