User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Los Angeles

I'd also be interested to know what they call the bears in those parts [black and grizzly's] .As the panda gets called xióngmāo,with the māo part referring to cat,are they also going to the big grizzly a cat? I believe bears are more closely related to dogs than cats.

Posted on: Los Angeles

I'd also love a lesson on Vancouver.I went there last year and thought it was a fabulous piàoliang place.I think I read somewhere that Vancouver has one of the largest Chinese populations outside of China ,so it also seems very relevent.

Posted on: Los Angeles

Thanks Calkins,

Do any of these allow you to type directly into ,for example ,this discussion ,without having to copy and paste ? I appreciate the help mate.

Posted on: Trip to the Vegetable Market

Talking about fruit reminds me of an experience I had.I had been to Singapore once before on holidays as a kid.I had a brief stopover there a couple of years ago and on my first day went to a restaurant for lunch.After lunch I went outside to stretch my legs and was suddenly hit by this strong and distinctive smell.Immediately I recognised the smell and knew it was durian but couldn't see it anywhere.Like Fred Flintstone ,I followed my nose over 50m up the mall ,and sure enough ,behind a pillar there was this guy slicing up durian with a big knife.It was amazing to me because it had been over 30 years since I'd encountered that distinctive smell,and I had been so immediately sure that it was durian, but it obviously had made a lasting impression.Perhaps just another reason it has earnt the title of "King of fruits".

Posted on: Trip to the Vegetable Market

I understand what others refer to as the potential problems of guerilla style shooting,but one thing I did like about it ,particularly in a video like this with a trip to the market,was that it made it feel like it was just a slice of everyday life in China ,and not as staged as it could have been if shot differently.I thought this was great.I would particularly like to also hear live unrehearsed audio conversations on the streets with vendors to give as much realism as possible,but realise that if some aren't too sure on video quality,then audio quality out on the streets may be even more challenging.Perhaps this could be backed up both by pdf ,and the other usual lesson tags.Anyhow great to see CPod have been listening to the requests.I'm also excited that John has mentioned that new formats will be tried,as I think the more variety in the video formats the better.Keep up the good work guys,and thanks.

Posted on: Traffic

Bùkèqi ,pauljazon

I'm only a newbie,but would have thought/seem to have noticed that when you write pinyin with the tones written in numbers,they seem to go after each pinyin syllable [for want of a better word],so that I wouldn't expect any converter to accept it after just the first letter.But best to confirm with others on this.

Posted on: Traffic

Hi pauljazon,

I had the same question the other day and got the answer from xiaohu to whom we owe our thanks:

Follow this link:

http://www.qualitylanguage.com/pinyin_converter.htm

Posted on: Rock, Scissors, Cloth

aha;lol.Now I understand where I went wrong a few weeks ago at a Chinese restaurant.At the end of the meal I wanted to compliment the staff on a wonderful meal ,and thought I was using the word xi3huan to indicate like.The waitress seemed to perfectly understand me and replied "you want to wash the dishes" which sounded more like a statement than a question.My family were in fits of laughter at this,while I was scratching my head trying to figure how I could have got it so wrong.It was a very large restaurant ,so it was lucky that they let me off the hook this time.Thanks Ken for contrasting the xi3wan3 with xi3huan.Nothing quite like learning from one's mistakes.

Posted on: Street Argument

@standuke,

Thanks mǎte.I'll definitely check out that lesson on tones.You made me laugh with the dude example;love it .Yep,I'm sure it would work with mate;lol.

Posted on: Los Angeles

xiaohu,

Thanks again for that link:

http://www.qualitylanguage.com/pinyin_converter.htm

wǒ xǐhuan.Xièxie nǐ.