Learning English- aim to achieve better English

maribel

Laoyao, can I ask how would you express the meaning of "Jiao1 Qi4" in English?

I expressed it to my good friend as "emotionally and physically vulnerable, easily succumb to difficult situations, not brave enough to overcome any unexpected difficulties", I am not sure if this expesses it in full.

黑山老妖

娇气？

maribel

yes, that's the word. as I used to be very "jiao qi" when I was young.

黑山老妖

There is really no direct translation. The closest I can think of is girly.

maribel

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

Very good source for those who are keen to improve their written English or to make their written English perfect.

Found this in my bookmark altho I haven't really read it thru in so many past years.

yanyan

原帖由 maribel 于 21/9/07 11:42 发表
yes, that's the word. as I used to be very "jiao qi" when I was young.

Princesslike?
My friends said to me sometimes

WTFAUS

原帖由 maribel 于 2007-9-21 11:25 发表


hey, I don't like the addressing. I look very girlish and sound like a teen. :si2

oh sure. sorry its a typo meant to be grammar

WTFAUS

原帖由 maribel 于 2007-9-21 11:38 发表
Laoyao, can I ask how would you express the meaning of "Jiao1 Qi4" in English?

I expressed it to my good friend as "emotionally and physically vulnerable, easily succumb to diffic ...

i might say 'spoiled'

WTFAUS

btw where's lz today?

maribel

haha, "rincesslike“- I like this and I think it's more precise.

"Spoiled brat" -- quite a few in China.

yanyan

原帖由 maribel 于 21/9/07 11:58 发表
haha, "rincesslike“- I like this and I think it's more precise.

"Spoiled brat" -- quite a few in China.

keep going guys

shefanie

I bet many of us have heard these two questions on different occasions. However, are you aware of the difference between  these two sentences?

A: have you finished your project report yet?
B: well, you know, I am busy with some training stuff…. I am flat out.(means i am extremely busy)
A: all right then. Tell me where are you up to?
B: half-way through
where are you up to?  is used to equire the status of an assigned task or job.

A: mate! What are you up to? Want to grab a cup of coffee?
B: absolutely. Geese, you can read my mind.   

What are you up to? has the similar meaning as “how is going?” “what’s going on?”


so guys, what are you up to??:si112

[ 本帖最后由 shefanie 于 2007-9-21 13:22 编辑 ]

patrickzhu

原帖由 shefanie 于 2007-9-21 13:20 发表
I am flat out.(means i am extremely busy)

Useful, frequently appears in the emailS.
Also, sometime my colleague uses "snowed under" for really busy situation, e.g. I am snowed under at paperwork today

shefanie

原帖由 黑山老妖 于 2007-9-21 08:59 发表

That's a cracker.

lao yao, could you pls explain your commentary you posted every time? i have trouble in understanding your notes.
much obliged ! :si82

黑山老妖

原帖由 shefanie 于 2007-9-21 13:42 发表



lao yao, could you pls explain your commentary you posted every time? i have trouble in understanding your notes.
much obliged ! :si82

"It's a cracker" means it's so funny that I can't help cracking up.
Cracking up means laughing out loud.

WTFAUS

原帖由 shefanie 于 2007-9-21 13:20 发表
I bet many of us have heard these two questions on different occasions. However, are you aware of the difference between  these two sentences?

A: have you finished your project report yet?
B: w ...

nice. Shefanie would be a very good teacher if she wants to.  

bffbffbff

原帖由 黑山老妖 于 2007-9-21 13:48 发表

"It's a cracker" means it's so funny that I can't help cracking up.
Cracking up means laughing out loud.

Thanks for sharing, really a good expression.

bulaohu

原帖由 shefanie 于 2007-9-21 13:42 发表



lao yao, could you pls explain your commentary you posted every time? i have trouble in understanding your notes.
much obliged ! :si82

I understand your frustration, however I still want to say that one should always check things out against major search engines, and websites like

www.usingenglish.com

www.urbandictionary.com

before asking people to expain what they mean. Why? if people tell you straight away, you normally won't remember for long.

