User Comments - abelle

Posted on: Can I smoke here?

Chinesepod seems to work okay in the mornings (like now) and early to mid-afternoon.  Then around 4 pm (I live on the East Coast of the US and don't know what time it would be in Shanghai), the fatal error problems start.  I go and have dinner and try it again around 7 pm, but the problem seems to have even gotten worse.  Last night I just gave up and went to read an English-language novel, even though I would have liked to have continued studying Chinese.

Posted on: Fruit Basket of Cause-Effect

Ni hao:  I enjoyed this segment.  I studied Spanish for 2 years before starting my Mandarin Chinese studies.  It's funny that whenever I'm doing the Audio Review and the vocab words come up, sometimes the first thing that comes to my mind are the Spanish words, not the Chinese!  In my tests at school, a few times I wrote "yo" instead of "wo". Liliana to me has a similar personality like Latinas I know:  fun, self-deprecating, a little silly.  :-)  Our tour guide in Costa Rica was somewhat like that.  And as for studying Spanish and getting girls, it worked for my younger brother who studied Spanish for 4 years since he was 12 or 13 years old, and did an immersion course one summer in Tarragona.  In fact, it was so successful that it became very distracting for his studies and my parents have sent him to an all-boys boarding school to finish high school! Zaijian.  --Mystic

Posted on: Bean: Volunteering and Making a Difference in Shanghai

Another great show!  I enjoyed hearing about the volunteer opportunities in Shanghai.  I can relate because as long as I can remember, my parents have always volunteered.  First they volunteered at church, but then became involved in other organizations.  My father, who has a full-time job as an engineer, volunteers as an Spanish interpreter one evening a week at a clinic for poor immigrants.  My mom, who is a quilter,  makes quilts for families of soldiers killed in Iraq and for injured soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC.  I have helped her with this quilting.  When I was younger, I also raised money for Children International. As always, I look forward to more stories about life in Shanghai.  Thanks, Jenny!  --Mystic

Posted on: Being Seated in a Restaurant

Ni hao:  I know this lesson was published almost 3 years ago but I hope someone can answer my question.  In this lesson, nar 哪儿 is used a lot, instead of nali 哪里.

What is the difference between the two?  I have looked at a dictionary but according to it,  both words mean "where".

Xie xie.  --Mystic

Posted on: Learn From Failure: Joe Constanty

I enjoyed this segment.  I know some ambitious friends who are getting their MBAs at joint US-Chinese universities, such as the executive MBA program at Kellogg-HKUST. I wonder where they will end up, if they'll make a big impact in China someday.

Posted on: It's Stopped Raining

Hello, I have been trying to study Chinesepod for a couple of hours, but have been getting a lot of errors.  For example, when I try to get to this lesson's exercises, I get this error message

"
Fatal error: Uncaught exception 'Zend_Db_Adapter_Exception' with message 'SQLSTATE[HY000] [2005] Unknown MySQL server host 'db.chinesepod.com' (2)' in /var/www/vhosts/chinesepod.com/releases/20090927032327/library/Zend/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Abstract.php:131 Stack trace: #0 /var/www/vhosts/chinesepod.com/releases/20090927032327/library/Zend/Db/Adapter/Abstract.php(380): Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Abstract->_connect() #1 /var/www/vhosts/chinesepod.com/releases/20090927032327/library/Zend/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Abstract.php(206): Zend_Db_Adapter_Abstract->query('SET NAMES 'utf8...', Array) #2 /var/www/vhosts/chinesepod.com/releases/20090927032327/html/index.php(32): Zend_Db_Adapter_Pdo_Abstract->query('SET NAMES 'utf8...') #3 {main} thrown in /var/www/vhosts/chinesepod.com/releases/20090927032327/library/Zend/Db/Adapter/Pdo/Abstract.php on line 131"

I am getting similar error messages with other Newbie lessons.  Something must be wrong because I have been a subscriber since early May and have never had such problems.  It's been frustrating.

Can Chinesepod look into this?  Meanwhile, I'll log off, eat dinner and maybe when I come back there'll be an improvement.

--Mystic

Posted on: SKRITTER!!!

Hi, I'm really enjoying the Skritter function!  Thank you for adding it to ChinesePod.  It reminds me a bit of the Etch A Sketch toy I had when I was a little kid.  It's a lot of fun.  Xiexie.

Posted on: Jewish Holiday

I wish I could read this lesson but I am still a Newbie.  My father is Jewish, his grandfather came to the US from Poland around 1915.  My father doesn't practice Judaism anymore but we do celebrate a couple of the holidays:  Passover and Hanukkah.   My dad doesn't observe Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, though.  I hope one day to get to the Intermediate level and be able to study this lesson.  Maybe by then you'll have other lessons on Jewish holidays?

Posted on: Taking a Shower

My family has always taken showers at night so the Chinese way is not unusual at all.  We all have allergies (hay fever, animal dander, mold/mildew, etc.) and our doctors advised us to shower to take off all the pollen, dander and whatever else we are allergic to before we go to sleep.  

Posted on: A Mouse Upstairs

Ni hao:  I am starting to study again after a month-long break due to vacation.  I like the new exercise format.  It reminds me of what the laoshi used in the Chinese 101 course I took at my local college last year.  I just keep doing the exercises until I get them 100% correct, so I feel more challenged now.  Thank you for the improvements!  --Mystic