User Comments - ElijahW
ElijahW
Posted on: 城管与小摊贩
August 22, 2018 at 6:28 PM谢谢老师的鼓励！我一直拖延，不愿意拍，终于说服自己：无论有多差，能开始就好。
Posted on: 城管与小摊贩
August 21, 2018 at 4:23 PMI finally started recording my summaries of ChinesePod lessons. I'm as stiff as a zombie, but at least I've started!
Posted on: Do you have wifi?
August 20, 2018 at 12:33 PMI don't recall anything else. We had a full semester of grammar class, and without exception, I don't think any of understood (much less retained) a whole lot of what was said!
Posted on: Do you have wifi?
August 18, 2018 at 3:58 PM
I just noticed how Google Docs distinguishes between “word” and “character” when using “Word Count” in a document typed in English:
字数 zìshù: word count
字符数 zìfúshù: character count
字符数不计空格 zìfúshù bújì kōnggé: character count (without spaces)
Not a use of 词 to be found!
Posted on: Do you have wifi?
August 16, 2018 at 8:53 PMHi Grace, could the level of difference between 字 and 词 be a regional thing? Where I went to school in 东北 they were pretty picky about it. I've read about different parts of the country having different levels of overlap between word meaning/usage. For example, when you ask school kids in one part of the country to point at their left hand (in the study I read about, I think 手 was the word they were using), all the kids will point only at the hand; in other parts of the country, if you ask school kids to point at their left hand (using the same word), a great many of them might point at the forearm.
Posted on: Do you have wifi?
August 15, 2018 at 1:10 PMWhen I first started school in China, I rented my own apartment and couldn't speak Chinese. Since my landlord had to participate in getting internet access for me, it took over a month. So, for several weeks the most important Chinese I knew was, "你们这儿有网络吗？”
Fortunately, there was a 咖啡店 near my apartment where I spent most of my time.
Posted on: Can I Borrow a Charger?
August 12, 2018 at 11:39 PMI wish I could find it, but I read about a study done on what young people fear most. Among young Mainlanders, can you guess what it was? Their phone battery dying without access to a charger.
On the surface, this can seem like a pathetic addiction to a fancy toy, but it's not. It illustrates the tremendous social pressures that come along with the technology. Not only is your phone now becoming your wallet (including ID card), I've seen situations where a boyfriend/girlfriend dumps their partner over not answering a call. It's serious business!
It reminds me of the song "左眼皮跳跳" (how do you translate that? "Left Eye Twitch"?), about the woes of modern life: Can't pay the rent, can't get a job, my girlfriend is flirting with someone else, and... I can't find my phone charger.
Posted on: Can I Borrow a Charger?
August 12, 2018 at 11:02 PMNot surprisingly, the lightning cable used by modern iPhones is called 闪电 shǎndiàn. A lightning to USB cable is: 闪电转 USB 连接线 shǎndiàn zhuǎn USB liánjiēxiàn. I'm guessing you'd normally call it a 闪电线 shǎndiàn xiàn？ Also note that power adaptors made by Apple (电源适配器 diànyuán shìpèiqì) are already built for different power sources (they say "100-240V 50-60Hz" along the side). No need for a 变压器 biànyāqì！
Posted on: The New Coworker
August 1, 2018 at 8:19 PMThanks! I had a lesson with Rebecca two weeks ago, and gave her some feedback. I just signed up for a second round.
Posted on: 量词 Measure Words for Nouns
August 23, 2018 at 6:44 PMAbbott knew his English measure words, but poor Costello had a hard time.