When I first learned English, research was part of the process of scientific enquiry and would usually involve at least a three months' project, at the end of which there'd be some data and hopefully some conclusions.
Nowadays, I see a lot of people write they "did research on the internet". Sorry, no: you googled it :-). That's called to look up, I thought. So, what happened here? Generations of school teachers telling kids to do their research (after eating their veggies)? Or am I being too strict and my age is showing? :-D
Note: If 閩 / 台語 / 福建話 is not your thing, please ignore this post! :-D
The other day, I was trying to write my first notebook entry in Hokkien, and got stuck on this sentence: "No matter whom I tell that I am learning Hokkien, they will always ask me: "Why do you want to learn Hokkien? That's just a dialect ... (國語：無論我告訴誰我在學習福建話, 他們都會問我: "你怎麼想學習福建話? 這就是方言..." ） So, I know how to say it in Mandarin, but how to say the "whomever" part in Hokkien? We cannot use 告訴 ...which makes the grammar tricky.
The best I could come up with is:
"無論我共啥人講我咧學福建話, 伊人會問我: 汝是按怎想欲學福建話？“
（bô-lūn goá ka siâN-lâng kóng goá te óh hók-kiàn-oē, i-lâng e mng goá: "lí si án-tsoáN siūN-beh óh hók-kiàn-uē?").
But does it sound natural to you? Or would you say it differently? Thanks much for any feedback!
Cheers,
Aurelio
Dear all,
I often see the expression "a kindly reminder" or "thanks for your kindly reply" in emails - typically from China or India. While kindly can be an adjective (a kindly old man, a kindly fairy, a kindly breeze, a kindly disposition) this particular usage feels incorrect to my ears - or is it just old-fashioned and survived regionally, like "please do the needful"?
A quick google only yields a dollop of misinformation like "kindly is used as an adverb here" (nope, reply is a noun in this case) or "kindly can NEVER be used as an adjective" (wrong, see above) before delving into exhaustive lists of how "kind" can be used, which is kind of unrelated ;-). Looking forward to your kind(ly) replies :-P
Thanks,
Aurelio
Dear all,
as far as I know, から normally follows the plain form when it means "because" and you leave it to the second half of the sentence to set the level of politeness. But I have found several books for beginners which have you form sentences like this:
(1) ちょうど向かいに二十階のビルが立って<font style="background-color: yellow;">いますから</font>、なにもみえません。「Assimil]
(2) あ、雨が降って<font style="background-color: yellow;">きましたから</font>、地下鉄にのりましょう。[Assimil]
(3) 私は中国語が少し<font style="background-color: yellow;">できますから</font>、おともしましょうか。[Assimil]
(4) 必ず<font style="background-color: yellow;">行きますから</font>、待っててください。[Assimil]
(5) 今週の土曜日に浅草でお祭りが<font style="background-color: yellow;">ありますから</font>、スミスさんは加藤さんと浅草にいきます。[Japanese for busy people]
(6) [talking about a restaurant]: ええ、時々来ます。美味しい<font style="background-color: yellow;">ですから</font>。[Japanese for busy people]
So, question for the native speakers: do all of these sound natural to you? Would you say it like this - or differently? Does it depend on the situation - or are some of these gaijin textbook phrases only (5 sounds particularly strange to me) ;-) Thanks much in advance!
Aurelio
