URLLesson Introduction
Today Connie tells us a cute childhood story about her brother. Listen in to this video and figure out what her mischievous, yet artistic, little brother gets up to one idle afternoon. In the process, learn lots of new Chinese vocabulary! This lesson is designed to challenge the Elementary learner.
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bababardwan says
November 7, 2008
Very good Connie;thanks.Your top matched the background nicely.I noticed you used "de" in women de baba.I wondered if you were all not feeling so close as usual on that occasion when there was going to be some spanking of your didi.Reminiscent of how many people get called by their full name by their parents when they are in trouble rather than their affectionate nickname [does that happen in Chinese culture?].But perhaps I am overanalysing this one?
bababardwan says
November 7, 2008
ps Connie,
All those white stripes on your top look good for practising drawing Chinese characters on.hehe.
bababardwan says
November 7, 2008
I knew as soon as there was drawing and little kids involved that there was going to be trouble [ poor little didi's unappreciated early artistic attempts;hope he hasn't been too discouraged ].I'm sure all parents understand this one.A cool solution to this problem can be to paint your kids rooms with magnetic paint.You can get a variety that you can also draw on.A link to a site that talks about this is here.
bababardwan says
November 7, 2008
..after all ;people have been known to pay a lot of money to buy elephant paintings ,and I'm sure didi's end product could compete artistically...
Changye;ever given your chubby dog a go at paw painting?
monica5 says
November 7, 2008
Thank you Connie! That was a very funny family story: By the way, the little boy on the video, is he your 弟弟?
chiongzibide says
November 7, 2008
Stories are great; they make a good balance to all the dialogues. Dialogues are fine, but they do have linguistic limitations in teaching.
chistudent says
November 7, 2008
Hi Connie, 您好！
你真是个才貌双全！
想问一下，
如果‘遭殃’的是你，你会对‘当事人’怎么处理？
HeHe，只是想考验你的情商而已。
哎！我还是少管别人的闲事吧。
john says
November 7, 2008
大家好，我是Connie，今天我要跟大家说一件我们家的事儿。
我有一个很小很小的弟弟，他从小就很喜欢画画儿。
在他三岁的时候，有一天，他又在画画儿，我们的爸爸呢，在房间睡觉，我在看电视。过了一会儿，爸爸睡醒后从房间走了出来，我一看见爸爸就哈哈大笑，爸爸不知道我在笑什么，我就指了指他的衣服说"：爸爸，你的衣服上怎么会有太阳和小狗小猫啊？"
爸爸也觉得很奇怪，就脱下了衣服，一看，真的有很多小狗小猫。原来都是我弟弟画的。
爸爸非常生气，但是，他没有打弟弟，因为他也觉得很好笑。
bababardwan says
November 7, 2008
John,
For a sec I thought you were saying you were Connie.hehe.Then I realised you were translating the story.Thanks.
mark says
November 7, 2008
又好玩儿又容易懂。 加油！
changye says
November 7, 2008
For the record,
画画儿 = 画 (draw, verb) + 画儿 (a picture, noun) = draw a picture
yase says
November 7, 2008
Beautiful story - I think now it is time Ken fronted up with one in his best zhongwen ?
jennyzhu says
November 8, 2008
The creative genius of a kid. Connie's baby brother has a particular love for drawing on unlikely surfaces. I once saw Connie using a silk fan. It had his handwriting and drawing on it wishing her happy birthday. Sweet gift.
amrita says
November 8, 2008
你好! 我是 Amrita!!! 真的 ...... I have a daughter who loves to draw....但是她在学校上课的时候画画儿.......老师一定生气
...the video kept buffering every one minute though...does any one else face the same problem..??
wande says
November 8, 2008
大家好！
在expansion 里 我听见“妈妈从还（！）没打过我“ 但是你们写了写”妈妈从来没打过我“。都还可以吗？
Walter in Berlin
rjberki says
November 8, 2008
Thanks John.
chinkerfly says
November 8, 2008
It's so fun to see the faces behind the voices!
Connie, 我只有一个很小的问题想问一下。当时，你的爸爸为什么需要脱衣服才看到衣服上面画得画儿？没有镜子吗？Or did you brother draw on his back in that hard to see place between the shoulder blades? Or was it just so years later Chinesepod would be able to make this videopodcast and use that funny picture of someone stripping to illustrate the word 脱？;)
bingge says
November 8, 2008
I just love these videos! Keep 'em coming please!
This 指了指 construction ... can someone explain it for me, please? (as in, Connie 指了指他的衣服).
gamezila1987 says
November 8, 2008
Wow now that is amazing. First story video I have seen, can't wait for more. This was surely challenging to me as a beginner to the language. I'll watch it a few more times to try to get the words to pop out for me.
Oh I almost forgot to ask, Will you guys make a "What's the story" For the beginner such as Myself? I have stumbled on the what's the story set and this is the lowest that I can try to figure out, but is still a bit tough.
pchenery says
November 8, 2008
Thanks Connie ! That's one of the funniest family stories I've heard yet.
bababardwan says
November 8, 2008
ooops.Actually I had underanalysed it,but got it now.Got distracted by the photo and missed the mei2you3 at the end which made all the difference.A lovely story Connie.A sense of humour is such a valuable asset in a parent.Thanks for sharing.
ruyide says
November 9, 2008
In the expansion section is a question "ni hai zai sheng wo de qi ma?"
