User Comments - billglover
billglover
Posted on: Where are you going?
March 19, 2008 at 8:12 AM@evelyne: I am sure I'm not the only one that can relate to what you've been saying. It was only a couple of weeks ago that I attempted a newbie lesson, understood everything and managed to complete all the exercises correctly first time round. Yet, the big jump to the elementary lessons seemed too daunting. But, after that lesson, something had fundamentally changed. I felt that newbie lessons were too short, not as challenging and only introduced a couple of new words each time. But it also struck me when listening to the elementary lessons that the challenges they present weren't too dissimillar to those I faced in the early days of listening to newbie lessons. My feeling is that if I've managed to get over the difficulty of newbie lessons, I'll be able to do the same with Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced (and hopefully Native). I just needed a kick in the right direction. So, take the plunge... I've been enjoying it a lot more since I did.
Posted on: Where are you going?
March 19, 2008 at 6:56 AMI actually quite like the 'er' sound in the North. I first experience came when my 一点点 (in reference to my spoken Chinese) was corrected to "yi di er". However I get slightly confused about how to write/type the 'er' sound in pinyin. With 哪里 (nali) it seems as if we drop the 'li' and replace it with 'r' to give 哪儿 (nar). But in order to type it I have to type 'na er'. This seems a bit odd to me. How would this apply to my example of 一点点 (yi dian dian)? Do I simply drop the 'an' and replace it with 'ar' to give 'yi diar'? And in one final question before I dash out the door to work, does anyone know the Hanzi for 'yi diar'?
Posted on: Mobile Repairmen and AZERDocMom
March 14, 2008 at 11:51 AMMy first "Dear Amber". Definitely one to add to my feed. @Amber: I'd have to agree with you about the way individual Chinese choose to conserve resources. Obviously I can't generalise, but the Chinese I have lived with in Beijing are always careful to turn off and unplug electrical appliances. They always separate their rubbish for recycling. I find that I still have to make a concsious effort to do things like this whereas it was just part of daily life for them. Obviously the situation is different when you consider the industrial/manufacturing side of things. But at an individual level, it would be wrong to think the Chinese don't make an effort.
Posted on: How do you say...?
March 13, 2008 at 9:02 AMJust looked over the excercised and they work fine. Other than being shorter than average I couldn't see a problem with them. This is a great starter lesson; short, simple, invaluable and easy to practice in daily conversation. Thanks guys.
Posted on: Welcome to ChinesePod
March 5, 2008 at 12:06 AMWelcome Jenyoung. I've been a lurker for quite a while but have discovered the conversations area too. Always good to hear and reply to people. Look forward to seeing more of you here.
Posted on: MSN and QQ
March 4, 2008 at 9:03 AMQQ Client for the Mac: http://im.qq.com/qq/mac/download.shtml Very basic but seems to work.
Posted on: New Year
January 23, 2008 at 6:02 PMIn the vocab session, why does the tone on 一 (yī) of 一起 (yīqǐ) sound more like a fourth tone than a first tone? I tried using the pinyin converter (link below) and it seemed to suggest that 一起 was yìqǐ. Initially I though the converter was wrong but when you listen to the word in the vocab section, it too sounds like a fourth tone. http://www.pin1yin1.com/?t=一起
Posted on: Before Noon, After Noon
January 4, 2008 at 7:20 PMI've just listened to this lesson and have to admit I really didn't get the waterfall example (yes, it has been a long day). Then I skimmed through the comments and all became clear. Another positive ChinesePod experience. Thanks guys. I don't know why, but the Irish saying, "Top of the morning" comes to mind. Here we have a western saying linking top (上, shàng) with morning (上午, shàngwǔ). Maybe it isn't so counter intuitive after all. Ken, care to shed any light on this? Slightly off topic, there are a couple of other language related opposites I have come across while studying Chinese. Remember the old saying, "The early bird catches the worm." There is apparently a similar, but opposite saying in Chinese, "the bird who goes on top gets killed first (棒打出头鸟)." And did you know that the magpie, traditionally thought of here in the UK (anywhere else in the West?) as an unlucky bird is known in China as the lucky bird. Anyone care to attempt an explanation for the disparity?
Posted on: Ten Four
December 14, 2007 at 6:37 AMMy main problem with the tones is that I can't seem to be able to hear the difference between a second and third tone as part of normal speech. When said slowly with emphasis the tones are really easy to distinguish, but I always joke with native Chinese that when they speak they just ignore all the tones and work out the meaning from the context. Maybe it's just me :(
Posted on: Where are you going?
March 19, 2008 at 9:53 AMThanks amber. 一点儿 (yi dianr) still seems a bit odd given that it is pronounced yi diar. I'll try and remember that one.