User Comments - toianw

Posted on: Lots of Musical Instruments

Thanks xiao_ma1119,

It seems the lesson picture has been changed, so my question doesn't make sense anymore (or maybe I'm just going crazy) but thanks for 圆号 - good to know.

Posted on: Lots of Musical Instruments

The orchestra (管弦乐队 - guǎnxiányuèduì)

Posted on: Lots of Musical Instruments

每个人拿一个，练习一下。

It's probably a good thing the dialogue came to an end when it did!

I have a question about 大号。The lesson picture is not something I would call a tuba (and I'm pretty sure the sound in the dialogue didn't come from the instrument in the picture). The lesson picture seems to be a 法国号 (fǎguóhào). So is 大号 somewhat versatile/ambiguous in its meaning? Do Chinese people see the French horn as a type of 大号? Thanks.

Posted on: What does she look like?

Thanks for the clarification, John.

I've noticed any English question ending in "like?" baffles a lot of Chinese learners of English. It seems the Chinese is much clearer in making these distinctions.

Posted on: How to Protect the Environment

Remember 时 is second tone - not the same as 是 (4th tone). Another clue is that after the 时, there will usually be a short pause before the speaker continues with the next phrase.

Posted on: What does she look like?

This is an interesting question as it's difficult to judge the difference in feeling of some of these terms. Hopefully our teachers can clarify.

To my (non-native) ears anything involving 怎么样 sounds like it's asking for an opinion (i.e. is he/she good looking or not?) though may well be answered by giving a description. From John's comment above though, perhaps that's not always the case.

What about

他长得什么样？ or 他看起来什么样？

Do these work? If so, do they have a more neutral feeling? As in I just want to know what he looks like so I can recognise him at the airport.

Of course, there's more than one way to skin a rabbit. To be safe, I might be tempted to use something like:

我怎么会认出他？How will I be able to recognise him?

。。。给我描述一下他的外貌？ ... describe his appearance for me?

But it would be good to know the most idiomatic way to ask.

Posted on: Considering LASIK Eye Surgery

Hi shanghaichanges,

To answer your second question, here is the conversation around that point:

Jenny: 。。。在中国国内呢，好像这个手术的返工率比较高。返工率。

John: 返工率，that’s like “re-do work rate”?

Jenny: 嗯，对，就是一个工作没做好要返回去重新做。

John: It seems that we usually talk about a success rate. 可以说“成功率”吗？

Jenny: 可以，可以，你完全可以说一个手术的成功率高还是不高。但是呢也可以说”返工率”.

John: 那这个就是失败率，是吗？

Jenny: 啊，不太一样，因为失败就是彻底失败了，可能比如激光手术失败了，你就变成盲人了。但是返工率呢，就是说这个手术可能没有做得最完美。你的视力还不是很好，所以要再去做一下。

So, in summary:

成功率 (chénggōnglǜ) = Success rate

返工率 (fǎngōnglǜ) = failure rate [have to re-do operation rate] (in the sense that the operation was not a complete success and did not totally solve your eyesight problem. You’ll need to go back and have the operation again - if you dare).

失败率 (shībàilǜ) = failure rate (in the sense of a complete failure – your eyes may be messed up; you might even be blind).

Posted on: 把 Humbug

Yes, just a regular user (as regular as they come anyway!). Actually, I'm only just getting into the upper-intermediate lessons so please don't take anything I say as the voice of authority.

Posted on: 把 Humbug

Hi Xiaoliang,

As so often in Chinese, context is the key. There's nothing in the 把...+V成... sentence that inherently implies a mistake, though it's often used that way.

I find the best way to think about these sentences is to think of "成" as meaning "become" (which indeed it does...usually).

So, we have

我把6写成9了

Chinglish: I took 6 and wrote it to become 9.

English: I wrote the 6 as a 9

(this would be interpreted as you saying that you made a mistake by a Chinese person, as you wouldn't normally do it on purpose)

In the examples, there's also this sentence:

我故意把6写成了9。

Chinglish: I Intentionally took the 6 and wrote it to become a 9

English: I interntionally wrote the six as a nine.

So, 巫婆把王子变成了青蛙。becomes:

Chinglish: The witch took the prince and changed (him) to become a frog.

English: The witch turned the prince into a frog.

Basically, if the sentence is saying something that you wouldn't normally expect someone to do intentionally, then chances are it's implying a mistake.

Posted on: Second-hand Bicycle

ha ha - Now you mention it, I don't think the CCTV Spring Festival Gala goes back nearly that far. I think the first was in the early 80s, so just had another look. This was on a pre-recorded film called "春节晚会", perhaps a precursor to the modern-day version.

As for usage, 除了铃不响哪儿都响 seems to be quite commonly used as an adjective to describe an old bike - at least on the net.