User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

John and Pete,

Gotcha.Sorry for being so tedious.I certainly wasn't being critical and was just trying to get it clear.I'll look at it as something historical,cultural,and beautiful,and a wonderful thing to study in it's own right and not to be mixed up with the rest of my modern Chinese.Sounds like a more complex transition than the English used by Shakespeare till today [which was only 400 years ago ],and yet people don't go around talking that brand of English in the main any more.Yeah,I'm very impressed with the show,and can't wait for the next one.It's wonderful the product of a talented person who's working on something they're obviously passionate about.Jiayou Pete.

Posted on: Chinese Birthdays and Local Hospitals

Regarding the childs first birthday and what he/she reaches for on the table telling something about his/her future.I just came across this passage in "Dream of the Red Chamber":

"On the first anniversary of his birth,his father,wishing to get an indication of his character,set out all manner of things before him to see what he would reach for.Well,the child ignored everything else and picked up the powder and rouge.Cheng Lao-yeh was displeased and grumbled that the boy would grow up to be a dissolute and licentious sort.Therefore ,he does not care much for the son."

...and I thought,aha,that's exactly what I learnt from this old DA show.Seems like it's quite an old tradition then.

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

Thanks for your patience Pete.Now I've got a much clearer idea.So I take it that when you do these poems you are using the modern pronunciation,and thus we can add it to our vocab.In fact I think what you are saying [and please correct me if I'm wrong here] is that we can rely on the characters,pronunciations,and meanings,in fact just add the whole thing to our modern language aquisition,with a few notable exceptions.If that is right then it would be great if these exceptions would be pointed out in future episodes [on the board here] ,and the rest can be filed away as new modern Chinese.Great.Am I on the right wavelength here ? Sorry to ask again ,but I just wanted to be clear and sure.Cheers :)

ps I'm assuming that as it's poetry ,then just as in English,the grammar/structure is going to be different to some extent than usual speech and thus am not worried about this aspect.I'm just interested in what vocab is valid these days.

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

Pete,

Thanks.I'm not sure if I was very clear in my question,and possibly any confusion stems from ignorance on my part [as I essentially know diddly squat about this subject though you've definitely sparked a big interest ].While I am usually interested in etymology,that isn't exactly what I was trying to drive at here.I just want to know 3 things.I want to know which characters used in these poems are still valid to use today.Secondly I want to know which pronunciations are still used today.And thirdly I want to know which meanings are valid today.Put simply,I just want to be clear about what I can add to my modern vocab and what I can just leave in the poetry section of my memory to be kept separate.I suppose in my ignorance I'm making some assumptions.I'm assuming that some things have changed and some things are exactly the same today and still valid to use.But perhaps everything has changed.But if this is still too complicated ,then fair enough,I'll just enjoy the poetry but keep it's vocab as something separate and not to be added to my speech aquisition.Sorry for any possible confusion,or if there is no confusion,then sorry for re-posing the same question.None of this will stop me enjoying your show for the great thing it is in it's own right.Cheers :)

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

Pete delivers,and way more!

This was so good on so many levels.It started with the great into in Baker street.The audio was so clear on this,extra clear which set the perfect ambiance for poetry.The pace was perfect as was the diction.Pete made it so interesting with his background information introducing the poem.Then Jiaojie's voice was so beautiful,her diction so clear,and the pace so perfect not just for learners,but more importantly it was the right slower pace for such a beautiful poem.Yeah,the poem itself was not only beautiful in it's meaning ,but Jiaojie made it sound so beautiful.I've never heard Chinese sound quite so beautiful.The background Chinese music during the poem was perfect also.I liked the format of introduction,poem line by line,dissection,and then the poem and outro at the end.I thought the length was just right for this sort of thing.I didn't feel cut off or shortchanged.It made it very digestible and removed any intimidation less confident people may have.Poetry like this gets one in a dreamy ponderous mood and it made me feel like going over it again.But in other respects it did leave me wanting more...just can't wait for the next episode.The only thing I would say I'd like to see extra would be this.I recognised many of the characters and some of the words.I gather from Pete's last comment that some of the words have changed their meaning over the centuries.I would just request that this be pointed out [in the discussion on the boards here,not in the podcast itself which would be too disruptive probably] so I'm not learning words in the poem that now have different meanings.

I've just had the chance now to look at the video also.What a crackup.哈哈。Well done.Very touching also.I liked having the characters and pinyin with tones there as the poem was being recited again.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 7: A Firing Afoot?

Yeah,I hope no-one is learning all these alternates for 解雇 first hand.This is one time where you don't want experience to be your teacher.Live long and prosper ! [How do you say that in Chinese ?? 长寿和繁荣 ?? ]

Posted on: Guided Plan Gets Better! Plus: Poetry is Pending

哈蛤：

"chickens flying, dogs jumping 鸡飞狗跳" means "chaos"？

Pete,I know what you mean by it dying out and all that,but I love sayings and expressions like that.Magic stuff.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 7: A Firing Afoot?

John,

Thanks for such a great explanation.I see exactly what you mean.Only a great teacher can explain something so concisely and clearly [in what could easily have turned into something complicated and confusing in other hands].So I think if I was just talking about my table I would still use 我的桌子，but that wasn't the sentence/grammatical structure here.

Yeah,I've noticed heaps of vocab from recent lessons which is really helping as I don't have the time to go over each lesson multiple times till I've completely mastered them,and it's also rewarding seeing what you have retained when they turn up in new lessons.

Posted on: Seeing Somebody to the Door

Pete,

oops.Thanks for pulling me up on this one.I was getting 请 ing someone to dinner mixed up with the similar concept of 送 ing someone a gift.I've got it clear now thanks.

sushan,

hehe.Yeah,I think people in the west would give more of a reaction.Just goes to show how cool they are in China.I like more of an anything goes attitude.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 7: A Firing Afoot?

One of the really useful things I'm finding about these dialogues,is not just the new vocab,but new ways of combining old vocab.

比如: 你，是，和 说  are all simple newbie words ,and while it makes sense that combining them into 你是说 means "you are saying" ,until you actually see that written,one can't always be confident that it  will be a valid combination.[Of course with a limited vocab you have to try and put together what you have to try and get your message across,but it's with the knowledge that their is sometimes a risk that what you say will either not make sense or worse,be misinterpreted].So it's nice to see how the building blocks you have can be constructed into small phrases or even just into new words like 员 和 工 into  员工

A question about the first sentence in the expansion section.I thought I had the "de" thing understood to a degree and I know it has been discussed at length before,but can someone explain to me why 我桌子 isn't 我的桌子 .I thought you mainly dropped the de to indicate closeness like in close family and friends [I suppose if he's an internet addict he may feel very close to his 电脑 和 the 桌子 on which his 电脑 sits,but I doubt this is the explanation ].Not that it causes any confusion in interpretation here,but I just thought I'd clarify.