User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: New Dashboard, Scarlett and Teachers!

I guess that is what I am arguing - there is no substitute for real world interaction. Supplemented by ChinesePod. :)

He he, I wouldn't call any of my teachers intentional edutainers, but some were unintentionally funny. [I tried to give a 'talk' about motorcycle riding once and it degenerated when the teacher insisted that 'only criminals and migrant workers ride motorbikes' and that laws were brought in to limit motorbike riding because of the risk of bag-snatching. I looked it up and there were reports of officials saying that motorcycles are used by bag-snatchers.]

Class size for Chinese people are often up to 50 (even higher) but for foreigners learning Chinese something like 12 - 15 is more usual. Then after about six weeks you can expect numbers to fall to a handy 8 or 10 people. :)

'Didactic learning.' I wonder if there is a place for didactic learning when the subject is Chinese? Supplemented by ChinesePod of course. Just throwing that in.

And yes it does depend on how good the teacher is, of course.

Posted on: Describing Fear

你应该去成都的人民公园，看弄蛇人。 哈哈 。。

Posted on: New Dashboard, Scarlett and Teachers!

RJ - oh, gotcha, fair point.

Barbs - interesting. As you know I am a fan of on-line learning but the ideal would be classroom teaching supplemented by ChinesePod (if you had time.) I have no doubt that there is more effective listening and speaking practice in classroom learning. ChinesePod is great listening practice, the speakers are so clear, but it is not better than sitting with a trained teacher. The other main strength of ChinesePod is the material - more relevant, interesting, funny etc. But I don't agree, in principle, with Echo's comments comparing the traditional learning and ChinesePod, in terms of better tones/pronunciation. Even if you are on an Executive plan, talking on Skype every day - how could that be better than face to face communication with a trained teacher? Face to face is always going to be better than the somewhat artificial on-line environment. Where you can re-wind, as you say. In the real world you cannot actually re-wind, and in a way this I think a better learning environment - you need to be able to use the language without re-winding. But real-life language practice does involve a lot of 're-winding' of a kind - a lot of feedback. For another aspect of learning, do your ChinesePod at night, re-wind as much as you like.

Example: Yesterday I had the opportunity for a bit of practice that involved 're-winding' in the real world. (You need a sympathetic listener.) I have for some time being buying yoghurt on the understanding (because someone told us) that if you take the empty bottles back you get a discount. I have for some time doubted that this is the case so I went through the whole thing with the shopkeeper, in painstaking detail (my wife sighs and disappears when I get into this mode.) I discovered that the discount is available for purchases of 12 or more bottles at a time; there is actually no deposit on the bottles. But anyway - I got plenty of 're-winding' in.

'Class time is limited' - in China the standard approach is 20 teaching hours per week. With homework, self-study and practice this is a more than full-time occupation.

'Good listening comes first' - I agree with this of course - but listening in a traditional learning environment provides this.

In summary:

1. ChinesePod - excellent if you do not have the opportunity or time for a traditional full time learning environment in China

2. traditional full time learning environment in China - better

3. traditional full time learning environment in China supplemented by ChinesePod - better still

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

To be honest all of the MWs will work fine, even 个。 Choose one you like the sound of and try it out. :)

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

Hey Barbs - I often said to my kids '[that thing] is a real fake. Respect it for what it is - it is as real as the real thing'. I hope we are not too far off the same page. (My kids turned out okay despite this slightly dodgy parenting.)

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

Hi Changye

Thanks for that - 人造花 - it is always good to have the term that is least ambiguous. :)

Actually I need to be careful when I say that - my dictionary says that 造化 zàohuà means the Creator. I wouldn't like anyone to think that I was getting religious.

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

Hi Channelle

I am surprised that 把 as a MW for a bunch of flowers is not in your dictionary - it is in my little old Oxford Concise, and in my electronic dictionary. I don't think that it is dialect - it is used in both the east and south-west of China in my experience. Is it not even in your MW dictionary?

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

I think just 假花 jiǎhuā would be understood (but I am not sure that this is the most common expression - I will have to ask). There is no real negative connotation often with the term 假 jiǎ in my experience in China. I have had people enthusiastically recommend different 假 products, eg. 假电池 (fake brand batteries). And there is a special place in my heart for 假警察 (fake police - wooden life-size policemen, standing at attention by the side of the road, reminding people to behave responsibly.) :-)

Posted on: New Dashboard, Scarlett and Teachers!

I am curious about Echo's comments comparing 'traditional' (ie. classroom) teaching and ChinesePod - she names 'speaking' as one of the advantages with ChinesePod. I wonder if she meant listening?  I see this as the main drawback with on-line learning. You get good listening practice, but not speaking practice (unless you are in the habit of talking to yourself.) In the classroom in my experience we were always speaking.  Actually there is no reason in principle why we shouldn't get speaking practice on-line; but speaking practice with a teacher is obviously expensive.  But speaking practice in student groups must surely be just around the corner?  

Posted on: The Pen and Paper Mystery

I haven't been to a 'florist' as such yet in my city, although they must be around. This is the centre of China's flower industry - if you go to Google Maps it seems that 'half' the city is occupied by flower cultivation. I just buy from street vendors in the city or people (ie. the farmers) who set up just outside the fruit and veg markets.

PS. A bit of trivia - I have read that not only is this city the biggest producer of fresh flowers, it also leads the plastic flower industry! The 'plastic' flowers that I see however are probably more artistic than you imagine - there are shops where the proprietor sits and makes the flowers to order. A kind of craft rather than the mass-produced stuff we see in Australia.