在台灣的美國人

Posted By 美國人 on March 23, 2010

(Note that the post in question redirects here until all this calms down. The post was actually in defense of Taiwanese women’s pride and dignity, and the title was a joke. I love Taiwan, its people and its culture. I hope you take the time to read some of the rest of this blog to see that for yourself. Sorry to disappoint you if you’re just looking to see an essay on how easy Taiwanese women are to get into bed. You won’t find that here.)

那篇雜文的標題是諷刺。 本文捍衛榮譽台灣女性！

Just thought I’d share what the title, subtitle and first paragraph of the post in Chinese, now that I’ve got your attention. You’ll see that it’s not what you think.

標 題: 臺灣女孩很隨便?!

是的驚悚的標題! 如果你相信標題所述, 那就像是相信在某個內陸地區存在著一大片海洋一樣! 也就是說你相信任何網路上不負責的言論

許慕菲分享了某個提供詳盡步驟跟方法關於”如何上台灣女孩”(標題指女孩而非女人,應該告訴你些訊息) 的網站給我, 從”第一次約會”到”試探她有多喜歡你”到”跟她纏綿到床”的必讀指南通通在這篇文章讀的到. 現在就讓我為您娓娓道來兩件事: 何謂 1) 性別歧視 2) 一概而論的言語

I wanted to say 你好 to all the recent visitors to the site after the news report about Google search engine auto-completing “Taiwanese girls” with the title of one of my posts, “Taiwanese Girls are Easy.” I’ve gotten a lot of angry comments about the title of the post and that’s fine. The title is supposed to be upsetting, as I was upset when I came across the manual on how to get Taiwanese girls in bed. However, people fail to continue reading (its’ even in 中文, so there’s no excuse except laziness) to see that I spend the entire post complaining about western men who travel to Asia and use the women as nothing more than objects. I think guys who do that are certainly not men, actually. To drive that point home, I even link to a book called “How to Be a Gentleman” but nobody seemed to notice that.

It really saddens me that a people I spend so much time around, from a place I’m looking so forward to living in, are so quick to judge without learning a little bit more about something first. So, I’ve made that post private for a while. Maybe that will help. I doubt it.

I’ve also changed the title (and URL) of the post to reflect the actual nature of the text within (though you can’t see it right now). It’s now “Taiwanese Girls Are(n’t Actually) Easy”. Obviously, the jocularity of the title doesn’t translate very well. Oh, well. At least one blogger read the post and commented on how alarmist and reactionary the media was on reporting this. In fact, if anyone knows what channel originally reported it and could give me a contact email there, I’d appreciate it.

Category: Blog related | 31 Comments »
Tags: Blog related, sad, taiwanese girls are easy

Posted By 美國人 on August 29, 2009

Here’s the next installment of things worth learning how to say that are more beneficial than learning how to talk about Bejing Opera or birthday cake.

我本來要看電視, 但我後來決定讀一本書

wǒ běnlái yào kàn diànshì, dàn wǒ hòu lái jué dìng dú yī běn shū

I was going to watch television, but instead decided to read a book.

You can use this sentence structure whenever you had planned on doing one thing, but changed your mind.

• 本來.. is essentially “originally” or “at first” but can also mean “of course” or “it goes without saying”
• 但.. you’ve probably seen before in 但是, but here is used alone. They both mean “but” though 但是 has a more of a “however” meaning, while 但 is closer to “nevertheless”.
• 後.. “after” or “later” is how 後 is being used here, though it can also mean “rear” or “behind”
• 決定.. is to decide or make up one’s mind
• 讀..means “read” but should not be confused with 念

For another simple example of how this is used, you could say, 我本來要喝茶,但我後來決定喝牛奶.

Category: Chinese Language | 2 Comments »
Tags: Chinese Language, phrasebook, pinyin, 中文

Posted By 美國人 on August 24, 2009

This is the second entry into the little phrasebook set of posts I’m doing. This sentence is designed to show how one says “After event #1, event #2 happened.”

在我老婆游泳之後我們一起看電視

zài wǒ lǎopo yóuyǒng zhīhòu wǒmen yīqǐ kàn diànshì

After my wife went swimming, we watched television together.

• 在 … 之後 is a construction used to refer to the “first… later” aspect.
• 一起 means “together”
• 電視 is “television”

So, you can see that by saying 在, inserting a clause (I did something, something happened, etc), following that by 之後 and another clause, you can create a vast array of complex sentences! 在我學習漢語跟我朋友之後我們在餐廳吃, for example.

Category: Chinese Language | No Comments »
Tags: Chinese Language, phrasebook, pinyin, 中文