User Comments - zhenlijiang

Posted on: Christmas Presents

Changye, just to be clear, I understand that 买好 is what go_manly's dictionaries say. I said that sentence carried none of that sense, because that was the question he was asking--is there any sense of that here.

My dictionary 小学館中日辞典 also gives me 卖好 màihǎo, its definition seems subtlely different from nciku's; if I don't read carefully I might have concluded that 买好 and 卖好 were totally opposite in meaning. My dictionary says 卖好 is 親切を押し売りする。恩を売る which is something like "do someone a favor in order to make them indebted to you; do a favor in order to gain an advantage; force your 'kindness' upon someone".

nciku says:

http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E5%8D%96%E5%A5%BD/26327

Posted on: Christmas Presents

I think you could also (you do do this sometimes don't you?) address the question specifically to CPod teachers, if that is what you need.

Helpful peers may still want to try to weigh in esp if there hasn't been a reply for some hours, but will know at least that you were asking for a response from an "authority".

And while you wait for an authority to respond to this one, FWIW I agree with Baba, this is a V+好了 (be all done doing something), with no sense of 买好 as you bring up above.

Posted on: Chinese Seasonings

It's all here on this same page. Obviously this pattern is a tricky point for many learners who come across it, and the translation as is has contributed to further (and unnecessary) confusion.

Posted on: Chinese Seasonings

Bob I guess you've read all the questions that were asked and answered (by John way back in 2007, by Connie, even by myself last year) here about that particular expansion sentence--which is why you're asking isn't it?

The last word was Connie confirming July 21 2009 that the translation needs fixing and that it would be done when the new AMS is stable. It still hasn't! So is the new AMS stable yet? That translation is confusing for learners esp at the Ele level. Please change it ASAP!

Posted on: The Red Spectrum of Meaning

That part is getting cut off for me as it probably is for koon. I get the right edge of text in these display boxes cut off all the time now. A browser issue I think a user said it was? In any case, a problem that didn't use to exist prior to threaded comments / website changes.

Posted on: Visiting the Hospital with a Fever

You know who's a great actor (with a day job)? Listen to him in the Wrapping a Gift dialogue--that one has my vote for Best Actor from 2009.

* agree--all the actors are great! *

Posted on: Visiting a Friend's Room

Hi jheitz, when I first learned this I thought the same thing, esp as I was thinking with my Japanese mind, it seemed inappropriate to refer to ourselves as 位 wèi.

But unless I'm mistaken this 位, in the context of restaurants, is (also?) referring to 坐位（座位）zuòwèi, places (seats) at the tables. How many places? the 服务员 fúwùyuán is asking you. So there isn't any call for us to feel uppity or uncomfortable.

Hope to be swiftly corrected if this is wrong!

Posted on: 古怪食物

怎么会~ is "how could one ~", "how could ~ be". I think it can be either rhetorical, or an actual question.

Posted on: 古怪食物

Hi philipjd, the negative--the only one--there is 不敢. Though it's not a good idea to try to translate every component of the Chinese into an English counterpart to arrive at the whole, 怎么也 expresses "try as I might" "no matter how (I try)".

Posted on: The Magic Word 让 (Ràng)

Yeah context is king, and also we'll always have our individual preferences as to how to express ourselves in English. I think it's interesting that all these English alternatives can be expressed in Chinese with 让; interesting that 让 has that kind of range (probably the point of this whole QW).