User Comments - John

Posted on: Physical and Virtual Schools

Yes! The tests are out. Just head on over to the Resources section and click on the "Test" tab. Enjoy! :)

Posted on: Can't Get to Sleep

You were on the right track!

Posted on: Can't Get to Sleep

carl89,

It mainly happens in two different scenarios:

1. In a complement following a verb, such as 睡不着 (shuìbuzháo), where 不着 is the complement or 走不动 (zǒubudòng), where 不动 is the complement.

2. In a Adj. 不 Adj. or Verb 不 Verb pattern.

You really don't need to worry about this too much, though.

Posted on: Social Networking

Changye,

I agree. I am a big fan of how simplified characters legitimized many "俗字" which were already in common usage by the people. It was also necessary to agree on a common standard in order to enter the computer age.

Posted on: Dogs and Wealth

Ha ha, true!

Posted on: Social Networking

Bababardwan,

Yes, you're exactly right. When people praise ChinesePod for teaching "real Chinese" or "practical language," they're actually thanking us for our descriptivist bent. :)

You're definitely right that you can overdo descriptivism. Few people would argue that all spelling and grammar "mistakes" are simply "alternatives." But there does come a point where we need to reassess and update our rules for usage. It's a continuum, and ChinesePod in its approach is definitely closer to the "descriptivist" side.

Posted on: Where are you from?

Changye,

You were probably thinking of the way many people (especially Chinese people) use intercaps within Chinese words, for example *"ZhongShan GongYuan". Although the words are correctly separated (no space between the syllables of an individual word) the use of capitalization in the middle of a word is definitely wrong. (The correct way to write it would be "Zhongshan Gongyuan".) The architects of pinyin were careful to design the system so that it's usually clear where the syllabic divisions are.

I suspect that many books and websites separate words by syllable purely out of laziness. It's a lot less work, and is relatively simple to automate. Even Google's pinyin converter is guilty of this, but according to the rules of pinyin, it's just plain wrong.

Posted on: Social Networking

Changye,

You use the word authentic twice, the second time in quotes, and the first time not. I'm curious what your definition of "authentic" is.

According to modern linguistic science, the "authenticity" of words' current meanings are verified by empirical observation of those words in modern usage, not by dictionaries (unless you're talking about historical linguistics). Dictionaries should then be edited and updated based on that empirical evidence. (Naturally, this process is always a few steps behind actual usage.)

Governments' attempts to standardize their citizens' language usage typically fail. Linguists observe what people actually say.

Dictionaries are useful tools, and I certainly enjoy a good dictionary as well (especially an up-to-date one). I know you're very fond of dictionaries. What is your take on the whole "descriptivism vs. prescriptivism" issue? I guess maybe a fondness for etymology and history would naturally make one more sympathetic to the prescriptivist view...

Posted on: Dogs and Wealth

Good question! I think it's simply a matter of metadata (topic tags). I will take a look at the issue....

Posted on: Dogs and Wealth

He doesn't seem to mind. We often call him 顿顿 as well, and he responds to that too.

Here is a picture of 牛顿.