User Comments - bodawei
bodawei
Posted on: First Snow of the Winter
January 6, 2011 at 8:27 AMI didn't know that 'on the smell of an oily rag' was originally Australian... rather than just 'being economical', it specifically means 'doing things without the proper resources'.
If you want to get into the spirit you should check out The Bush Mechanics, a popular Aussie TV show of a few years back, a documentary series that is more comedy than documentary. There is also a web-site, but the original series is the best bet. You also get some Aboriginal language (subtitled) as a bonus. Anybody feeling challenged by Chinese tones? Listen to Australian aborignes talking to get a bit of perspective. :)
Posted on: First Snow of the Winter
January 6, 2011 at 7:14 AMOh, is that possible because it is out of print? Published in 2007, I didn't think that it would be all there on Google Books. Good find anyway, thanks.
Posted on: First Snow of the Winter
January 6, 2011 at 6:45 AMThat's unfortunate (maybe second hand on Amazon?) - it is published by a small Australian publisher Wakefield Press and demand for such books is small in the scheme of things. The author himself notes that the 'West' (apologies to Zhenlijiang but this is not my word) buys about 2,000 titles from China each year (I guess most of them are translated?); China buys about 50,000 titles from the West (again I guess most of them are translated). Definitional problems aside, this does paint a rather lop-sided picture. On the Smell of an Oily Rag is of course a book written in English, so naturally for an English speaking audience. It is about 'thinking Chinese'. I wonder if Ouyang Yu considers it a Chinese book or a Western book?
One thing I like about this book is that it explains 笔记小说, a work of fiction containing disparate stories - the author describes his own work as 笔记非小说.
Posted on: Merry Christmas!
January 6, 2011 at 4:35 AMOh, that makes sense. Wikipedia agrees with you:
'A flat white is a coffee beverage from Australia and New Zealand. It is prepared by pouring microfoam (steamed milk from the bottom of a pitcher) over a single (30ml) or double shot (60ml) of espresso. It is similar to the latte and the café au lait and like other espresso based beverages it can be interpreted various ways. The beverage is typically served in a small 150-160ml ceramic cup. Microfoam is used, resulting in a smooth and velvety texture.'
It goes on to say that it differs from other coffees because of temperature - the Australian cup is generally not too hot. In contrast, the Spanish equivalent uses scalded milk. I remember in Italy the Americano is code for a hot coffeee, and my experience in the US was that coffee is usually served too hot for my taste.
Posted on: Merry Christmas!
January 6, 2011 at 3:21 AMWe are spoilt for coffee here (it is grown locally) - but we have a Chinese chain that makes Italian style coffee using Illy.
In Shanghai an 澳式咖啡 is a flat white (at least at one cafe I went to), no idea why. Capuccino is the most common coffee in Australia.
But I also drink coffee occasionally at KFC, because it is the only coffee available at the airport; it's not too bad and about half the price of coffee at a regular cafe.
Posted on: Merry Christmas!
January 5, 2011 at 5:49 AMAaaah, I love the 大力水手, I had no idea.
Afogato is a scoop of icecream served in a hot espresso. Hmmmm.
It kind of floats there as it melts, hence the reference in Chinese to islands.
Posted on: Playing Ice Hockey
January 5, 2011 at 5:32 AMI'm pleased that they don't have Guides/Scouts here - the poor kids are already overloaded with extra-curricular activities. And my dim recollections of Scouts involved a lot of indoctrination - again, the kids here have quite enough of that.
Posted on: First Snow of the Winter
January 5, 2011 at 5:22 AMYou are probably joking about Chinese people not exaggerating - but if you are interested there is a book in English by Ouyang Yu called On the Smell of an Oily Rag that systematically demonstrates that the Chinese are much more prone to exaggeration than English speakers. (Ouyang Yu is a poet & translator from Wuhan with links to Australia; he did a doctorate in English literature, so he has a good command of both languages.)
Posted on: First Snow of the Winter
January 5, 2011 at 4:53 AMＴｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ａｔ ｌｅａｓｔ ｔｈｒｅｅ ｐｏｓｓｉｂｌｅ ｅｘｐｌａｎａｔｉｏｎｓ：
－ Ｓｈａｎｇｈａｉ ｃｉｔｙ ｃｏｖｅｒｓ ａ ｖｅｒｙ ｗｉｄｅ ａｒｅａ （ａｌｔｈｏｕｇｈ ｉｔ ｈａｓ ｐｒａｃｔｉｃａｌｌｙ ｎｏ ｈｉｌｌｓ ｗｈｅｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｍｉｇｈｔ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｓｎｏｗ ｗｏｕｄ ｆａｌｌ ｆｉｒｓｔ）；
－ ｓｎｏｗ ｍｅａｎｓ ｄｉｆｆｉｅｒｅｎｔ ｔｈｉｎｇｓ ｔｏ ｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎｔ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ． Ｉ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｃｌａｉｍ ａ ｓｎｏｗ ｅｖｅｎｔ ｅｖｅｎ ｉｆ ｎｏｔｈｉｎｇ ｓｔａｙｓ ｏｎ ｔｈｅ ｇｒｏｕｎｄ．
－ ｉｔ ｍａｙ ｂｅ ａ Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ ｍｙｔｈ ｔｈａｔ ｉｔ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｓｎｏｗｓ ｉｎ Ｓｈａｎｇｈａｉ （ａｃｔｕａｌ ｐｒｅｃｉｐｉｔａｔｉｏｎ ｉｓ ｎｏ ｍａｔｃｈ ｆｏｒ ｍｙｔｈ）
Posted on: Here she comes
January 6, 2011 at 6:10 PMI can see how this might help poddies if it actually worked but allow me to be Devil's Advocate. If it is difficult for trained teachers to rank lessons currently in Ele, Intermediate, UI, and Advanced, how much harder would it be for learners to rank lessons WITHIN each of those categories? Even using objective criteria (assuming someone designed/suggested some) I doubt that the results would be useful. Furthermore, it could be more a case of assessing the learner rather than the lesson: what is easy for you is hard for me, and so on - yes I know the idea is for Ellies to assess Ellie lessons but there is no way of being objective about that as well. There is the placement test that would help.
This idea would be more feasible if all poddies were ranking all lessons simultaneously, that is comparing lessons rather than ranking them as they were published. One problem with this is that ChinesePod has itself not been consistent - there is quite a bit of variation over time in order of difficulty. They are more consistent than they used to be, and in general they seem to have got easier at any given level. :)