Asia, China

Xiamen – 3. Day: Botanical Garden

For today, I had planned to pay the Botanical Garden a visit and then go on through the neighbouring mountains, maybe down to Nanputuo Temple. Well, it turned out that the Botanical Garden was less Botanical and less Garden after all, but more like park. I spend a good 4 hours there and didn’t see everything. But as I got up late and wanted to be back early to catch the flight, it made up my day.

It was worth it, definitely. It has an AAAA rating for some good reason. Continue reading Xiamen – 3. Day: Botanical Garden →

Asia, China

Xiamen – 2. Day: Gulangyu Island

Western Breadkfast Buffet

….hm, that’s something I haven’t enjoyed for quite some time. OK, the masochists amongst us could certainly still go with rice soup, fried noodles, dumplings and the like. But the enjoyers went for omelet, müsli, baked ham and beans, juices (unfortunately not fresh), fruits and the like. And the coffee was actually drinkable.
Tomorrow again!
Continue reading Xiamen – 2. Day: Gulangyu Island →

Asia, China

Xiamen – 1. Day: Promenades and Parks

Before we start with Xiamen, a nice small city at Chinas south-east coast, let’s revisit today’s China Daily, an 8-page-only edition due to Chinas national holiday week. Just because it’s fun to sit in a four-star western-style hotel in a by far not overcrowded good-looking hotel bar, with actually really good live music, be looked after by very attentive staff, enjoying cool Tsingtao, and reading:

    Sites overflowing with holiday visitors…”The torrent of people is 10 times what it normally is”….56,100 people visited the Forbidden City on Saturday, exceeding its maximum capacity by 12 per cent…huge cowds of tourists have also put the nations’s transport system to the test…the three subway stops near TianAnMen Square were closed…due to overcrowding.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, come to Xiamen! There is lots of empty space! You’re not alone, but you’ll find deserted areas if you have need for them! Continue reading Xiamen – 1. Day: Promenades and Parks →

Asia, China

Grammar

“Du” vs. “Dich”

A real life chat log of today:

[13:33] Birger: 今日暑天

[13:37] Friend: wowowow

[15:40] Friend: ich mag kochen 😀

[15:52] Friend: dich mag nicht chicken feet

[15:52] Friend: 😉

[15:59] Birger: 🙂

[16:01] Birger: Unfortunately, our Grammar is more complex…without good reason, as I apparently understood you well. But correct would be:

“Du magst Hühner-Füße nicht.” oder, besser, “Du magst keine Hühner-Füße.”

[16:02] Birger: Ill-thinking people could, based on “dich”, interpret it the other way round: “Chicken feet do not like you” 😉

[16:15] Friend: u mean dich mag nicht chicken feet=Chicken feet do not like you?

[17:01] Birger: I mean: Can be interpreted as such. It’s not a correct sentence.

[17:01] Birger: But the form “dich” is used to express, TO WHOM something happens (so-called accusative case).

[17:01] Birger: While “du” is used to express, WHO DOES something.

[17:02] Birger: (nominative case)

[17:04] Birger: The Chinese language regulates that (to my knowledge) mostly with the position in the sentence:

Wo xihuan Chicken-feet [“du” case]

or

Chicken-feet xihuan Wo [“dich” case]

Wow, that’s Birger-grammar

[17:04] Birger: 😉

[17:06] Birger: Well, I just noticed I left out a few bu’s (不) here…

[17:07] Birger: And should have replaced wo with ni….well, I still need to practice Chinese a bit…

[17:07] Birger:

Ni bu xihuan Chicken-feet [“du” case]

Chicken-feet bu xihuan ni [“dich” case]

[17:09] Friend: Ich mag dich gramma

[17:10] Friend: Du gramma sounds interesting

[17:12] Friend: oh, should i replace mag with magst?

[17:22] Birger: No, was correct:

“Ich mag”

“Du magst”

“Er/sie/es mag”

“Wir mögen”

“Ihr mögt”

“Sie mögen”

🙂

But “Deine Grammatik”, instead of “Du Grammar” 😉

[17:23] Birger: Ah, maybe I got what you thought wrong….

[17:23] Friend: german magst complicated lauguage

[17:24] Birger: You can say:

“Ich mag dich.”

“Du magst mich”

But

“Ich mag deine Grammatik”

[17:25] Birger: German IS a complicated language when you come from Chinese and English.

It’s simple if you come from, hm, Latin, Russian, or some other easter European languages

[17:26] Friend: ok, can’t change that

[17:26] Friend: but ich mag german, du magst chinese?

[17:26] Birger: genau!

[17:28] Friend: but i am not sure whether german mag mir, or chinese magst dir 😉

[17:29] Birger: well, me neither…

[17:30] Friend: hehe

Added 10-Oct: Ja/Nein

[17:51] Friend: ich bin serious!!

[17:52] Birger: Du meinst das ernst?

[17:54] Friend: genau!

[17:55] Friend: ich meine

[17:55] Birger: That’s again a very Chinese way of saying ‘Yes’. 😉

[17:56] Friend: warrum?

[18:01] Birger: Chinese sentence structure (sorry don’t get that in Chinese now that quicky):

question: 你去上海吗? Ni qu Shanghai ma?

Anwer: 我去! Wo qu!

English:

Q: You’re going to Shanghai?

A: Yes. […I will go]

german the same:

Q: Du gehst nach Shanghai?

A: Ja. […ich werde gehen]

We answer primaril with Ja/Nein. The additional part […I will go] is optional.

Chinese, however, usually repeats the verb like you just did.

[18:02] Friend: got it

[18:03] Birger: We westerners struggle quite a bit with the fact that the Chinese language has no simple “Yes” or “No”! 😉

[18:03] Friend: ahh??!!

[18:06] Birger: Probably closest comes 是 / 不是. But it would be the wrong answer above:

question: 你去上海吗? Ni qu Shanghai ma?

answer: 是! Shi!

(according to my books that’s wrong, or at least unexpected)

Categories: Shanghai

Originally Created: 09/19/2005 12:39:54 PM
Last Edited: 10/10/2005

Asia, China

Skater’s Paradise

1 Comment

No news since we got a new pope…and the news about him diminshed a bit. That’s mostly due to too much work, my usual complain (I mean, the few updates here, not the popes sinking into the no-news-corner). However, the bit of spare time that’s still left I rather like to spend somewhere outside the appartment (which, by the way, is a new one, I hope I can write about that one soon) than in front of my laptop. I did experience some really nice weekends, which I would have to report about here, even lots of new pictures, but you know… Continue reading Skater’s Paradise →

Asia, China

Flyback

About every 4 months I get a flyback, means: I return to Germany for something, which supposingly is vacation. Didn’t fully work out as vacation this time. Those, who know me, can imagine why. I had just one week in Germany. And nearly no entirely ‘free’ day… I wanted to see people, and there are even some people who wanted to see me 😉 Makes in total a pretty packed week. Continue reading Flyback →

Asia, China

John Paul II.

The passing of Pope John Paul II is even mentioned in today’s paper issue of the English newspaper China Daily on the title page (however, below the break). When reading ahead we were a bit surprised by the tactlessness of Chinese officials who–according to China Daily–combined a condolence note with stating that relations to the Vatican could be improved if the Vatican would stop diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Continue reading John Paul II. →

Asian Past