User Comments - tvan

Posted on: Jason and Sarah

RJ, lots of hot pot restaurants here in California, at least the bigger cities.  Given Midwest winters, though, it'd they'd probably taste better out there.

Posted on: A Thanksgiving Phone Call

@aylish, white gravy is made with a milk base, often with butter, cream.  I think that you guys probably would call it a roux or something along those lines.

Posted on: A Thanksgiving Phone Call

1. Roast turkey:  烤火鸡/ 烤火雞/ kǎohǒujī
2. Brown gravy:  肉汁/ròuzhī (I left off the "brown... sounds weird to my ear.)
3. Mashed potatoes:  土豆泥/tǔdòuní
4. Stuffing:  陷/Xiàn (Not positive; this is mostly used in the context of filling for dumplings, egg rolls, etc.)
5. Sweet potato and banana casserole with pecan topping:  红薯和香蕉砂锅/ 紅薯和香蕉砂鍋/ hóngshǔ hé xiāngjiāo shāguō  (Not sure about "Pecan topping or if I should add a 的 between 香蕉 and 砂锅)
6. Pumpkin mousse:  南瓜奶油冻/ 南瓜奶油凍/ nánguā nǎiyóudòng.  I'm not really sure about this.  For mousse, maybe 化液/huàyè?

Posted on: Picking things up: 拿、带、取

@babardwan, yep... er pas, merci, whatever.

Posted on: Picking things up: 拿、带、取

@Xiaohu, thank you for your words of encouragement.  I do write lots of e-mails in Chinese (around 20 per day, mostly business).  Also, I can get by in business without a translator most of the time.  Still, because I learned Chinese from scratch, my Chinese development generally stopped at the point that people understood me.  I bring up my shortcomings, not due to false modesty, but out of the fear that someone might use my Chinese as a model.

BTW:  我说中文带很重美国的口音。

Posted on: Picking things up: 拿、带、取

OK, one of my sentences should read "他带着一组学生去博物馆."  Also, I was told today that the first sentence would be fine if it shouldn't have 出去.  So I guess you can 带 people.

On accents, my only problem with @vitruvianman's comment is that it didn't go far enough.  The problem isn't Liliana; it's all the North American accents:  Clay (Old Mexico), Pete (Noveau Geek), Liliana (Really Southern), and Amber (American). 

Thank God I don't speak Mandarin with a Chinese accent.

@bababardwan, I can't believe you just said that Jenny is Korean?

Posted on: Picking things up: 拿、带、取

This always confuses me because in English it seems that "take" is used figuratively, so I often misuse 带. 例如：

I'm going to take my dog on a walk.
Incorrect:　我要出去带我的狗散步。
Correct:  我要出去遛狗。

Is the above correct?  (不过好像我可以带我的吉娃娃，但必须遛我的拉布拉多!) 

I used to follow the rule that 带 could only be used on inanimate objects, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  Again:

我要带我的妈妈去看医生。
他戴着一组学生去博物馆。

I know a Chinese speaker would have to problem discerning my meaning.  But is it good Chinese or my usual hack job?  Is there a rule of thumb when you can 带/取 a person?

Posted on: Using a Character Dictionary

@aylish, I haven't run across a good radical book, but it's a big world, so there's probably one out there that I haven't run into... maybe someone else can help out.

Online, Yellowbridge comes up first on a quick Google search of radicals.  It has a useful table of radicals that includes the original root character, the radical as written (i.e. as a radical), and the simplified version.  However, it's only a start as it is missing some variants (e.g. 两点水).

For purposes of using a dictionary, my two cents is that it's best to find one, stick to it, and memorize the radicals in that dictionary in the order presented.  That way, once you identify a radical, you can just skim along the right margin of the page, which usually includes the radical.  It saves lots of time going to the table in the front of the dictionary.  Also, different dictionaries do not always use the same radical set.

Posted on: Using a Character Dictionary

@orangina, 我自己比较喜欢印刷词典，可是你说的也有道理。说实在用 "English-Chinese" 词典我都是用电子的。可是 Chinese-English" 我宁愿用印刷的词典。

@zhenlijiang, 谢谢。我觉得 ”我是个慢性的人“ 是比较恰当的，不过我的中文完全靠不住的!

@xiaophil, "rhetorical question" 可以说 “反问句?"  我说不定！

Posted on: Using a Character Dictionary

"Copy and Paste" 中文叫做什么？　我觉得用网络的字典最方便，但如果你要懂文字，印刷的字典不是最好的吗？

可是找一个字的部首是很麻烦啊！