User Comments - John
John
Posted on: Birthday on the Lunar Calendar
January 18, 2012 at 1:37 PMYou're welcome, as always!
不用谢！
Posted on: Getting to the Office
January 11, 2012 at 2:38 AMBe careful with that approach! Now that there are so many lines, there are different shades of the same color. (There's now a light blue and dark blue, for instance.)
Posted on: Teaching English to the Neighbors
January 10, 2012 at 1:23 AM很难猜吧？
Posted on: Teaching English to the Neighbors
January 9, 2012 at 9:38 AMGlad you liked it! This topic was inspired by, uhhh... somebody's personal experiences in China!
Posted on: Focus and Specialization
December 31, 2011 at 1:45 AMSorry, I didn't mean to imply that everyone should be transcribing the podcasts. What I meant was that if you're one of those learners that NEEDS TO KNOW everything that's being said, then that's a powerful motivation to do the transcript yourself.
I actually think it's better if you can not worry about the words you miss that don't seem crucial, get just the gist, and keep listening to more and more input. But not every learner can do it that way.
Posted on: Taking the Plunge into Intermediate
December 31, 2011 at 1:33 AMHey, welcome back!
It really helps to have a goal... Something that motivates you, and keeps your interest. I'm not sure vocabulary lists can be that!
Posted on: Focus and Specialization
December 29, 2011 at 8:40 AMGood to hear!
I remember when I was learning Japanese, the teacher forced us to do transcripts of audio for homework. At the time I felt it was rather agonizing, listening to the same 5-second clip 10, 20, or even 50 times. But it really did help. The struggle itself IS learning.
Posted on: Focus and Specialization
December 29, 2011 at 8:37 AMThank you, Siteng! You get what we're trying to do. :)
Posted on: Focus and Specialization
December 28, 2011 at 7:49 AMIf you're learning Chinese to use it, the real world also doesn't present you with Chinese in a logical, systematic manner. But there are trends, you can control to some extent what input you are exposed to, and there are certainly recurring patterns and high-frequency vocabulary. This is the way we try to do it at ChinesePod too.
Posted on: Birthday on the Lunar Calendar
January 20, 2012 at 1:23 AM上下文 (shàngxiàwén) is often translated as context, and it's a cool expression, quite understandable from the characters. It's the more traditional term, and seems very appropriate for text.
语境 (yǔjìng), literally, "language environment," is the more modern term for "linguistic context." It's the word you would hear a lot in a modern discussion on second language acquisition.