User Comments - zhanglihua
zhanglihua
Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hunan
June 28, 2008 at 8:54 PMMy favourite hot pot dish is 鸳鸯火锅 (yuān yāng hǔo gūo) "pair hotpot". It is both spicy and mild! This is a very enticing mix.
Another remedy for "that burning feeling": soy sauce. Don't swallow it though, it contains too much salt. Beer is not bad either. Raw eggs are efficient as well, but I would recommend them :-P.
I just love hot and spicy food, but there are many Chinese people who 讨厌 it. But as a foreigner, you will always be met with understanding smiles, even if you're crying hard because you can't bear 重辣的菜 .
Posted on: Characters in the Desert and Chinese Kitchens
June 28, 2008 at 7:55 PMThe granola recipe sounds delicious. But if you want to make it really Chinese, be sure to add sunflower or pumpkin seeds! ;-) Or dried jackfruit/durian! Makes it more wholesome as well.
Posted on: I don't want it!
June 28, 2008 at 6:23 PMrash, you could just close the tab...
calju, how hilarious!
Posted on: Wake-up Call
June 28, 2008 at 2:48 PMchionzibide, 家 is a measure word for houses, especially businesses! It is like 个，but here it is the appropiate one.
Posted on: Wake-up Call
June 28, 2008 at 2:20 PMrjberki， 真奇怪！
This is completely unrelated, but has anyone ever told you, that you like a bit Dr House? (Perhaps the avatar is deceiving.) I saw one episode yesterday night online, with Chinese subtitles. I don't think the translation gets the humor across, but sometimes I am not sure whether I have understood it from the English... I think the last series i watched was 士兵突击。 This was so long ago... Anyway, it's late and I still have to write assessment papers of my students...sigh.
Posted on: Wake-up Call
June 28, 2008 at 2:07 PMIs it http://www.xuezhongwen.net/ ?
It is generally good, but sometimes the tones and transliterations are a bit weird.
billm, 我现在知道了。 is completely correct. (You've got it!) 现在我 知道了。 would also be correct, in this case you would be emphasizing the "now". Chinese sentences like this usually have the structure noun+time+verb.
Posted on: Wake-up Call
June 28, 2008 at 1:42 PMrjberki, which dictionary did you use? I will go to the school library to have a look at the dictonaries there.
I personally pronounce it zhi1dao4, the fourth tone is more prominent in 不知道, but less obvious in 知道了. The tone becomes rather subtle in rapid speech, but in general it is 第四声。If you want to speak real 普通话, you will have to listen to 中央电视台 TV presenters, their pronunciation is mostly impeccable. Native speakers, like me, can err or have a dialect that sometimes affects the tones.
There's also 制导 (zhi4dao3)，like in "steer" a missile or "guide" a course.
billm, there is no bad in translating 知道了 literally. The 了 indicates change, so you're "beginning to become aware". As for the characters, you're just (只) arriving (到) at the "path (道) of comprehension(知)"! ;-)
Posted on: Wake-up Call
June 29, 2008 at 10:54 AMSpots on! You can always think in terms of "Who" 我 + "gives support" 帮 + "to whom" 你 + "for/by doing what" 问 . The structure is always like this.
It is an offer, the appropiate question would be 你可以帮我问一下吗?
If you want another object (for example, whom to ask), you add it directly after the verb (in this case 问).