(no subject)
" Italy is good: the air is clean; the water is nice, you can keep fish in it and they don't die; food and housing are cheap and health care is free".
" Forgive me for asking (1), mr. F., have you friends here?"
" No, the language is difficult for me, but...In China at the time of Mao Zedong a factory worker was someone, now? An 80-something retired factory worker is nothing".
(Snippet of this morning's conversation with an 84-year old gentleman from Shanghai, living here with his daughter and son-in-law).
(1) 请问: the polite way of framing a question in Putonghua, I might add that I have known mr. F for quite a while, otherwise I wouldn't have presumed to ask.
" Forgive me for asking (1), mr. F., have you friends here?"
" No, the language is difficult for me, but...In China at the time of Mao Zedong a factory worker was someone, now? An 80-something retired factory worker is nothing".
(Snippet of this morning's conversation with an 84-year old gentleman from Shanghai, living here with his daughter and son-in-law).
(1) 请问: the polite way of framing a question in Putonghua, I might add that I have known mr. F for quite a while, otherwise I wouldn't have presumed to ask.