This ”cracker" is a good example. I know what it means in Australian, I also know what it means in the states, however if I'm didn't, I would have get explanations like this is a racism word against white people from the Internet, which obviously doesn't fit; then I'll learn what it means in OZ by either dig deeper, or at the end, ask. If I asked directly without doing my own homework, I might end up only knowing this means funny in Austrlian English ( and unconsciously think it also means funny in other English), then I could have traveled to the states, said this word in a southern US pub then found my teeth gone.

Sorry for being 啰嗦. I think it's great to start such a post for everyone to learn English, however it'll be even better if people bear in mind that nothing substitutes curiosity and self-study.

[ 本帖最后由 bulaohu 于 2007-9-21 14:04 编辑 ]

WTFAUS

原帖由 bulaohu 于 2007-9-21 14:02 发表



I understand your frustration, however I still want to say that one should always check things out against major search engines, and websites like

www.usingenglish.com

www.urbandictiona ...

bffbffbff

just list some spoken phrases that I think might be new for chinese but very common to Aussie, hopefully they are not too simple.

1. sure thing:  

2. get (one's) head around = understand

3. get hold of someone = contact/talk to  someone

4. give someone a heads up = let someone know  

5. jump the gun = to do something too early

pls rectify if anything wrong

[ 本帖最后由 bffbffbff 于 2007-9-21 14:17 编辑 ]

maribel

原帖由 黑山老妖 于 2007-9-21 13:48 发表

"It's a cracker" means it's so funny that I can't help cracking up.
Cracking up means laughing out loud.

Yea. What you just said cracked me up. (made me laugh)

Yea, forgot adding "flat out" just now.

shefanie

Bulaohu, I totally agree with your opinion. I reckon everyone who is keen to improve English needs to be more proactive.  I would like to say google the words you don’t know is a good way to learn English. I always google the word I don’t know. However, I also prefer someone can explain it to me as I like to get my tongue g and mind working together to practise it and hopefully this word can jump into my mind when necessary.  Bulaohu, maybe we are just not at the same level of handling English, you are satisfied with the scope of your vocabulary and hope to drill down the word vertically. For me, my dear, I am far away from the right track.  I need to broaden my vocabulary as much as possible. :si93

What I request from Lao Yao is a brief explanation of the slang he posted. Of course, I can google it and post it on. However, won’t be better if Mr Lao Yao can be “proactive” enough to explain it at the first place? It saves other people’s time and efforts. As such a nice person, i am sure Lao Yao is willing to do it.   (no offensive, lao yao) :si5

You never can tell the various understanding of slang in the word. All I am trying is to prompt everyone here to extract handy language points.  Sharing information is a part of mission of Internet, isn’t it?  
Sorry for being nagging so much.  Just ignore it if you think this is a crap!

Wish everyone has a nice weekend! I switch off now.

[ 本帖最后由 shefanie 于 2007-9-21 17:02 编辑 ]

patrickzhu

A little bit overwhelming today (too many contents), have a break...

黑山老妖

As adviced, ignored last post.
Just kidding. I would like to say this. Trying to explain everything I have just said is such a pain in the a.., oh behind.
Besides, how can I second guess what you don't know?

I rest my case. Over and out!

purpleme

原帖由 WTFAUS 于 2007-9-20 15:15 发表

absofcukinglutely true

Sex&city, Mr Big

purpleme

btw, I uses answers so often. Hopefully it is useful for you;)

http://www.answers.com/

yanyan

原帖由 purpleme 于 22/9/07 00:43 发表


Sex&city, Mr Big

Season 6 last episode

黑山老妖

原帖由 yanyan 于 2007-9-22 01:27 发表

Season 6 last episode

Actually Mr.Big use this quite frequently. It's his 口头禅。

yanyan

原帖由 黑山老妖 于 22/9/07 03:35 发表

Actually Mr.Big use this quite frequently. It's his 口头禅。

I know but i always remember that scene he said to Carrie on the last episode, coz just so touched

yanyan

原帖由 bulaohu 于 21/9/07 14:02 发表



I understand your frustration, however I still want to say that one should always check things out against major search engines, and websites like

www.usingenglish.com

www.urbandictiona ...

www.urbandictionary.com is quite good