我還愛他喔 五月我開始約會台灣留學生了，他叫雷克斯。 我真快就愛上他，可不到一個月後他要回家了。 我們用Skype還保持連絡，常聊天。我越來越愛他。 可是左右八月，他的學校更困難了。有一天我們聊，他說非常不高興，等不及地想週末跟我再聊天。 不過那個週末，那個以後的週末，從沒上Skype。(but he never got on Skype--not that weekend, nor the weekend after that) 我每個星期都寫封信給他。然後左右四個星期以後，一個朋友傳我簡訊了。 說雷克斯的Facebook說他是單身了，沒我們的照片了。 兩個月經過，到他的生日了。因為儘管所有事情我還愛他，想他還好或者更不高興，（I thought he was still really--or even more--unhappy)所以送禮物給他了。 幾天以後，他終於給我打電話。好短，但我好高興。他說他媽讓我停下Facebook，說了直到他畢業大學和誰也不可以約會。 我真想說的事很多，但沒時間了。 幾個星期以前我又送他聖誕禮物，好希望他快再給我打電話。 現在用中文寫詳細太難，但是我們的關係好好像「忘了，忘不了」和「羅密歐與朱麗葉」，所以未來我要關於它寫小說。我還在等結局。

這些語尾助詞是什麼意思？囉, 喔, 耶, 咧 What do these particles mean? 我已經知道了幾個強調的語尾助詞，例如“唷”和“阿”。可你們能教我這些的特別台灣人用的意思嗎？ I already know some sentence ending particles, like "yo" and "a." But could you explain the meaning of these words that especially Taiwanese people use? 囉 喔 耶 咧 謝謝＾＾

"誰會打球？" Why does it use 會 and not 能？ Why don't they use 能 here? Doesn't everyone have the *capacity* to play a ballgame? Or, if they used 能, would the nuance be different? I'm going to make a guess. Since 會 means to "learn how to," are they specifically looking for someone who has really learned how to play through experience or by taking lessons--so basically, they're looking for someone GOOD who can play. If they used 能, they'd just be looking for anyone who can play--the person doesn't need to be good, they just need to want to play (and now have any physical disabilities, etc.) Am I right?

Sometimes I see 太 and 會 used without 了 and 的. Why? I've learned that whenever you say something it 太 (too) xxx, you HAVE to put 了 at the end of the sentence. But I've seen several examples where people don't use 了 (and it's not 不太 either, by the way), such as: 但是，中國人說中文說得太快。 ex. #2: 第七課的語法很容易，我都懂，可是生詞太多，漢字也有一點難。 (both examples taken from "Integrated Chinese") I've also learned that when you're talking about the future, 會 must ALWAYS be followed by 的. Chinesepod.com and Chineseclass101.com have both stressed this. However, when I wrote, for example, 我會到台灣去的, all 4 people who corrected me took out the 的. I have also seen someone write "雖然不知道未來會有什麼事...", again without the 的. What are the exact rules for using 了 and 的 in these cases that textbooks and other learning materials just aren't telling me?

Does 睡覺睡得晚 mean "to sleep (until) late" or "to go to bed late"? Is there any distinction in that sentence--can it mean both, depending on the context, or is there a different way to say the two sentences?

Can people using traditional characters sometimes replace the traditional ones with simplified ones? I'm using Integrated Chinese for a textbook, and I've noticed so far 2 words that they give using the simplified form instead of traditional. 表 for 錶 (watch), and in the main textbook it said "to read aloud" is 念, but in the workbook they say that's the simplified word, and the traditional one is 唸, but that's the only time they ever use the "traditional" one. Is it just that one is more common than the other in modern life and you can just use them interchangeably, or is it an actual mistake?By the way, I'm using the traditional character edition.

How strong of a Taiwanese accent do most people have in Taipei? I want to learn more about the Taiwanese accent. It's really hard to find Taiwanese learning supplies, so it's really hard not to talk like a mainlander. My ex was from Taipei, but when I asked him about it, he didn't give me a clear answer, and after that we lost contact. （http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_Mandarin） Before, I saw on Wikipedia that there are people in Taiwan that change "f" to "hu," "qi" to "ki," "zhi" to "zi," "chi" to "ci," "shi" to "si," and so on. But when I asked him, "Omg, is this all true?!" he just said, "I think the Taipei accent is similar to standard mainland Mandarin. Everyone who uses all of those pronunciations are like hillbillies. They sound kind of funny." But I know he has at least a bit of an accent because once, when he told me how to pronounce 手, he said it like "sou." I remember it well because I thought it sounded a lot like the Japanese そう. I listened to the few episodes of Chinesepod.com featuring Taiwan, and they didn't go into much depth with this, but from the ones I listened to, they highlighted "sh" becomes "s," "ch" becomes "c," and "eng" becomes "en." (Although I never heard of "eng" to "en" before...) Is just this good enough to sound good in Taipei?

Why is there only a "個" in phrases like打個電話 and 你是個好孩子? I learned that 個 is a measure word, so I've only seen it with numbers in front of it. But why is there no ㄧ in these two sentences? And why do we even need 個--wouldn't the sentences be ok just as 打電話 and 你是好孩子?

Is 可 a colloquial way to say 可是？ (and other ways to say "but") I've seen people say 可 to mean "but," but I learned that "but"=可是，但是，or 不過。Is 可 just a casual way to say 可是? (Actually, is there any difference between any of these other ways to say "but"--like frequency used, formality, etc.?)Also, are there any more words that can be shortened like this? Like can you say 但 for 但是? Are there a lot of words like this?