User Comments - xemrac
xemrac
Posted on: Funny Business -- 搞笑， 好笑， 可笑
February 13, 2009 at 6:45 PMhi matt_c and other pīnyīn poddies
after perusing all the comments, wǒdepīnyīn tone escapades are complete.
matt_c, maybe you already installed it, but the biaoyin input method works really well. you can download it here.
i have a macbook 2.16 ghz intel duo, and unfortunately still running on 10.4.11 so can't use that particular biaoyin cin file. but, i got it working on openvanilla. so that's cool! i still love my QIM though...
lots of toggling!
thanks a1pi2 for pointing me to the web converter, but i think these other options will work.... now back to studying :)
Posted on: You First
February 11, 2009 at 1:40 PMhi matt_c,
well, i guess when you take any traditional food out of its regional context it becomes something different (availability of local ingredients, the influence of different cultures and tastes). i say this having grown up in 夏威夷xiaweiyi where people eat spam musubi on a regular basis. sometimes the lack of authenticity doesn't take away from the deliciousness...
Nevertheless I am happy to say I ate a lot of really yummy food as a kid, my favorite among them being the 餃子，饅頭，和拉麵 that my 奶奶 would make.
I think of 飯桶 as akin to 'a food disposal'. they used to call my dad that cause he could put down 8 bowls of rice at a time. ha!
To a fellow epicurean, here's a really interesting presentation from Jennifer 8 Lee, writer for the NYT who does research on diasporic Chinese food cultures...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6MhV5Rn63M
Now if someone can help me say all this in Chinese I will be a happy person.
e
Posted on: You First
February 11, 2009 at 4:35 AMmatt_c
you're an epicurean! so am i... 我是一个很爱吃的人。truthfully i'm a little confused about the lineage on my mom's side. 我的外婆是福建人，可是他在北京出生，然后在青岛长大。我的妈妈在四川出生的，一直到三岁住在上海，然后搬到台湾。我爸爸他们都是从东北来的，辽宁省，可是他年情的时候也搬到台湾去了。我受到最大的影响大概是从台湾的。so basically a mish mash.
Posted on: Funny Business -- 搞笑， 好笑， 可笑
February 11, 2009 at 4:20 AMHi Pete,
谢谢，你解释的很清楚。Hmm... seems like a bit of a conundrum.
Posted on: Funny Business -- 搞笑， 好笑， 可笑
February 11, 2009 at 2:11 AMdamn. is there a pinyinizer for macs? :[
and so this isn't off topic, 今天的请问很有用 jin1tian1 de qing2wen4 hen3 you3yong4!
在中国大陆，“好好笑” 听起来很奇怪吗？
zai4 zhong1guo2 da4lu4, "hao3hao3xiao4" ting1qilai hen3 qi3guai4 ma? (an aside: is 大陆 PC terminology?)
it's my favorite phrase... 好好笑，好好吃，好好玩，都好好的，好好睡觉，好好休息一下，好好学习，等等。哈哈。i'll take this as a cue to expand my vocab。
－ 明薇
Posted on: Health Check
February 10, 2009 at 2:07 PMthanks pete and miantiao!
dunderklumpen,
i think i'll defer to an expert on this question, but i believe bian4 is more limited in its use and has a different connotation. bian4 indicates times (repeated, or from beginning-to-end).
i.e.,
第一次 / the first time
第一遍 / the first time around
also, you can't use bian4 with 下, 上, 每, etc. to the same effect. though it works with 几遍. now i'm confused!
Posted on: You First
February 10, 2009 at 1:44 PMhi matt_c,
i'm an abc and growing up we had to do this whole "ni3xian1chi1" thing, but i always felt like there was an "understood" order in which people were supposed to give in (after a bit of arguing) and start eating "hao hao hao." the children would eat first, then the old people, then the guests, and finally the hosts. (as mentioned in the lesson.) ha! it was also polite to serve your elders first as a way of showing respect.
when my cousins and i, all second generation, go out for dinner we're just like, "okay you guys, just start eating okay?!" and we all just chow down. very uncouth of us!
Posted on: Mexico City
February 10, 2009 at 3:42 AMdunderklumpen
谢谢你的欢迎 / 謝謝你的歡迎！
double the fun, i guess.
now trying to read through the posts i guess my comprehension of 简体字 / 簡體字 isn't as good as i thought it was. i better step up the ante.
e
Posted on: Health Check
February 10, 2009 at 3:11 AMHi missworldtraveler
In that sentence, I think ci(4) 次 simply means "time," and I think it does indicate a measure of time.
Literally translated, that sentence goes something like: “This time, taking the test was on the difficult side...”
Here are some examples, it correlates pretty well with English, I think:
This time / zhei4ci4 / 這次 / 这次
Last time / shang4ci4 / 上次
This one time... / you3 yi1ci4 / 有一次
That time / na4ci4 / 那次
Three times / san1ci4 / 三次
The second time / di2 er4ci4 / 第二次
Hope that helps and hope I'm not totally off the mark! I'm sure someone will correct me if so. :)
Posted on: Interesting or Boring?
February 15, 2009 at 11:20 PMQuestion:
I'm confused on the "bored", "boring" thing, because I think I've made that mistake many times.
For example, are my translations for the following sentences correct?
他很無聊 / 他很无聊 / tā hěn wúliáo / he's boring or he's bored, depending on the context
他這個人真的很無聊 / 他这个人真的很无聊 / tā zhèigerén zhēnde hěn wúliáo / that guy is really very boring
他自己覺得很無聊 / 他自己觉得很无聊 / tā zìji juéde hěn wúliáo / he finds himself very bored
How would you say, "he thinks he's a boring person"?