User Comments - John

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

raspa,

Ha ha... I second that! It's also the first one I learned, and I remember an agonizing struggle, trying to memorize it with the proper tones in my first semester of Mandarin Chinese. It's a nice poem, but for that reason I can never think of it too fondly.

bababardwan,

When you read Chinese poetry, you will learn words that do not appear in modern speech. Some of them will have unfamiliar, archaic readings in the context of the poem. Some of them will appear as a single character, when nowadays they appear in two-character compounds. Some will have a reduced or expanded scope in modern usage. Some will have a quite different meaning in modern usage. It's really complex.

For these reasons and more, a study of poetry is a huge departure from our ultra-practical core lessons. I think it's great to expand our offerings, and I'm proud of Pete for doing a great job on such an ambitious solo podcast. However, studying all the vocabulary that appears in these poems just as you do regular lesson vocabulary could be quite confusing for you.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 7: A Firing Afoot?

bababardwan,

Glad you're appreciating the lessons. To a large degree, this reinforcement is a natural result of getting sufficient input of high-frequency, well-targeted material.

As for your question...  The sentence is:

我桌子上怎么少了两本书？

But you could also have this sentence:

我怎么少了两本书？ (How could I be missing two books?)

So I'm missing the books. Then we add 桌子上 to make it more specific as to where the books are missing from.  But translating it as, "How could I be missing two books from the desk" is more than a little awkward in English.

Posted on: Guided Plan Gets Better! Plus: Poetry is Pending

Lots of interesting comments here.

Change is inevitable, and there will always be resistance to it. All the lessons we've created before are still in the archive, so I think it's great to expand upon the types of content we offer.

Amber is gone now, so we can't continue Dear Amber. I think everyone would agree on that. That doesn't mean we can't or won't create another cultural show.

A show on poetry is an interesting adition precisely because it's somewhat controversial. I personally have not made much use of poetry in my own Chinese studies, but I'm lacking a fuller understanding of Chinese literature as a result. Is poetry necessary to help you learn Chinese? No. But for those of you that want it, at least you will have the option.

(And by the way, the Newbie lessons resume next week.)

Posted on: The Broken Chair

urbandweller,

Funny, yes, but vey common! Definitely worth learning. :)

Posted on: Terrorized at the Airport

rich,

Ha, thanks for sharing those pics!

Posted on: Terrorized at the Airport

bill,

Yes, it's definitely an exaggeration. Exeggeration for the sake of entertainment, entertainment for the sake of education!

Posted on: Terrorized at the Airport

I once had to leave a pocket knife behind in a security check in China. I left it in my bag by accident. (I loved that pocket knife...)

Fortunately I wasn't accused of being a terrorist. 我不是恐怖分子！

Posted on: News and Features - Mid-January News

patmetheny,

Currently our usage of UserVoice is well within the limitations of a free account.  It's here to stay.  (Even if we had to pay, though, it's looking like it's quite a worthwhile service.)

Posted on: News and Features - Mid-January News

jametheron,

You're right that UserVoice needs to be made more prominent.  We'll be making a few changes to that end soon.  The plan is to point all kinds of feedback (including the new lesson ideas feedback at the bottom of this page) to this page, and also include a prominent link to UserVoice there.

Posted on: News and Features - Mid-January News

Daimingwei,

Certainly Amber's departure is a noteworthy event. I was busily preparing for the final episode of Dear Amber, and this News and Features was recorded in advance. I will be sure to include mention of the changes in the next News and Features.