I don't quite understand the logic of this construction and would have used "ni hai zai dui wo shengqi ma?"
Would that be wrong, and if so, why?
Cornelia says
November 9, 2008
Elementary? There are quite a number of intermediate lessons that I found a lot easier... also in terms of complexity in 'expansion'.
Could we have a "usual" pdf, i.e. with the transcript that John posted here in the comments, with pinyin underneath + English?
This could boost the usefulness for learners somewhat below the required level. I mean make it faster to get to grips with the material.
pearltowerpete says
November 9, 2008
Hi wande
Actually the construction is "妈妈从来没打过我--Mother has never hit me."
Although the sounds are similar, there is no 还 here. That construction doesn't exist.
baishen says
November 10, 2008
Thanks so much Connie, a great story well told.
Thank you too John for including the script, this makes it much easier for me.
And thanks so much to David and all the crew for putting together such a great production with the film clips the photos and chinese characters. I guess most people dont appreciate the amount of work that goes into producing 3 minutes of educational entertainment. Well done. Can't wait for the next one.
And to Ken and the managment, I hope your budget allows you to continue with this type of production, it is a great step forward for learning Chinese, stick with it I'm sure it will pay off for you guys.
pearltowerpete says
November 10, 2008
Hi bingge
The "verb 了 verb" construction is used with single-syllable repeated verbs. It is like 看看, 听听，etc.
So for example:
我听了听老师的话, 差点就睡觉了
I listened to the teacher and almost fell asleep.
他看了看妹妹画的漫画，觉得很有意思
He took a look at his sister's comic and thought it was pretty funny.
pearltowerpete says
November 10, 2008
Hi ruyide
生某人的气 means to get angry at someone (because they have done something wrong.)
对某人生气 means to vent one's anger at someone who did not do anything wrong but had the bad luck to be standing nearby the angry party.
connie says
November 10, 2008
Hi monica5
The little boy on the video is not my 弟弟, but they are both cute.
connie says
November 10, 2008
Hi chistudent
你的问题把我难住了。
我想，我应该不会打小孩吧。
其实，这个故事的结局是，我让爸爸不要洗这件衣服，收藏起来。因为很有意义。呵呵～～
connie says
November 10, 2008
Hi chinkerfly
因为画儿在我爸爸的背上。所以要脱下来看。
mingzun says
November 10, 2008
Wow, these videos are impressive -- and extremely useful. Well done! In many ways these "story" videos represent real-life interaction and are excellent eavesdropping practice. I am particulary pleased that you've decided to include a second rendition with visual aids to reinforce context.
May I suggest making one "story" video available on on the frontpage to non-subscribers? It would help lure them into the site.
Again, kudos and look forward to more. Can't wait till the transcripts are officially up as well.
wande says
November 10, 2008
hi pete
thank you!
ruyide says
November 11, 2008
pearltowerpete, dui nide shuoming hen duo xie.
user42005 says
November 14, 2008
This lesson has a lot of potential, you just need to add a full transcript of what she is saying as there is no way I can keep up just by listening as despite knowing words it's hard to translate in my head in real time. I realise other people can but not my level and I consider myself elementary. Right now I can catch only 25%.
jono_19 says
November 14, 2008
Yeah I agree it is hard to keep up! Maybe I need more practise!
chioschick says
November 14, 2008
Hi all, I definitely agree with Cornelia - having the pinyin and English version in the transcript would make these video lessons PERFECT!
Other than that I LOVE ChinesePod - you're great!
standuke says
November 14, 2008
Great story, but I'm kicking myself for not believing my ears when I heard 太阳， 小狗 & 小猫. I had to read the text in order to 'get it'. I pretty much understood the part that made sense... then the funny part, even though I picked out the words, my brain just rejected it...
Even with the big fat hint at the beginning... Humor can be difficult.
As for the video, in general I'd like busier videos, textwise, at this level. More like REALLY BIG subtitles, so I can give my character recognition a workout along with my listening recognition.
I do think these videos are quite stylish, though. They remind me a little of Lawrence Lessig presentations I've seen on YouTube.
tage says
November 19, 2008
Hi Pete
Have listened to the expansion sentence 10 times - and I can only hear "cong hai mei daguo wo". hai and lai are close, but not that close. I also think I've heard or seen the expression "cong hai mei" before, where "conglai" becomes shortned to "cong"
fcollins says
6 days ago
Am I missing something? Why can't you put the translation in the PDF format....or if you are going to put the translation in the comments section - can you at least put it in Pinyin? Am I missing something?
calkins says
1 day ago
Getting caught up on these...
Here are the vocabulary files for this video lesson, if you want to import them into HanziHelper, ZDT or PlecoDict (just right-click the links below and "Save Link As").
HanziHelper (Traditional only)
ZDT
Pleco (Traditional)
Pleco (Simplified)