Our title isn't meant to be cruel, but running the poverty gauntlet gets old fast, which might be why some of the harshest comments we've heard about the homeless have come from Chinese friends and students. Nonetheless, while we recommend ignoring the professional beggars, it's a good habit to keep some change in your pocket and dispense with it liberally when you meet someone in real need. It's also important to keep the pickpockets at bay, so in this podcast we teach you how.
maxiewawa
said on March 5, 2009
I've had several conversations like this, with someone on the street mumbling 谢谢 (xiexie) endlessly at me until I give them something!
Gail天堂的声音
said on March 5, 2009
@maxiewawa,
Me too. Sometimes it's really annoying.
Gail@popupchinese.com
trevelyan
said on March 5, 2009
Brendan's right - some of the kids are devils, but others are just kids, and you can tease them or play around with them and that's sort of cool. Maybe it was Shanghai, but when I was down there the ones in my neighborhood didn't seem to run into a lot of foreigners who spoke Chinese either.I've noticed that the people who need help the most also seem to be the ones who ask for it the least (and they aren't the ones who know enough English to beg in a foreign language). The abuse for the really destitute has to get old quickly. It's sad.
amber.scorah
said on March 6, 2009
This lesson is brilliant. SO true to life :D
Gail天堂的声音
said on March 6, 2009
我希望，我们能给生活困难的人一些帮助。。。。
orbital
said on March 6, 2009
Everyone has it tough, but I don't have much sympathy for the ones under the age of 50. I see plenty of job adverts in my neighborhood for bussing and dish washing jobs and while the pay isn't good, at least it is something and usually comes with a place to stay.As long as they keep their hands to themselves we can co-exist happily. It's really irritating when you get someone mumbling maoni, maoni, maoni, maoni at you constantly when you're just walking to work. I mean, if English is really such a critical asset in the begging business, can't they throw a few more words into the mix, like "please" or "help"?
finalstar124
said on March 5, 2010
放手的我。。。 Correct?
LanZi
said on March 5, 2010
@finalstar124If you want to say "let go of me" , “放手”（fang4 shou3）would do; or 放我走(fang4 wo3 zou3)， which is a more complex phrase, but basically the translation of "let me go". “放手的我” would mean "I, the person who let go..."But nice job! You're almost right. I can see why you came up with this. Normally "of" is translated to 的, when it indicates a possessive form. But here is a different case. It's actually "let me go".Hope it helps!
trevelyan
said on March 5, 2010
lanzi and finalstar - i think the easiest way to say "let go" is probably 放手. It's definitely the most high-frequency, since you can use it whenever you want someone to let go of something.
john.goodrick
said on September 17, 2015
I've noticed that in the pinyin transcripts on this site, the character 不 (bu4 or bu2, "not") is always transcribed as fourth tone, when it should change to second tone before a fourth tone (like in bu2 ke4 qi).Otherwise, this was a really useful lesson.
jf13105
said on October 13, 2015
john.goodrick It's only changed orally.
