User Comments - tony.cpod
tony.cpod
Posted on: Riding the Elevator
December 30, 2007 at 4:04 AMTwo quick questions please: 1) 几楼 translates literally to "how many floors". Is it also possible to use 哪 somehow instead of 几 to mean "which" or is 哪 never used in this context in Chinese? 2) Doesn't 二十楼到了 literally mean the twentieth floor has arrived, rather than we have actually arrived at the twentieth floor? I know the meaning is that the people have arrived, but could you also say (我们)到了二十楼?
Posted on: Lost Keys
December 30, 2007 at 3:41 AMShouldn't the first line here be āiyā (哎呀) instead of āyā (啊呀)? That's definitely how I learned it in my Chinese classes, and they pronounced it "ai" not "a" in the dialogue. Unless both are acceptable?
Posted on: Buying Bread and Butter
December 29, 2007 at 6:48 AMI learned the word for 'salad' as 沙拉 (shālā). Are 沙拉 and 色拉 completely interchangeable? Or is it more of a regional difference?
Posted on: Can I smoke here?
December 27, 2007 at 5:07 AMQuick question. Just wondering if instead of the third line saying "哪里可以抽烟?" whether you could just say "哪里可以?". Assuming that the verb is inferred as a continuation of the previous question, would this be ok or would it sound odd?
Posted on: Requesting a Fork
December 25, 2007 at 11:50 PMI have a question concerning ‘dāo’, ‘chāzi’ and ‘sháozi’. Isn’t the general convention that single syllable nouns have a ‘zi’ appended to the end? Why do ‘fork’ and ‘spoon’ have the ‘zi’ appended to the end but ‘knife’ does not?
Posted on: Hotel Essentials
December 7, 2007 at 6:06 AMIt can come in really handy knowing a few characters in China. I was staying in the Sofitel hotel on Nanjing Road. The remote control for my TV didn't work. I left it on my bed along with a note saying '坏了' (huàile - broken), and it was replaced when room service made up my room. One thing that was really annoying was the fact that street signs do have English spelling, but no tones! So unless you know the tones you can't pronounce the street names with the correct tones.
Posted on: Sydney, Australia
December 1, 2007 at 12:18 PMSorry...my mistake. "tourist and education destination" should have read "immigration and education destination". Sydney's more popular with the tourists but the cost of housing is making it increasingly less popular for those wanting to stay longer term.
Posted on: Sydney, Australia
December 1, 2007 at 12:14 PMI don't know how maxiewawa could say that Sydney is laid back and boring. Quite the opposite, it's the most frantic fast-paced city in Australia! The traffic during peak hour is absolutely insane! Brisbane on the other hand is quite laid back and has a very casual approach to life. I'm from Melbourne...the most popular tourist and education destination in Australia :)
Posted on: Using a Credit Card
December 1, 2007 at 12:00 PMA question on how to say 'to sign'. What difference is there between: - 签字 (qiānzì), - 签订 (qiāndìng), and - 签名 (qiānmíng)? Are they completely interchangeable or do certain differences exist?
Posted on: Colored Balls
December 30, 2007 at 4:46 AMFantastic lesson - thanks! I have a question that has been bugging me about colours for a long time: You mentioned that you can say 浅 (qiǎn) for ‘light’ (eg light blue) and 深 (shēn) for ‘dark’ (eg dark blue). I also saw in the comments that you can say 暗 (àn) for dark as well. And I originally learned from a friend that ‘light blue’ was 淡蓝 (dàn lán). So my question is, are both 深 (shēn) and 暗 (àn) totally interchangeable for ‘dark’, and likewise are 浅 (qiǎn) and 淡 (dàn) totally interchangeable for ‘light’? Or is it more common to hear one way over another? Also, with the sentence “Wǒ yào dà de, lánsè de” does this give the impression that “lánsè de” was added as an afterthought? Is it possible to reword that sentence so that it only uses a single ‘de’? Or do you need a ‘de’ after each adjective in the sentence?