User Comments - John
John
Posted on: How's the weather?
December 16, 2008 at 2:02 PMmyr_halcyon,
I concur with Pete.
The short answer to your question is yes, ch and q are indeed different consonant sounds, and yes, the 'u' in 'chu' is a different vowel sound from the 'u' in 'qu' (which is actually 'ü').
All covered in the Pronunciation Guide. :)
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 6: Up-and-Comer in the Office
December 16, 2008 at 5:59 AMdarylk,
I'm in charge of academics at ChinesePod, and I agree with the points you made. The expansion sentences are intended to "expand" the learner's understanding of how the vocabulary words are used, frequent collocations, breadth of scope, etc. I agree that the focus of those sentences should be on making the usage of the key vocabulary clearer, and should not overwhlem the learner with new material.
I'll be looking into the expansion sentence issue more. Thanks for raising it, and we do value your feedback.
Posted on: The Good Husband
December 11, 2008 at 4:02 AMvirigina_peng,
挣 is indeed a 多音字. The popup is correct, and you're also correct about 挣扎.
挣钱 (zhèngqián)
挣扎 (zhēngzhá)
Posted on: I want coffee!
December 10, 2008 at 3:07 AM咖啡！咖啡！咖啡！咖啡！咖啡！咖啡！咖啡！咖啡！
（Yeah, I've had my coffee this morning...)
Posted on: Borrowing Money
December 8, 2008 at 3:41 AMThanks, bababbardwan!
I can assure you that we are actually paying attention to academic issues behind the scenes... We're just not so in-your-face about it. Thanks for noticing! :)
Posted on: Christmas Promotion
December 7, 2008 at 9:01 AM@johns: Thanks, we enjoy what we do! I hope it shows.
@kelinsheng: I've noticed that too. We'll consider adding a volume control.
Personally, I wish there were a browser volume control that could control all javascript/flash sound coming from the browser...
Posted on: The Perfect Sandwich
December 4, 2008 at 2:57 AMmikeinewshot and others,
I really have nothing against cucumbers... I love them. And of course they do appear in sandwiches from time to time. But here in China they seem to be a staple ingredient, and to me it just doesn't feel right. Ham and cheese? Plus cucumbers! PB&J? Plus cucumbers! (OK, that might be a bit of an exaggeration...)
I also feel that pickles are a more common sandwich ingredient in the States that rarely appear in anything in China besides a hamburger. I think it's because pickles are regularly substituted with a cheaper, more readily available local ingredient: fresh cucumbers!
Posted on: The Perfect Sandwich
December 3, 2008 at 3:33 AMhelandou,
It's definitely harder to find non-sweet bread in some Chinese cities than others. I remember I had one good source in Hangzhou, but in Shanghai there are lots. (Plenty of local grocery stores don't carry it, though.)
Posted on: Let's Go to Beijing
November 30, 2008 at 2:38 PMWhat I liked about this story is that there were real photos from the real trip to accompany the story. (It's not practical to do that for every story!)
Maybe not many Elementary-Intermediate students are familiar with her, but 肖霞 (Xiao Xia) used to be a teacher of the Advanced podcasts at ChinesePod. You can still find her in the lesson archives...
Posted on: The Person Component
December 17, 2008 at 5:49 AMThis show is all about component parts, so the real value will come when more of them have been introduced. Coming soon...