Posts | General Discussion

Japan : university entrance exams

January 19, 2008 at 05:25 PM

--> 日本54万学子参加大学入学统一考试 1月19日，日本大学入学统一考试开考，543,385名学子在日本全国736个考场参加为期两天的考试。受少子化的影响，日本今年的考生人数比去年约少了1万人。考生中应届生所占比例达78.8%，是历年最高水平，往届生占20.0%。第一天的考试科目为公民、地理历史、国语和外语。1月20日的考... Read more

German chancellor visit to China

January 19, 2008 at 04:11 PM

--> 中德关系出现转机德环境部长即将访华德国总理默克尔去年九月在总理府会晤达赖喇嘛 (法新社) 因德国总理默克尔此前会见到访的西藏精神领袖达赖喇嘛而引发的德中关系紧张，有出现转机的迹象。德国环境部长有可能成为德中关系解冻的信使。据本台驻柏林特约记者丹兰引述德国《贸易报》周五（1月18日）的报道指出，德中关系呈现解冻迹象。... Read more

Activists protests against Japan whaling

January 19, 2008 at 10:21 AM

--> 反捕鲸人士扬言展开新抗争这次日本的捕鲸活动遭到大批环保人士的追踪澳大利亚当局已经协助把两名反捕鲸人士送回自己的船，不过两人扬言会展开新的行动。与此同时，日本表示，准备在未来几天内重新开始捕鲸活动。反捕鲸团体"海洋守护者"的两名成员周二（15日）登上日本捕鲸船抗议。由于日方未能与反捕鲸组织就释放两人达成共识，监察... Read more

Chinesepod mugs etc.

January 19, 2008 at 12:48 AM

The Chinesepod cafepress shop is still selling only two kinds of t-shirts, one kind of thong and one kind of mug. Even more important: Gone are the days when such pr... Read more

Voice Translator

January 19, 2008 at 12:22 AM

I wonder if this is as good as it sounds. eBay link   It says you can speak English into it and it will say it back to you in Chinese. Sounds like it only has E... Read more

Alternative Asian Music

January 18, 2008 at 09:57 PM

I think I have mentioned dragonradio.hk some time ago and posted a link, too. Dragonradio has some very interesting (alternative) Asian music from China, Japan, Thai... Read more

My Upcoming Chinese Class

January 18, 2008 at 07:09 PM

My University (University of Nebraska: Lincoln -- USA)  recently woke up, looked around and panicked because they really had nothing substantive in the way of C... Read more

Fine point of grammar: using 这 and 那 to refer to people?

January 18, 2008 at 06:42 PM

请大家的帮助，可以不可以用这、那来做人的代词？例如：这是我妈妈 . 那是我哥哥。我有的一本书会这样说，可是我住在中国的时候一个朋友叫我不要这样说。例如，接电话时人问你“你是 *** （你的名字）吗？要说我是她，不要说“这是她。”   书里的情况是这样：有人看照片，指出他的家人，... Read more

Another fine point of grammar: 很 or 太？

January 18, 2008 at 06:29 PM

我觉得可能是地方的习惯不同，你们住的地方有没有人这样说： Subject + 不很 + predicate  例如，我不很好。他房子不很大。我在中国从来没有听人这样说，他们都会说：我不太好，他房子不太大。普通话里两个说法都可以吗？我觉得说“不很“听起来很奇怪。 Read more

How do I change my public name?

January 18, 2008 at 04:55 PM

Hello!  :) Upgraded my account again, and getting back into the lessons. In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how to change my public name.  Right... Read more