User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: In a Moment

Baha17,

I think the translations are all shown by default,but yes,there is a way to hide them all and then reveal them one at a time when you're ready.To the right of the exercises tab you will see a little grey cogwheel symbol.Click on that and there should be a radio tab to click so that you're then hiding the translations.Let me know if there are any further probs with it.Cheers.

Posted on: Pleco, Anki and Activity Streams! Plus, Fishing!

Communicating through touch:

..discussed here

Posted on: Pleco, Anki and Activity Streams! Plus, Fishing!

Some Mandarin learning foetuses may soon be joining us on Twitter:

"Kickbee is designed by a father who could not stand around waiting till the nine month period was over to get closer to his child. The device designed by Corey Menscher is worn around the abdomen by the expectant mother. Movements of the foetus are translated into detectable voltages which are then transmitted by an Arduino Mini microcontroller. It has a Java application which receives the sensor values, analyses and posts a message on Twitter via MackBook Pro. Unfortunately, the application is still in the infancy stage and the mother is required to be within Bluetooth range for the wireless connection to be made."

Gee,to think that by the time they're born they'll have overtaken me.Just as well it's not a race,hehe.

Posted on: How Long?

licha,

I was just following CPod policy [not to mention your insistence] by posting the pinyin and it's translation,and was indicating that I was retiring for the night and logging out,and the wan3 an1 was no attempt at being patronising [it seems nicer than the English good night IMHO].I have no doubt that your French and German is light years ahead of mine and probably your Mandarin too.Believe me Ellie is my level.I am in way over my head at any higher level but enjoy the challenge and think it's good to try.You shouldn't put me in the same league as changye who is light years ahead of me.But at the end of the day I don't see the big deal about level here.What matters is how effective one's communication in Mandarin is and an understanding/appreciation of the culture IMHO. I actually have heaps to do but thanks for your concern.It just so happens that it is my favourite hobby though and chatting for me is a great way to learn about the culture and practice the language.This seems to be encouraged on the site and one of the valuable assets of CPod.It's a shame you don't wanna be my buddy because you seem like such an amiable chap,but it looks like it's gonna have to be a cross I'll have to bear.So why not learn to scroll if my posts are so objectionable to you? Take care.Despite your hostility I bear you no ill will and wish you all the best in all your endeavours :)

Posted on: How Long?

licha,

Nah.By your reasoning perhaps they should pay me not to blog.But thanks for the mention;I was starting to feel you were neglecting me when you didn't mention me in your last post,but I'm glad to see you still seem strangely drawn to me.Cheers buddy :) wan3 an1 [night peace...good night]

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 9: Wang Plans Revenge

bodawei,

No worries mate.No library;actually probably haven't seen it since about 1983 but it was such a classic you never forget it and the above discussion on hump reminded me of that line.I haven't heard of Austen Tayshus since so it's interesting to hear he's still around.I didn't know he was on the ABC recently but I'll have to see if I can find some footage now you've piqued my interest. Yeah;"Bill" at 2min 36 secs.Funny thing is I have a mate who's the spitting image of him.Even laughs and smiles the same.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 9: Wang Plans Revenge

I prefer this Chinese method of revenge to the western habit of suing."See who has the last laugh";hehe.

Yeah,I'm also keen to find out the answer to where the song comes from.I loved the soothing tones of the song which set the mood perfectly;sounded like the exact sort of quieter joint Lao Wang would go to drown his sorrows and plan his revenge.

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

Dog meat euphemisms to watch out for:

香肉...fragrant meat

地羊....earth mutton

三六香肉....3-6 fragrant meat [Cantonese due homophones]

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 9: Wang Plans Revenge

RJ,

Oh right.Thanks mate.Yeah,I would have thought it was more universal,but some of the above comments made me think perhaps it was not and thus I added the link to the video for some comic relief as well as illustration,but I realise now I should have put a warning that it has some crude references for those who are offended.btw I would never have misconstrued the use of hump in the context used in the translation here.I just thought it was funny if it's other use was not universally known.Actually as much as I'm with you in that from a learning point of view I like to understand the literal meaning first and then infer the idiomatic,I'm realising that the literal is accessible from any online dictionary [I love the scissors tool on mdbg] ,whereas the idiomatic is probably not so accessible.I'm not sure if I've ever heard "busted my hump" before,but I thought it's meaning was pretty clear in the context.But for any Americanisms I'm completely unfamiliar with,though I'm primarily here to learn Mandarin, I would see it as a bonus to learn some Americanisms along the way [though I agree with paulinurus that to refer a native English speaker,or even non native speaker to EPod purely for the sake of understanding an idiomatic Americanism somewhat patronising.However,I could be wrong,but I didn't take Pete's comment that way.I thought he was trying to kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak in his reply,and was addressing the EPod referral more to those who are trying to learn English,as there have been quite a few people advertise on the site for language partners etc,and seem to have welcomed the discovery of EPod].I'm actually enjoying the fact that this has caused a bit of a debate.It livens things up a bit and will probably also help the expression stick.The great thing about having these discussions is that we can easily quickly clarify what is meant by anything in the lesson or translation,and we can't fault CPod in their ready replies.I think as much is learnt from these discussions as from the lessons themselves.So thanks for all your posts Poddies and keep 'em coming.Jiayou.

Posted on: Tech Upgrades and Farming!

dunderklumpen,

hmm.Interesting point.The way it currently is of course,just using the right side of the page scroll button will not reveal the bottom half of exercise 2 usually and you need to use the second scroll button.But I must admit I have quite regularly had problems with this second scroll bar.Only yesterday,I was using it and had to continually refresh the page because everytime I scrolled things went chaotic and parts of questions were lost;it basically kept getting scrambled.Has anyone else had this problem?