User Comments - bababardwan

Posted on: Street Argument

Great lesson;不无聊！Not what I thought it would be [thought it would be the argument itself ,but that would be perhaps too much for newbie level ] but [hopefully] this is more relevent.I love the reduplication of verbs like kankan and the ba particle at the end.

This may sound naive,but I have read that public displays of anger are frowned upon by Chinese [mind you ,I'm not sure how acceptable it is in any culture ].I also found it interesting that the picture that went along with this lesson showed 2 foreigners arguing.From Ken's comments in the lesson about it being a bit of a spectator sport a decade or so ago ,it made me wonder if this coincided with more foreigners coming to China and arguing in public ,and if this was at the time a novelty for the Chinese?? I'm probably off on a tangent here,but was curious on others thoughts if there is any validity in this.

Posted on: Prescription Drugs and Overseas Chinese

Always interesting to read your entries Auntie68.What a great tale ! Keep them  coming please.

Posted on: New Lessons, Video, and Groups

I have to completely agree with light487.The DA show adds another dimension to CPod ,and is so entertaining because of Ambers great personality.To try and modify that would ,for me,make it less natural and perhaps start to sound staged.I think there is a presumption of a certain level of proficiency in English.I think it would be  impossible to cater for all in one website. From what I can ascertain,most who post on this site have at least  a good level of English ,and if it's hard to catch all Amber says,could perhaps use it as a challenge to improve their English at the same time.After all ,just as native Chinese speak very fast,so do native English speakers.That's the reality.

Posted on: Best Friends

ps

I notice both changye and Johns refer to Qingdao beer.I presume this the same as Tsingtao which is how the bottle is labelled here in Australia? Or is it another beer from Qingdao?

Posted on: Best Friends

This was a great lesson,one of my favourites.I thought the dialogue was both funny [best friends when drunk ] and very authentic.I have certainly seen that scene enacted before.I went to a party on the night of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony ,so it came in handy to be able to toast "Ganbei".For what it's worth,the only Chinese beer I could find here in Australia was Tsingtao.I don't drink except on rare special occasions,and am not particularly fond of beer,but found this one very pleasant.Is it drunk much in China? What would be the most popular Chinese beer in China? A friend told me of a beer [from Shanhai if I'm not mistaken ] which is called Reeb ,and that it got it's name from spelling Beer backwards.

A very relevent lesson and discussion for socialising.Thankyou.

Posted on: Golf

Firstly ,I love the quote [and pic] from Caddyshack [one of my favourite movies ] in the lesson introduction;very apt.And just like the movie,I found this lesson very funny [esp. the caddy's muttering's,followed by the golfers angry "shenme !?#"].Thanks to Ken and Jenny for not only being excellent teachers,but for also making the lessons so entertaining and fun.This lesson also introduced a new challenge;how to shout in Mandarin {kanqui} and keep the tones correct.

Thanks to Bazza for some extra golfing vocab.I'd love to know how to say "hole in one".Would it be "qiudong zai yi ?" Somehow I doubt it.I'm never likely to be that lucky to be playing golf in China and get a hole in one ,but wouldn't it be tragic if I was so lucky ,and couldn't come up with the vocab?

I was also interested in Vann0000's post about the Mission Hills golf club being the largest in the world,and also about how golf is booming in East Asia.I had a brief stopover in Taipei last year and was put up at a Golf Club designed by Jack Nicklaus.Admittedly it was only a 1 night stay ,but I got the distinct impression that they weren't doing much business.The place seemed deserted ,except for others also put up by the airline.But it looked like a magnificent course from what I could see.

Posted on: How YOU doin?

@ dschinger,

Sorry I can't help you,but just glad to see the discussions continuing on old lessons,as there all still new to me..

Posted on: The My Minefield

Thanks Connie,

That's great having the sentences from the podcast.This was a very useful podcast as I hadn't picked up on when to use just wo and when to use wo de.I loved the explanation.A really nice aspect of the language/culture.

Posted on: Pretty Clothes

@mandarinboy,

I completely agree with you.I love knowing exactly where the characters have come from.I followed your link to your study strategy group ,and your explanation is excellent.I don't know where you got your info from but this was extremely helpful.Unfortunately ,as I'm a newbie, I'm not sure I can help you much in return,but I really appreciate your post.Thankyou.

Posted on: Hanoi

@chipmunkgeek

Thanks heaps for letting me know.I'll have to remember to keep that up my sleeve and give it a go.Actually,I'll give it a shot now.You're post was  漂亮！... in the sense of a great move