User Comments - calkins

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Listen to it here (slow loading):

Shī Shì shí shī shǐ Shìt

Baba, perakun can be evil sometimes...I've fallen into that trap many times.  But I know I can't live without it for a day.

Matthiask, nice translation.  I love "lions fitness city fitness"...good name for a gym!

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Baba my friend, "she sells sea shells" is a good example I think.  It's probably just like a tongue twister to Chinese people.

Per MDBG, 石 has the following two meanings...more confusion for us Chinese learners!

石  dàn : dry measure for grain equal to ten dou 斗 / ten pecks / one hundred liters

石  shí : rock / stone / surname Shi

It means "stone" in this story.

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Amen Baba and Mike!  I also sometimes wonder how I will ever understand this language.

How about this one:

« Shī Shì shí shī shǐ »

Shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī. 
Shì shíshí shì shì shì shī. 
Shí shí, shì shí shī shì shì. 
Shì shí, shì Shī Shì shì shì. 
Shì shì shì shí shī, shì shǐ shì, shǐ shì shí shī shìshì.
Shì shí shì shí shī shī, shì shíshì. 
Shíshì shī, Shì shǐ shì shì shíshì. 
Shíshì shì, Shì shǐ shì shí shì shí shī. 
Shí shí, shǐ shí shì shí shī, shí shí shí shī shī. 
Shì shì shì shì.

《施氏食狮史》
  石室诗士施氏，嗜狮，誓食十狮。
  氏时时适市视狮。
  十时，适十狮适市。
  是时，适施氏适市。
  氏视是十狮，恃矢势，使是十狮逝世。
  氏拾是十狮尸，适石室。
  石室湿，氏使侍拭石室。
  石室拭，氏始试食是十狮。
  食时，始识是十狮，实十石狮尸。
  试释是事。

« Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den »

In a stone den was a poet Shi, who was a lion addict, and had resolved to eat ten.
He often went to the market to look for lions.
At ten o'clock, ten lions had just arrived at the market.
At that time, Shi had just arrived at the market.
He saw those ten lions, and using his trusty arrows, caused the ten lions to die.
He brought the corpses of the ten lions to the stone den.
The stone den was damp. He asked his servants to wipe it.
After the stone den was wiped, he tried to eat those ten lions.
When he ate, he realized that these ten lions were in fact ten stone lion corpses.
Try to explain this matter.

Posted on: At the Hair Salon

Soojiwei, you are right.  头发 is definitely pronounced tóufǎ in Taiwan.

There are many 大陆 words that lose the tone on the second character, thus becoming neutral tone, like tóufa.  Most of these words, in 台湾, retain the tone on the second character...tóufǎ.

Posted on: Guilin Mifen

This was awesome!  Well written, filmed, edited, and produced.  I also think the content was just about right...not too much, not too little.

Marco, you have a great eye and I love the retro film look you added in post production.

Matt, nice acting!  Cpod, don't let him leave for the latest Chinese soap.  I also enjoyed your tones, very crisp and clear.

Best all-around Cpod video yet, IMO.  Excellent work everyone.

P.S.  It also didn't hurt to throw in a little cameo of the always adorable Connie :)

Posted on: Picking Up 拿

This is a transliteration, but I use it on a daily basis and it gets me through the day!

拿铁 nátiě (latté)

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

bababardwan, yes, that has happened quite often.  And it's a strange thing to adjust to, especially because I'm an old tough dog to teach new tricks to.  I'm heading to bed, but I'll send you a PM tomorrow with some examples.

Not only do the major cultural differences cause you to act differently, but having limited language skills and vocabulary causes you to act differently...most of the time you can't say anything because you're just too "language dumb"!

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

bababardwan:

I really don't think the lesson pic or intro were a big part of the overall picture here.

I couldn't agree more!  That's why I don't think they should have been censored, just because it upset some people. 

It's been mentioned in this thread before, but this is real life stuff, just like murder and starving children and executions and incest and the list goes on and on.  If people want to close their eyes to reality, that's fine...I just politely ask that they don't close mine at the same time.

Posted on: Dog Meat and Animal Rights

I also agree with RJ and Changbiyuan about the modified pic and intro, especially when Cpod touts this lesson as the Lesson of the Month:

No one can accuse us of sticking with bland, standard textbook topics at ChinesePod: 'Dog meat and Animal Rights' generated heated discussion and nearly 200 comments last month. It’s an Upper-Intermediate lesson, but one also for all learners with a taste for the controversial.

I think the new photo and intro are pretty bland.  Censorship is bland.

Posted on: Good Morning!

Jeff, is the market really this bad???