User Comments - zhenlijiang

Posted on: Eating Idioms, Part 1

Sorry I just have to ask this, since it came up in the lesson. How bad is the Stealth Groping problem in urban China, say in the subways of SH? I'm afraid Japanese are thought of as having invented this deplorable conduct (it's only one kind of 痴漢 chikan--coincidence, but as you can see from the char, not the same "chi"), crimes you could be punished for BTW. A raised-in-Japan Korean friend once wondered aloud why the problem was so serious and "normal" in Japan, she declared it doesn't happen in Korea, at least not at all on the same kind of scale. Not having ever lived over there I don't know where she got that from, but I didn't want to seem to challenge her at that point and so didn't ask. I know that in East Asia people like to despise Japanese men as the most 下流, most disgusting creatures in the human race (sorry fellow Japanese poddies but you do know how it is!), so it might seem easy to conclude that that is why SG is an unfortunate, shameful fact of life in commuter trains here. So how big of a problem is SG in Shanghai? Beijing? And is Seoul really free of this stuff?

Posted on: Tea Refill

Right, stone woman makes me think "unyielding", as in "giving nothing". In Japanese 石女 will be recognized as umazu-me, written also as 産まず女--an outdated, definitely no longer appropriate to use (dehumanizing even in the old days though), term for a woman who cannot have children.

*edit * I guess I'm really wondering esp. about the English definition nciku has there. My C-J dictionary only says of 石女 "a woman unable to bear children". I have no knowledge of the famous story, but the condition would have been referred to in it quite specifically I guess? The Contemporary Standard Chinese Dictionary definition on the same page does allow that the term can include women who have problems with the uterus. But still those are pretty specific. What most surprises me is that such specific medical / anatomical descriptions aside, neither the English nor the Chinese dictionary definition there say anything about 石女 being a general reference to an infertile woman (so my C-J dictionary would be getting it wrong then--which is certainly not inconceivable). Perhaps my familiarity with the Japanese term is interfering here.

(Apologies for going off-topic here!)

Posted on: Tea Refill

Tingyun, just curious. By "fairly certain every Chinese person knows of that condition", does your friend mean he's certain every Chinese person knows 石女 refers to an infertile woman, or that they actually know of that specific anatomical / physiological condition as described there on nciku? I wouldn't be surprised if it were only the former. Apologies if you've already clarified this point and I missed it.

Posted on: Inside the Baozi Business

Hi Bodawei, I have a feeling the comment by HongKongNik further up was in XiaoLiang's mind when he came to Pretzellogic's suggestion and responded to it. Pretzel perhaps didn't intend it that way, but his comment (+ your replies) here ends up being a response to Nik's.

Posted on: Inside the Baozi Business

I'd asked for native speaker interview lessons, but agree that BST is the perfect place to put the interviews, it allows you so much range and freedom. They're the perfect complement on CPod to the painstakingly produced, scripted dialogues acted by people who are aware they're speaking for learners, and the always considerate, very standard teachers' banter. And everyone seems to love them. Sure these interviews are harder to follow than the teachers, but nobody is complaining about accents or diction, with these. Looking forward to many more! These people on the street ones are so great (in a different way from CPod staff members, also so interesting and awesome).

It would also be so cool if you could get some smaller children to talk to you for our benefit. Not the kind who are ready to perform though, with all the "right things" to say to every question. It would be delightful to hear real, spontaneous kids' enthusiasm in Chinese.

Posted on: Inside the Baozi Business

Trendy Americans are so cute. And in Japan we call jiaozi 水餃子 sui-gyouza. Guotie are just so much more a part of life in Japan, both to eat out casually and as a 家常菜. I guess it's strange for Chinese people, when they find out it shows up on the dinner table here as a dish to 下饭 by. This Japanese-ism is one of the first cultural lessons we get when we begin learning Chinese (there's often a jiaozi-baoing-get-to-know-everyone party early in the term).

Posted on: What's in a name?

Oh pls don't chase her on my account! If you do have the time and can post her family naming tradition here though, it might be interesting for everyone. But you don't owe me.

Posted on: The Various Guises of "Until"

Paul which QWs did you use to find more useful than the recent ones? How are the ones now not teaching us common and very useful things we'd like to say? I'm not a linguistics major, just a student of Chinese trying to become able to express myself in it. I don't care if someone thinks I have some fetish, but I'm pretty sure that's not what this is.

Oh and these points they're covering have been sourced from questions users have actually asked on the site. Some have led to good discussions but maybe not conclusive answers, so it's great that they're making QWs out of those.

It's really hard for me to get what your grumbling is all about.

Posted on: What's in a name?

Oh duh just re-read uw.zhrui's comment above. So much for the beauty of three-char Chinese names.

Posted on: The Various Guises of "Until"

Hmm sounds like you're saying someone or other in the QW team is redundant. But all the other lessons are brought to us by two hosts, and I think it's really good to have this variation. Or a single host even might do just fine? Who knows, maybe! Might be an interesting experiment.

I do think those people saying that QW isn't so good any more these days should say which ones they thought were good, be much more specific as to how it's been on a downhill slide. You know, unless it's just some general nostalgia prompting such remarks. I don't agree, by the way. I think the team are covering very good questions recently.