User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Ice Cream Run

"Nevermind"

..oh, that's a shame. I was hoping we could get somewhere with this. I'm was pretty sure you'd have something illuminating to share with us from your experience, but as it stands I'm not much the wiser. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that you don't have some good points to make, but it's very hard to agree with broad absolute sweeping dismissals ..."never", "none of it". What?..are we learning a completely different language here then? We need to put your experiences in context to find out what they mean, and what we can learn from them.

"because you have yet to travel there"

..yes, I completely agree, that would be the best, but it's not currently possible for me and I was so hoping to hit the ground running with something useful when I do make it thee, to have learnt both from CPod and the poddie community, not to find that they don't speak a word of anything that I have learnt outside of China if your assertion were true. So none of my experience talking to Chinese folk here means anything because we're not actually in China? ...they totally change the language the moment they step off the plane?

"or other countries"

..I don't recall saying I haven't travelled to other countries [I have] and am unsure what relevance that would have to Chinese [but if you want to diverge from Chinese, I have some experience of speaking French in France and New Caledonia if that means anything]. In fact I have been to Taiwan, but I had no Chinese under my belt at the time, just a phrasebook on me. I found this very useful as I travelled around and managed to make myself understood in very simple circumstances. I didn't strike this "we never use any of that" then.

"even the advanced lessons on here seem to slow"

oh, ok I have wondered about this in the past. I'll have to listen again, but I'm not under a strong impression that there's that much of a difference between Advanced and Media. I'd love to know from our hosts whether they feel like they're slowing it down at that level. Clearly it is significantly slowed down at the lower levels. But I'm not under the impression that there's any obvious difference at those levels compared with films, overhearing Chinese talking amongst themselves. Anyhow, interesting. Still, why don't you just jump into Media then? You may well have a valid point though. Perhaps you're not up to Media, but you just want the stuff at whatever level you are at faster. This has been debated before. Others complain the other way..it's too fast they say. Thus, I have to agree that just speeding it up with the levels makes most sense.

I just did a spot of ground research on the icecream thing [even though I didn't feel like any..it's winter here..but I put my waistline on the line all in aid of a good cause..language research]. So I asked a Chinese food vendor how you say "ice cream" in Chinese. Her immediate reply was bingqiling. Any other ways I asked?..."bingqiling"...others?...oh, "bangbing"..others?...no. Then went and asked an Chinese lady...xuěgāo...oh, here we go I thought. I might be onto something. Turns out she's Cantonese and doesn't speak much Mandarin. But yes, the alternatives she gave were bingqiling or bingjiling. So, I wouldn't be so dismissive of the vocab here. I just think you're likely right where an alternative might be what they go for, but it doesn't invalidate all else IMHO

Posted on: I'm gonna be Late

我在读中文播客那么长，那么多的评论，一定会迟到了

Posted on: Ice Cream Run

wenjong,

"though was unavailable to me with my paper dictionary in hand looking to take a bus from JinShan mountain in Beijing back to our hotel near Tian'an men square"

...good point. Sorry, I wasn't thinking of that when I made the suggestion. I was speaking in more general terms.

"does anyone besides me notice I am at Elementary level and never post in pinyin and characters!"

..no, I hadn't noticed, and besides, English is required in the post at Ele level, so that's why I think most do in those Ellie threads.

"really was a local city bus, and they were all saying bashi"

...oh, interesting. The thing with google images on the odd occasion I've used it for that is that sometimes you will immediately get a very clear idea of a significant difference, other times it will appear they're interchangeable terms you're comparing, and then there are the times like this when you get an impression of a minor distinction.

"and looked at me quizzically and with zero understanding when I said gong gong qi che"

..oh, that's interesting. I have struck this sort of thing and I can't quite fathom it. I mean I can understand some term becoming the usual one, but I'm surprised when what seems like would be a common word isn't even acknowledged. It can be hard to know at times whether it's a pronunciation/ tone thing, but you think context would help there and end up giving it away. I think if one can, it's interesting to find out why such a word is a no go in their book. Also, verifying they've heard you right by writing the characters [here I think an electronic dictionary, such as you can get for a smartphone is invaluable...or a paper dictionary like you had].

