User Comments - KennyK
KennyK
Posted on: Ordering a Steak
May 2, 2007 at 4:11 AMIn Taiwan, there are a few good steak restaraunts, but the taste and quality still cannot compare. Thankfully, we have Chili's and TGIF's here. :P ...BTW, I'm curious... which famous western restaraunts can you find througout Mainland China? AlexYe, I believe China uses slightly different terms for those foods, but in Taiwan those foods are called: gravy - 肉湯 (rou4 tang) fries - 薯條 (shu3 tiao2) mashed potatoes - 馬鈴薯泥 (ma3 ling2 shu3 ni2) burger - 漢堡 (han4 bao3)
Posted on: Ordering a Steak
May 2, 2007 at 2:20 AMVery useful lesson... I still remember the first time I was asked by a waiteress "ji3 fen?" when ordering steak. At the time, I only knew that expression is used for "How many points (on a test)?", so in my mind I quickly interpreted her question as "What grade of meat would you like?". So, I responded to her question with "A" (for Grade "A" meat)... :P ...Wish I had a camera to capture that confused look on her face forever. LOL
Posted on: The Glory of Labor
May 1, 2007 at 2:18 AMTaiwan doesn't have the Golden Week like China and Japan. In Taiwan, people only can take off work on May 1st. And... as for me... being a teacher... I even have to work on May 1st because students still have to go to class... not fair!!! not fair!!! :P
Posted on: Lesson
April 30, 2007 at 9:14 AM1. no difference between yidian and yidanr... they both mean "a little"... yidianr is more beijing dialect ("standard" mandarin) 2. zhongwen, zhongyu, putonghua are all terms for the mandarin chinese language. However, different places will use different terms for the referring to the language. Beijing - pu3 tong hua4 普通話 (official term) China - zhong wen2 中文 Taiwan - Guo2 yu3 國語 Singapore - Hua2 yu3 華語
Posted on: Requesting a Glass of Water
April 26, 2007 at 8:26 AM1. Living in Taiwan, everyone says 冰 (bing) for cold things...the service person will always ask "冰的還是熱的?" (bing de hai2 shi4 re4 de?) 2. Also, one common expression you will hear all the time in Taiwan is... "好冰喔!" (hao3 bing oh!) when touching something cold... :P
Posted on: 武林外传
April 22, 2007 at 4:40 AMI agree with no english in the advanced lessons, even i can't completely understand the simplified characters. well...a compromise could be maybe have the english translation in the form of an optional pop-up link
Posted on: Calling Roll
April 19, 2007 at 4:07 PM1. I keep reading these comments about downloads not working and crashing browsers in Internet Explorer, but I haven't had any problems with IE...I can download the mp3, play online, and whatever else....hmmmmm...very interesting... 2. I also agree with AlexYe...It makes more sense to configure it so that when you click on "Explore" the default page is your level's page... I very rarely listen to the Newbie levels more than once, so I don't need to see a list of past Newbie levels when I click on Explore :P
Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 12: The Breakup
April 19, 2007 at 3:49 PMI really enjoy the story lessons... I can't wait to try out these new key sentence patterns on my taiwanese girlfriend...LOL... By the way - Love the new site design (excellent use of real estate and great color scheme), however i miss the links to recent lessons on the home page (maybe, under the "find a lesson" section, could add one line listing the five previous lessons to be clicked on?)
Posted on: Parking Lot Rage
May 5, 2007 at 10:04 AMThanks for the great lesson ChinesePod...very usesul stuff. I gotta tell you, driving in Taiwan can be like driving in a battlefield. It can get crazy, especially during the rush hours. The streets are always crowded with scooters, cars, pedistrians, bicycles, taxis, etc...and there are certain unspoken rules that you won't know about until you come here and experience it yourself (this is not on any driving test). For example: 1. When you are on the road, it is a RACE. Somewhere there is a prize waiting for the winner. 2. Whoever honks first gets to use the intersection. No matter if the light is red, if you honk the horn before the other drivers, you have won the priveledge to go first. (this obviously is very illegal and causes many serious accidents) 3. On a scooter, swerving in and around cars and pedistrians is a priveledge to using a scooter and should be taken advantage of at all times. 4. Buses are bigger than anything else on the road - when they come near... get out of the WAY!!! (I learned this lesson the hard way as a bus nearly knocked me off my scooter) But, I can't complain, as I have learned to drive like a Taiwanese. "When in Rome, do as the Romans" right??? Although I don't believe I'm quite as bad as the average Taiwanese driver, I have heard my fair share of "Gan!!!" and, sometimes when they realize I'm a foreigner, they will scream "F#$% Y*&!!!"...SO RUDE!!! Now, I'm armed with useful expressions and ready to yell back...hehe...thanks ChinesePod!!! :P