User Comments - John
John
Posted on: Trouble with Grades
August 22, 2007 at 1:49 AMOh, and in case I didn't make it clear enough, both of those sentences were OK. The time word can come before or after the subject. [Grammar Guide link]
Posted on: Trouble with Grades
August 22, 2007 at 1:44 AMexit12000, That's a good question. The lesson exercises are produced by a program that intelligently switches parts of the sentence around to create incorrect sentences. Sometimes, however, it makes a mistake, and the "incorrect" sentence it generates is, in fact, an alternative correct sentence. We apologize for letting that slip through, and we'll get on it.
Posted on: Trouble with Grades
August 21, 2007 at 9:02 AMmikeinjubei, Glad the Grammar Guide is helping. I think you have it pretty well figured out. The best way to understand it is to think of 考得差 (kǎo de chà) as "to test poorly." In normal spoken English we would normally say something like, "do badly on a test." We normally reserve "test poorly" for general descriptions of people's test-taking skills rather than for an evaluation of one particular test-taking instance. But still, I think you can understand how "test poorly" corresponds to 考得差 (kǎo de chà).
Posted on: Negotiating Price and Payment Terms
August 21, 2007 at 1:19 AMfish, Yes, you're right, the standard pronunciation of 商量 is "shāngliang," not "shāngliàng."
Posted on: Negotiating Price and Payment Terms
August 21, 2007 at 1:17 AMdarylk, The title 总 (zǒng) is short for 总经理 (zǒngjīnglǐ), which means "general manager" and would be a bit higher up than a plain old 总经理 (jīnglǐ), or "manager." Looks like Peter didn't have the moral fiber you gave him credit for. Somehow I think it's all going to work out in the end, though. Stay tuned!
Posted on: Abducted by Aliens
August 18, 2007 at 5:23 PMGlad you guys liked this one. Dedicated as we are to practical lessons, we could not in good conscience delay this very special "abducted by aliens" lesson any longer. Sorry if it was a little too "G-rated" for some of you. Perhaps in a future lesson we will "probe deeper" into the alien abduction experience. There are more fun lessons on the way!
Posted on: #12
August 16, 2007 at 6:45 AMRich, Hmmm... We're working on new functionality, but the e-mail notifications do not currently support Extra content. Besides, due to the volume of e-mails going out, it wouldn't be as timely as you're looking for anyway. We always publish Movie Madness on Wednesdays, during Shanghai working hours (9am to 6pm). We purposely vary the exact publishing time in order to mix it up.
Posted on: Post-Graduation Plans
August 16, 2007 at 1:45 AMTo clear up some questions... 大学生 (dàxuéshēng) usually means "university student," but it can mean "university graduate," depending on the context. If it's a conversation among young people about young people, they are much more likely to use 大学生 (dàxuéshēng) to mean "university student" now. If someone of an older generation is mentioned, then it's very possible it's the "university graduate" meaning. With regards to degrees, we usually talk about: 大专学位 (dāzhuān xuéwèi) associates degree 学士学位 (xuéshì xuéwèi) bachelor's degree 硕士学位 (shuòshì xuéwèi) Master's degree 博士学位 (bóshì xuéwèi) Ph.D. With regards to people, we can say: 研究生 (yánjiūshēng) graduate student 博士生 (bóshìshēng) Ph.D. student 硕士生 (shuòshìshēng) Master's student We can also say: 他是硕士。 (Tā shì shuòshì.) He [has a] Master's. 她是博士。 (Tā shì bóshì.) She is a Ph.D. We cannot say: 他是学士。 (Tā shì xuéshì.)
Posted on: Pushy Insurance Salesman
August 22, 2007 at 7:44 AMThis dialogue was inspired by real life events. Absolutely scarring real-life insurance sales events. You're not safe from this stuff even in China, folks.