"gong gong qi che (which I like to say by the way! :D)"

hehe, yeah, it's probably my kids fav word also. It has a cool ring to it.

"those buses (gong jiao che image) that look like insects with antennae, go out of the city"

..yeah, well I think the caption made it sound like they were local buses, but I was on a bus in taiwan just like that that was used for a day trip that went out of the city...I wouldn't have called it a long distance coach, but it wasn't like a local bus either...perhaps somewhat inbetween.

Posted on: I'm gonna be Late

wo zai kandu zhongwen boke name chang, name duo de taolun, yiding hui chidaole

Posted on: I'm gonna be Late

ok, just had a listen. Firstly I'd say that Dilu is awesome and Jenny makes a great point when she says:

"as someone whose native language isn't English, it's hard to draw the fine line" and

"she is an extremely respectful young lady who isn't out there to offend anyone"

..is surely beyond doubt. So I agree any objections should be pointed out as nicely as possible.

I didn't personally find it offensive at all but like wangqiu above I can understand how it may be offensive to some and I respect that. I think another consideration is this. I'm under the impression that CPod promotes it's products to schools. Not only that, but I also think that most would agree the younger you start to learn a second language the better. So, I would think a litmus test of whether the language is appropriate would be whether it would be ok for a primary school child to use the language in front of his/her teacher. Also worth bearing in mind that this litmus test will likely have different results in different regions, even different schools in the same region. The argument that we're all learning language here doesn't really hold water because this was an English word that was brought to question, not any Chinese word. So anyhow, not easy to keep everyone happy..that is very much understood, but also, as it was English, perhaps the question needs to be raised whether it was necessary or not.

I don't really go for the thing about checking with John mainly because, and I could be wrong here, I'm under the impression that much of the podcast isn't scripted. I suspect they have a framework they're going by, but I don't think it's fully scripted and if it isn't I wouldn't want it changed to fully scripted as a natural discussion is best ..most interesting and engaging...if it is scripted they do a mighty fine job of making it sound like a natural discussion. I think perhaps a better solution would be just a pg 13 warning somewhere as CPod does on occasion.

Finally I don't think this above debate should preclude a lesson, as waiguoren has mentioned above, on more colourful language as even the title of such a lesson should give away that those who are easily offended may not want to tune in to it. It would only require a pg13 rating.

Posted on: I'm gonna be Late

great expression babyeggplant...where'd you pick it up from?

Posted on: I'm gonna be Late

thanks for that mate. I'll keep that in mind and keep more of an eye on this 呢. The first usage I learnt of it was 你呢？ as in, ..and how about you? I guess this "how" comes under alternative interrogative. I thought I had seen a wider use of it than this rule, but I really don't know, was just being a bit monkey see, monkey do, hehe, and therein lies the problem with that method...you don't get it right if you're not paying enough attention. Thanks, that gives me something to go with. I'm not far off studying an old QW on it, so hopefully I'll have a better handle on it then. :)

Posted on: I'm gonna be Late

hey, great to see you still around Jason. 你最近怎么样？喜欢台湾呢？Thanks for explaining that. Yeah, that's a great expression, I like it. I erroneously thought babyeggplant's comment was flowing on from the above conversation. I don't know why but I also thought maybe she was translating an English expression. I better listen to this lesson now and see if it came up there. It's piqued my interest. Thanks again mate. :)

Posted on: I'm gonna be Late

What I'm not sure of particularly is it's application in Chinese culture. I think it would likely apply to extending an assignment deadline at school/ uni, or a project deadline in a company setting. Whether it applies to rolling up late to work or to an appointment, I don't know. I've heard it's not good form and that even for a social meeting folk usually turn up quite early. I wonder if anyone can shed any light on it in the turning up late setting?

Posted on: I'm gonna be Late

I don't think it should be a matter of taking sides. Everyone has a different opinion on such issues and I think despite user16460's assertion above I think a majority of people have a line in the sand beyond which they'd find something on the offensive side [eg particularly where it started to giving the gravest insults to one's mother], where that point on the spectrum is showing some wide variation amongst different folk. I think the important thing here is mutual respect, respect for someone's viewpoint even if it is vastly different to your own, not taking sides.