188. 铺床 Making the Bed in Chinese

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15:52 Comments & Emails

Sandy Samy by Email

Well, that’s funny. Cuz i was thinking exactly the opposite right now. 

I just graduated 3 months ago. During uni i worked really hard, participated in many student activities, took many courses in marketing and acquired two of the hardest languages. 

After all this i still can’t find decent job while most of my friends and even the ones who barely studied in university already working. XD 

I always choose voluntary pain but i have to admit it is only getting harder … short sad story. I took all my choices with love and passion as my guide but sometimes the results seem unfair.

Hope things change, i will keep fighting till it does anyway cuz that’s what i do best. 😉 

And thanks for inspiring story! It helped ^^

23:16

Steve Muir by Community

Hello! This might be a very mundane, even a silly question! But here goes:

I’ve worked through Pronunciation and am embarking upon the main MBM course. I get the theory of making movies scenes and am excited about the process of absorbing and acquiring the language. But I’m hung up on writing. Should I write down characters from the start? It’s what I did from the start when learning Russian; should I do so with Chinese?

I know it’s a fairly small thing, but it’s become a bit of a block for me! Any advice would be gratefully received!

28:00

Marko on Make a Movie 路

I think the left side component should be a 口 and a 止 not a 足 Giant Human Feet。

30:06

Brian O’Connor on 寄 in Context

I was confused about the use of 上 and 给 in the sentence, 你不但可以在手机银行上给他们寄钱.

First, I thought maybe 上给 was a word meaning “give” But if so, why would 上 be a part of it? I thought maybe it was “up-give,” sort of like “upload.” However, I couldn’t find this defined as a separate word in Pleco (although Google translates it as simply, “give”).

Second, I wondered why wouldn’t the sentence mean the same thing without 上给? I couldn’t figure out which was the verb, 给 or 寄.

But then I had an aha moment and I wanted to check in with you to see if I’m right. Maybe 上 doesn’t go with 给, but instead, goes with 手机银行, so 手机银行上 might mean something like, “on mobile banking.”

Second, I realized that 给 doesn’t only mean the verb “give,” it can also mean the prepositions”for” or “to.” So 给他们寄钱 would mean “to them mail money.”

Am I on the right track or totally off base?

34:29

Allison Carrigan on 吐 in Context

I think this actually came from a different lesson, as I don’t see the sentence in this one, but I’m struggling with this sentence in my flashcards.

我吐了一个早上。

The translation was something like “I’ve been throwing up all morning.”

I want to translate it as I threw up one time this morning. Can you explain why it means all morning not once despite having
一个 in it？

36:30

Francislainy Campos on Vocab Unlocked from 否

When do we use 否 vs doubling up the verb with 不, such as 能否请你。。vs 能不能请你。。？Thanks.

38:07

Tina Clark on Vocab Unlocked from 觉: 觉得

Does 觉 imply only internal feelings, emotions, thoughts? Can it be used to mean feeling tactile sensation?
谢谢

40:07

Reno McK on Vocab Unlocked from 以: 可以 -以为 -以上 – 以下

Why does 为’s tone change from forth tone to second tone? Is this just ‘one of those things’ to compartmentalize or is there a grammar rule here somewhere?

41:59

Annette Bicknell on Vocab Unlocked from 传

For the older one’s among us learning:
你能帮我发个传真吗？Had to laugh at 传真 thinking of each individual character. Certainly a wonder after the age of dealing with Telex for transmitting business messages. It 真 “really”, “truly” was 传”transmitted”, “spread” and “passed on to” the recipient(s).

42:59

Brian O’Connor on 可能 in Context

How come all of a sudden there is an English word, “party” in this Chinese sentence, “明晚的party他可能会来”?
Is that more commonly used than the loaner word 派对 (Pàiduì)? (Which I got from Google)

45:18

Lindsay Harris on Simple Final I (YI) Intro: 一 yī & 你 nǐ

My partner (who speaks to our little one in Mandarin) asks my little one if she is hungry, but doesn’t add the “le”, how come? How do I know when to use it and when not to?