User Comments - darylk

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 9: Wang Plans Revenge

Usage note from worddetective.com

To "bust one's hump" means to overexert oneself to the point of collapse or injury, often heard in the sarcastic admonition, "Don't bust your hump." "Hump" can mean, as a verb, "to exert oneself," popularized in the Vietnam War slang term "humping the boonies," meaning to march with a heavy pack through the jungle or countryside ("boonies" being a short form of "boondocks"). "To bust one's hump" thus probably arose as a joking reference to an imaginary "hump" used in hard work which might be injured by overexertion.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 9: Wang Plans Revenge

Does the last line also convey a kind of implied or veiled threat--i.e, "I am going ahead with my plan. Think about joining me because if you don't--and now is your last chance--, you are going to suffer as I have suffered"?

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 8: Trimming the Fat at the Office

KPI=key performance indicator

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 8: Trimming the Fat at the Office

We've already had "death by ninja" so I'd opt for something other than Lao Wang going postal. How about if it turns out that Lao Wang has something on Zhou Jun--maybe he has discovered that Zhou Jun has been embezzling from the firm and Lao Wang uses this knowledge (dropping hints ever so subtly) to get himself reinstated. Or maybe he finds out that Zhou Jun has been selling firm secrets to a competitor and goes over Zhou's head and gets Zhou chao3 you2yu2.

Posted on: Karaoke

Thanks for the revised expansion--I think 6 review words (rather than 8 or 10) with 5 or 6 questions (rather than 10) is more manageable for us lower intermediates.

Posted on: Taxi Culture in China

Great lesson.  I'll take the light colored cabs to heart. It also seems that some institutions/universities have contracts with certain companies. When I am a guest of a local Shanghai university, I'm always told to get only into certain cabs.  Am I right in inferring that the university has a special deal with only certain cab firms?

Posted on: Personal Trainer

I think there is an omission in the .pdf transcript;

Need to add "zai pangbian" at your side to the trainer's dialogue.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 6: Up-and-Comer in the Office

While I appreciate the care, craft and imagination that goes into creating the expansion sentences, I have some suggestions to improve the exercises at the intermediate level:

1. Please use more of the vocabulary from the lesson itself or from earlier intermediate/elem lessons in the expansion materials. It takes me over an hour just to get through the expansion because there are so many new words introduced in the expansion itself. I feel that I do not really get reinforced on the lesson's new vocab b/c I'm having to spend so much time looking up new words.  I can get through the expansion quiz but then feel like I remember nothing because I cannot begin to repeat back any of these very complex sentences containing so many new words. I used to think the problem was the complexity of the sentences but after considering the matter carefully, I've concluded the real problem lies with all of the new vocabulary introduced in the expansion examples.

2. Instead of doing 8 of the day's lesson's new words in the expansion, focus on 6. Or do 8 but only give 2 sentences in each case.  Again, I think the goal should be for the student to be able to memorize these expansion students and gain confidence in using the new vocabulary.

Thanks for considering these suggestions!

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 6: Up-and-Comer in the Office

I like this series.  Lots of business vocabulary conveyed through a story with drama.  Perhaps Lao Wang can save his job by drawing upon some guanxi he has developed with the major investors of this company. If that doesn't work, he can always call in John Pasden's Ninjas!

Posted on: Stupid Doctor

Cute story told well.