User Comments - zhenlijiang

Posted on: Moving In Together

Mandarinkoala is not being a whining crybaby. I think he found issue with the way this topic was presented, specifically the tone of the lesson Intro (which has now been changed). I think CPod rewrote the Intro because they took his point well.

Posted on: 舍不得

Jiaojie 老师，Connie 老师，谢谢你们这么详细地解释‘舍不得’意思到底是什么。弄我更清楚了！
Your patient and thorough clarifications make this QW a complete lesson and are greatly appreciated.

Posted on: 舍不得

Ah OK. I'd missed your comment on the PS3 game, posted before my last one apparently.

So this may be a question on the English actually (sorry, have I been very slow to pick up on that?).
When we say we "can't live without ~" it's hyperbole, it's not literal, not like in the sense of oxygen or water.
And again, with Liliana's tortillas she was saying that if she were to leave Mexico, that is the thing she couldn't bear to live without (so she would find some way to have a supply wherever she went, I guess).

John & Co. will help us be clear on this in a few hours!

Posted on: 舍不得

Changye I think "not wanting to give up (= have to live without)" is what they're talking about here, with John's PS3 game and Liliana's tortillas.

John does say to Connie, after the wife and kids and 小狗 examples, "... let me give kind of a weird example, to see if this is OK. Recently I went to Beijing on a business trip but I had just gotten a new PS3 game. And it was really fun, I didn't want to leave the game. Could I say that?"  And Connie says 可以.

And I just looked in my C-J dictionary, which doesn't bring up any examples of that sort (the dictionary appears to concur with your understanding). So I'm guessing maybe we're seeing a recent expansion on the use of 舍不得, and that that may have quite a bit to do with more material things being available, sought and acquired than before?

Posted on: 舍不得

So are you saying--that maybe isn't a really apt situation for 舍不得?

"I can't bear to be without Mexican corn tortillas" I think is something we would say in English casually all the time, sure (maybe worded slightly differently), and in casual Japanese too.
"I would just die without my ~." "I can't believe I have to live without ~ for a whole month!", etc., hyperbole of this type we use all the time.
It's not written in the dialogue section, but the context they did give in the podcast was "if Liliana were to leave Mexico". Does that context make a difference to how you feel about this example?

What about John's game example then?

Posted on: 舍不得

Thanks for that Changye. （editing 有点儿麻烦啊！）

I think your comment to Pauley also helps point out that I was oversimplifying a bit, by saying that 我舍不得蒸饺 is "I can't go without steamed dumplings".

The point with 舍不得 in this sense is that you're either actually having to be without something you consider a vital need in your life (and feeling the pain), or at least speaking of the prospect of such a deprivation and how that would hurt, whereas we use "can't live/go without" in English a bit more inclusively, casually.
That's my understanding anyway, hope I'm not way off!

Posted on: 舍不得

Still on my same question (hmm threaded doesn't really work that well does it, for these discussions?), the example with John and lobster also has to do with food, but there it's saying he's stingy and as such, is not the kind to go for pricey lobster when he could order something else.

John 那么小气，肯定舍不得花钱吃大龙虾。

So there's the context 那么小气 so we wouldn't be confused as to the meaning. And then also 花钱吃, not just 吃, 大龙虾.
He 舍不得's 花钱吃大龙虾. This is clearly different from 舍不得大龙虾.
So without all the cues in the context, this sentence would be interpreted as follows, is this right?

*  John 舍不得吃大龙虾。
could mean he's stingy and won't eat lobster because of that--to clarify context should be provided,  OR
that he has the lobster before him but can't quite seem to dig in because once he does, it'll be gone--again, to clarify, context should be given

*  John 舍不得大龙虾。
he has to have his lobster, he can't go without it

And would Pauley have to say 我舍不得蒸饺 instead of 我舍不得吃蒸饺 to be accurate? Or would it be OK, if he gives the context?
I guess I want to be clear if the meaning always necessarily changes when you have the 吃 in there.

啊，肚子又饿了！

Posted on: 舍不得

I think you're right Orangina!

Posted on: 舍不得

Pauley's example above made me think (and hungry).
To me, 舍不得吃~ seems to say "I can't bring myself to eat" or "I almost don't want to eat" sth., due to possible reasons such as:

这个菜像艺术品一样，可舍不得吃掉！
This is like the chocolate example I guess. I'm at a nice restaurant and am served an aesthetically gorgeous dish, this stunning visual presentation. I'd ordered it and am eager to eat because I'm hungry, but also can't get over how beautiful the food looks. It seems a crime to shove my chopsticks into it.

Or (this is so childish, and bad manners actually) when you're eating something and saving your favorite part until the end, because once that's gone the rest is all anticlimactic. Like the obligatory (single!) 鹌鹑蛋 ānchúndàn *quail egg on a bowl of  什锦汤面 shíjǐn tāngmiàn *noodles in soup topped with various veggies, shrimp, squid etc., a staple in Japanese 中華料理店s.
So if someone sees and asks me if I don't want mine, would it work to say this?
不是不要的哦！现在还舍不得吃掉，留着最后吃。  or
不是不要的哦！其实到最后还舍不得吃呢。

... but I'm guessing what Pauley means is he "can't go without" his 蒸饺, is that right?
Does it also work to express that with the 吃? Or would we have to say 我舍不得蒸饺 to get that meaning?

Posted on: 舍不得

Like Changye said above, 舍不得 when saying you can't bear to be apart from loved ones has nothing to do with money. Also the example with the doggie that you can't bear to be apart from. Actually, looking over all the examples, none of the first five have anything to do with money. Then the plane/train one does. And then after that, out of the six remaining examples, the chocolate one, with that context, I don't think is about money or frugality either; she found it so pretty she couldn't bring herself to eat it.

But could exceptions have been applied to the two examples you brought up--? For the plane/train, esp if the context is China but even if not, I don't think 舍不得 could mean anything else. With the shoes, there is context; she says "I can still wear these". Hope I haven't muddied here ...