User Comments - abelle

Posted on: Introducing New Voices

Cathering and Jenny: It is interesting to hear about the teaching situation in Shanghai. It is the same here at the school where I'm taking Chinese classes in the Washington DC area. At a previous area university, I had a female teacher from Taiwan for Chinese 101. At this current school, all the teachers are female. So far I have had 2 female teachers (one from Taiwan and the other one from Mainland China) and next quarter I will start with another female teacher from Taiwan. The program head and her assistant are women and so are the rest of the teaching staff. There was a male teacher--from Beijing-- here last summer, but he has since left. So I am getting the impression that at least where I live, there is also a definite imbalance when it comes to Chinese teachers--the ladies rule!

Posted on: Revisiting Before and After

My Chinese teachers tell me that no Chinese person would ever have a family name based on a tool. So one of my teachers gave me the Chinese family name of 和 Hé​, which means harmony, peace, calm, etc. I like it and so gladly use Hé whenever I introduce myself during practice dialogues in class.

Posted on: Thoughts on Returning Home 回乡偶书

Our teacher just today introduced us to Li Bai's poetry and I remembered when I got home that ChinesePod had this Poems with Pete lesson set.  Our teacher read to us and we enjoyed the slow rhythm; it was almost hypnotic.  Then I heard Connie reading this poem also in the same manner.  Loved it!   I had never been interested in Chinese poetry although I have been studying Chinese off and on for about 2 years, but today my eyes were really opened to it.  So our teacher (who is originally from Harbin) may not like teaching us grammar and would rather teach us about poetry, but at least our class is learning something new about China.  Are there any plans to revive this poetry series with another host?

Posted on: Using 除了。。。以外 (Chúle... Yǐwài)

I appreciate these older Qingwen lessons.  I use them to supplement the grammar lessons in my Integrated Chinese textbooks.  I find that my teachers at the school I attend (from both Taiwan and Mainland China) consider grammar the most uninteresting part of teaching Chinese and often gloss over it.  They tell us adult learners not to try to rationalize every pattern and stress over using proper grammar every time we speak.  We should just start speaking.  One teacher said that when Chinese kids start learning to talk, they don't worry about grammar, they just copy what their parents and older siblings are saying. [That would be a great experience, but none of us students go home to a Chinese-speaking household!]   Anyway, I enjoy these Qingwen lessons which show that learning grammar doesn't have to be a chore.  All the speakers seem to have a lot of fun.  Thanks Chinesepod!

Posted on: Extreme Chinese - 不得了 (bùdéliǎo)

I just learned 不得了 last week in my Chinese 102 class and enjoyed trying it out, especially last Friday when I saw people around the school dressed up for Halloween.  I was pleased to see there was this fun Qing Wen lesson about it from 2 years ago.  I enjoyed listening to Connie, Amber, and Clay giving us sample sentences.  A belated thank you!

Posted on: Trick or Treat!

When my teacher told us a few days ago that there was actually a Chinese word for Halloween, I was really surprised as I didn't think the Chinese cared about that celebration. (I don't think of it as a holiday as here in the US we don't get it off if it falls during a weekday.) On Friday, we saw people walking around the school dressed up and I was able to use one of my new vocab words, which I like a lot: "de bu deliao!" This morning I brought leftover candy to the language school, and my fellow students and teachers too I'm sure, enjoyed them very much. It was my late Wànshèngjié gift to them.

Posted on: Slippery Ground

Sebire: I appreciate your advice, not just for paulinurus, but for all of us. I don't think completing any more than 100 Elem lessons would do any good for me. I have been listening to the Intermediate lessons during my commute (about an hour) every day just to see if I can understand more of what Jenny is saying each time I listen. I have been listening to about a dozen lessons over and over again and I think I do understand her a little more each time. I haven't looked at the dialogue or vocab pages yet; I just thought listening would give me an soft introduction. So I'm dipping a toe into the Intermediate pool right now instead of diving right in. I hope to dive in at the end of the year.

Posted on: Slippery Ground

Yes, I have noticed that words I have never seen before seem to pop up quite a bit in Elem lessons. I look for them in the vocal and supplementary vocab lists, but don't see them. So sometimes I do get frustrated about this aspect of an Elem lesson.

I am one of the Poddies who will be transitioning to Intermediate lessons. I have about 85 lessons done, so theoretically once I hit 100 lessons, I should be able to move onto Intermediate.

Posted on: A Stroll through the Hutongs

Siyi, this happens to me often. Chinese is the fifth language I have studied. Tagalog is my native language, then I learned English when I came to the US at 5 years old, studied French in high school, and Spanish in college. When I try to translate a word from English to Chinese, first either the Tagalog or the Spanish word will come up in my brain, then finally the Chinese word. In my current school's language department, the French and Spanish classes are near the student lounge and I must walk past them going to and from my Chinese class. I often hear these languages being spoken as the doors are open. One day I arrived at my Chinese class and instead of saying "shi", I said "oui". Another day I said "yo" instead of "wo". It is still a work of progress for me.

Posted on: National Day Holiday

Johan, I agree with you about having a hard time hearing the tones. When my teacher or speakers on the language CDs/tapes speak slowly (for us beginners), I can hear the tones just fine. But when the speakers are fast, I don't pick up on them at all, whether they're on a recording, a television program, or even a "live" native speaker. In our language department lounge/break room, there often are Chinese language teachers speaking to each other or to their more advanced students and I CANNOT pick up on the tones when they are speaking so fast. (Okay, so sometimes I eavesdrop). In the meantime, the teacher has me working on my tones whenever I read out loud in class, so I'm trying . . .