User Comments - John

Posted on: Hiking

I have to agree with Auntie68:

In my (humble) opinion, "hiking" is a very appropriate word to describe what the Chinese traditionally refer to as "爬山“. When Chinese think of "爬山”, they're thinking of hiking in the hills, it's not the kind of activity that would involve crampons, pitons, and all kinds of special tethers.

It actually took me a while in China to realize that the Chinese don't just have a really lame version of "mountain climbing"; when they say "爬山" they totally mean hiking. A translation rarely matches 100%, and it's true for this case as well. But... close enough.

Incidentally, if you're talking real rock climbing, there's another word: 攀岩 (pānyán).

Posted on: Hiking

inland,

It does indeed work for many different physically activities, but you can't throw in an object (like the shū in kànshū), and it generally makes more sense when there is movement involved, like 爬 (pá) or 走 (zǒu).

了 (le) indicates a change in state or a certain sentence tone, but it's very hard to learn it by pronciples alone; it's much easier to learn it by pattern. In this case, 太 + Adj + 了 is the pattern, and it's easiest to just learn it that way.

Posted on: Airplane Arrival

changye,

The real question is why so many Chinese people pronounce 乘务员 "chèngwuyuán" rather than "chéngwùyuán".

Ah, the mysteries of Chinese tones! (Not worth worrying about.)

Posted on: Airplane Arrival

artkho,

Yeah, she's definitely cool. (I've met her)

Posted on: Preparing to give an Interview

tommyb,

People in Shanghai know, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's unknown in lots of places in China.

Posted on: Pageant Final Episode

weibwo,

Yeah, you're right, it does happen in the US. Perhaps I was a bit naive as a college student? :) Still, I get the impression that it's more widespread in China.

Posted on: Seoul

I had a nice stopover in Seoul on my way to China for the first time, and I really enjoyed it. 首尔很好玩！ (Shǒu'ěr hěn hǎowán!)

sfrrr,

We can definitely do more lessons on Seoul at the higher levels. (We already did an advanced lesson called 韩流.)

Posted on: The New Site and the Guided Plan

Thanks for the comments! The "No Data" problem for the audio in the older lessons is a big problem indeed, and we're working on it.

Posted on: One-on-One Basketball

This lesson was a lot of fun!

As I've said elsewhere, bigger font sizes are coming. In the meantime, try CTRL + to increase the font size in your browser.

Posted on: Billiards

Not sure if you guys are noticing a bit more male influence in the dialogue writing. I hope you can handle a few more of these testosterone-laden conversations!