The motive wouldn't be hard to establish: they all had it. But given the sheer number of beatings, shootings and stabbings the deceased had suffered in the course of a few minutes (including at least one attempted hanging), it was going to be thorny to prove who exactly laid the telling blow, and where, and with what.

Our Chinese lesson for today is all about what happened the time we introduced our crew to a classic American board game of murder, mayhem and sleuthing. Fun and hijinks it was not. The rules took at least 10 minutes to explain to our baffled guests, and even then we don't think we properly handled many of their more philosophical objections, such as 9527's repeated insistence that we just "jail them all and forget about it."
 said on
October 27, 2009
Nice dialogue! I used to play monopoly with some friends once a month or so when I was new to China. Board games are great for socializing, and you really pick up a lot of casual language. Noticed two words for cards in this dialogue, for instance, although there's only one listed in the vocab section.
 said on
October 27, 2009
I have a feeling that I'm gonna get a lot of mileage out of the phrase "你们都骗了我". Me making a scene at a restaurant - "You said you had Cold beer. This is Lukewarm! You all lied to me!"
 said on
October 27, 2009
@paglino9,

the sentence is absolutely too strong for a cold beer. you can just say:我要的是冰的。冰的。

take care.

 said on
October 27, 2009
I think that was the point.... :)
 said on
October 27, 2009
@ Ubiquitous Film Friday- The next phrase I think I can get a lot mileage out of is "please, stop making a scene."
 said on
October 28, 2009
Hi,

(Unrelated to this lesson): would it be possible to have a counter on the flashcard tool so that you can see how many characters are left in each session? My list is getting long and I'd like to know how long it's gonna take me each time!
 said on
October 28, 2009
Hi Barnaby,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it.

--dave

 said on
October 29, 2009
Thank you for the lesson. Wow!

Years ago a student wanted to play Clue to practice locations and coverbs, and maybe 把 construction. It was a great idea but we never got around to figuring it all out.

So, how do you say "Colonel Mustard" in Chinese?
 said on
October 29, 2009
@gingko7 - I think it was 黄上校.
 said on
October 30, 2009
是朱小姐在客厅里用刀子杀死黄上校。

It was Miss Scarlet who killed Colonel Mustard in the living room with a knife.

Is it natural?
 said on
October 30, 2009
@gingko7,

好像Miss Scarlet的翻译是红小姐——红小姐在客厅(里)用匕首杀死了黄上校。

其实你翻译的人名和凶器的名字也没错,只是中文版的游戏已经有了,所以我们就按照它的翻译了。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com