User Comments - Lantian
Lantian
Posted on: All About Measure Words
October 18, 2007 at 5:37 PMROUNDABOUT - I can still distinctly remember my frustration in learning English when I was told to look up a word in a dictionary, "but I don't know how to spell it!" "flem" how to you spell it?! "nauxious" "paradime" How do Chinese look up a measure word for a noun? It's not in the dictionaries...... Do they just ask others, kinda like how I used to always ask "How do you spell 'flem'?" 请问，如果中国人要查一查一个动字的量子，你们真么查？或者就问一问别人？ 给你们一小考试：这个东西的量子是什么？ computer mouse Segway zombie 你们用什么方法查对？
Posted on: Yang Jie's Diary: Date with a Nerd
October 17, 2007 at 12:27 PMI think Ken is having anxiety attacks about his daughter growing up!
Posted on: Yang Jie's Diary: Date with a Nerd
October 17, 2007 at 12:26 PMHi bbbjbw, As a long time listener of Cpod I just remember all the shows, but the search function on the system sometimes doesn't show the full glory of all the content. I'm sure the Version 4 initiatives will improve on this. As a short term fix, maybe a simple page that just lists all the titles...would give a better idea of the depth of things. Search terms: piao, airport Newbie - Buying Train Tickets Intermediate - Booking a Plane Ticket Elementary - A Ticket to Suzhou Newbie - Lost Luggage Newbie - Hotel Essentials Newbie - Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn Intermediate - Introducing Hotels Newbie - Taxi Conversations: Destination As a teaser, there's also a whole genre tackling plumbing problems..a (not) pretty real-world China topic!
Posted on: Finding the Teacher
October 11, 2007 at 4:07 PMA Chinese man years ago said to me, we're buddies, stop saying 'ni hao' and just say 'zenme yang'.
Posted on: Finding the Teacher
October 9, 2007 at 3:13 PMIMO - I love characters, always have since day one. On paper it is a bore/chore no doubt. But online it is exposure and a copy and paste away to comprehension. For those that don't know, this site will give you pop up pinyin/English. http://www.adsotrans.com/ I see being exposed to characters as akin to having someone talk to you in Chinese, you have to find ways to deal with what you don't know. Online it's easy. Just wait till you hit the real world. :)
Posted on: Something to Do Tomorrow
October 9, 2007 at 6:55 AMHi Gaojian, I also hear mang 忙 a lot, but I would disagree that it would be better to use than 有事。I have been in many situations where I know that the other person was trying to be polite with me, and they choose to use ‘you shi'. It has taken me a while to get used to it, as in English it's more polite to say "I'm sorry, I'm really busy tommorrow" rather than "I'm sorry, I have something" to do, and then not explain with specifics, like "I have this other meeting I really have to attend." etc. I've also noticed that people seem to react better when I say "you shi" rather than "mang". With mang it seems people feel compelled to followup and try to reschedule, etc. In fact, maybe I'd translate it to English as "Sorry, I've got to take care of some things tommorrow," in terms of lining up the cultural nuances. IMO
Posted on: Beyond Or: Another Use of 还是 (háishi)
October 9, 2007 at 2:45 AMHINTING - This was a fabuloso lesson! I am going to try this on some gal pals... 你还是自己决定吧！ Ni haishi ziji jeuding ba! haha, Amber said "pro" sses. ;p
Posted on: Treating and Foreigners on TV
October 9, 2007 at 2:35 AMtypo on the "Ni" amiga, it should be "Mi". ...now people are gonna beat up my espanol...哈哈。
Posted on: Treating and Foreigners on TV
October 9, 2007 at 2:32 AMNi amiga, hola Amber, 1) Can you introduce me to this wonderful woman who picks up the tab!? 2) "dinking"/"deke'ing" wah? Is that spelt right? 假客气. Such good vocab here. 3) I have had to vehemently deny that "AA" comes from U.S. slang. Anyone know where it comes from? 4) I was at a Thailand wedding once in a remote fishing village when our Canadian buddy got up in the singing section of the wedding and belted out "O'Canada"....
Posted on: All About Measure Words
October 19, 2007 at 3:48 AMNIC - the disinformation you do luv to provide. Although you are correct that my use of 或者 in that sentence was wrong, I noticed it as I typed, and after hitting submit, but of course there is no way to edit here. First, it does me NO good to censor or limit my own talking. Two, it really will not mess up any other learners. Unless maybe they sit there and chant my sentences over 200 times, ommmm. From a case study, Indeed, when fussy parents or meddling experimenters do provide children with feedback, the children tune it out. The psycholinguist Martin Braine once tried for several weeks to stamp out one of his daughter's grammatical errors. Here is the result: Child: Want other one spoon, Dady. Father: You mean, you want THE OTHER SPOON. Child: Yes, I want other one spoon, please, Daddy. Father: Can you say "the other spoon"? Child: Other....one...spoon. Father: Say..."other." Child: Other. Father: "Spoon". Child: spoon Father: "Other...Spoon." Child: Other...spoon. Now give me other one spoon? Nic, this shows the "effectiveness" of correct input in some situations...do you have an spoons? Something to think about #2. If "correct input" is the key to language development, why do kids go thru periods where they say screwy things like, Play checkers. Big drum. I got horn. A bunny-rabbit walk. What that paper clip doing. Write a piece of paper. What that egg doing? I wonder if parent's language gets messed up by listening to their kids? Do kids mess up other kids by listening to other kids? Everyone spend time using and experimenting with your language, it's fun and you'll learn. 大家的第二语要试一试和多用，这个学法又是好玩又用！ （*warning nic, don't read that last part, I've never said or read that phrase before and I probably made an error!!) Lastly, back to more useful info. Anybody out there know how to look up a measure word? Is a seemingly random lookup of the noun in Google/Yahoo the only way?