User Comments - dubaobao

Posted on: Pricey Parking

Mark, my impression is that 小姐 is now considered at least very 难听 and at worst, impolite and insulting. When I was living in Beijing from 2011 to 2013 I only heard 美女 (and the corresponding 帅哥) when people didn't specifically use 服务员.

Posted on: “停用死囚器官”的伦理与法治进步

I'm just catching up with this because I only check Chinesepod once every two months or so for new lessons.

Even though we have never met and I am an infrequent poster here in the forums, I find myself very sad at the departure of Jenny and David! I've been listening since 2007 or so and the two of you are a regular part of my life.

In addition to teaching language fantastically well, the two of you also offered a wise, thoughtful and always entertaining guide to Chinese life as it changes so quickly. You made a real contribution to genuine understanding between Chinese and non-Chinese people.

I will miss you terribly and I wish you the very best!

yours, Paul Duke

Posted on: Class Elections

Ha ha, that's great. Thanks!

Posted on: Class Elections

“班干部办班干部，不是班干部不管班干部”。Do I have this right? When I first came to Beijing in 1997 I was taught this 绕口令, but to tell the truth, I have never seen it written down. This lesson made me think of it.

Now I recall that when I was taught that 绕口令 I was told it had something to do with soldiers. I never knew it referred to school class representatives. But it's possible my memory is wrong, and also possible I misheard.

One way or another, if I've finally seen how this 绕口令 is written, then I'm happy. ;-)

Great lesson as always, thanks.

Posted on: SBTG: Special Economic Zones

In this case, the entire phrase "是国家为了发展经济和吸引外资而设立" is modifying (describing) the noun "特别区域" so the 的 is required in between to link the two. Just as in a simple phrase such as "是一辆很好的车".

If you translate the whole sentence like this, maybe it's a bit clearer: "It's a special zone, set up by the government for the purpose of developing the economy and attracting foreign investment, with preferential policies."

In English sometimes in these complex sentences, it sounds more natural if you put the noun at the beginning of the sentence, as I did.

What may be making you confused is the 是 at the beginning of the sentence. You can translate that as "It's a...". Because you have that 是 there, you need the 的 to indicate the noun.

Without the 是 the subject of the sentence changes and could read: 

国家为了发展经济和吸引外资设立特别区域,给它们各种优惠政策。

Which would be translated differently: "The country, for the purpose of developing the economy and attracting foreign investment, set up a special zone, and gave them preferential policies."

In Chinese that sounds a little awkward to my ear (just as the "them" sounds a bit strange in English because "zone" is singular). I think it would be more comfortable to say something like "设立一些特别区域。。。“ but I just wanted you to see the difference created by using the "是 ~~ 的 ~~“ construction. That construction is being used here most likely because the speaker is replying to a question along the lines of "What is a special economic zone?"

Hope that helps!

Posted on: SBTG: Special Economic Zones

Try looking up the construction “为了。。。而。。。" in your dictionary. There should be an explanation along the lines of "为了（noun), 而 (verb)", and the definition something like "(Verb) for the purpose of (Noun)". So in this case (simplifying the sentence a bit): "Establish a special zone with preferential policies, for the purpose of developing the economy." 

You can try thinking of "而" here simply as an element which introduces the action being described in the sentence. The simple example provided in my dictionary is: 为了前途而努力。"Work hard for the future."

Posted on: Extreme Weather and Pollution

I can't remember hearing 极端 used in this way, but my guess is this is one of those cases where the Chinese word is much broader in meaning than the usual Chinese-English dictionary would lead you to believe. So I think it's something like "That guy is really an outlier [in the sense of "unusual, extraordinary"]. Things that he can't achieve [or "get"], other people shouldn't even bother thinking about." Just my best guess!

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

Wow! With your level of dedication I can understand the desire for transcripts. I would think with all the methods you are using you'll be understanding most of those CPod discussions very quickly. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying having some transcripts aren't essential. My point of view in a nutshell is that there is a ton of transcribed material available at CPod in the lesson dialogues, enough to keep anyone busy for a couple of years at least. I also personally think that spending some time listening without a transcript is useful because ultimately in interacting with native speakers, that's what you'll be doing.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

I basically agree, iaing, with the big caveat that the material be at the student's level. If the level of the dialogue is far too high, I think a student is wasting time to study low frequency material rather than high-frequency material. I remember after studying Chinese for two years or so and tiring of the subject matter in the original Practical Chinese Reader series I got a hold of some transcripts of interviews with writers like Su Tong and tried to make my way through them. Of course there was plenty of new material for me to learn – far too much! The level of the Chinese in those transcripts was so far above my level that it was not by any means the most efficient use of my study time to try to understand them. Luckily for me, shortly thereafter I started working in China pretty frequently, in environments with people who did not speak English, so I was forced to work day-in day-out on the highest frequency material. ;-)

As I said, just my experience –- I'm not a language teacher or researcher. But I have trouble imagining that if I were an intermediate learner of English that the best use of my time would be reading and listening to transcripts of say, real interviews with Tom Stoppard. Better to focus on grasping the study material which is at the student's level. That's why my advice is not to worry too much about the discussion, which is usually very natural (a good thing) and thus often at a somewhat higher level than the dialogue itself. Once again, just my opinion, based on what worked for me.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

"I find it hard to understand comments that suggest its better to walk away without knowing than to use a provided transcript..."

Hmm, I'm confused because of course there is a transcript for the lesson, just not for the discussion. So those of us (or at least me) in the "sink or swim" school aren't saying students shouldn't have a detailed transcript of the lesson, just that spending a lot of energy trying to understand every detail of the discussion isn't necessarily the best use of time, the fastest way to improve your Chinese. The logic behind that view is pretty simple; if the teachers are doing their job (and I think they are) then the high-frequency material you need to put at the top of your learning list is in the lesson itself, and you have the transcript so you can understand every detail of that. If you have extra time and energy after that, I would recommend tackling other lessons before worrying too much about catching every last detail of the discussions, which by definition means spending a lot of time on what might be low-frequency stuff you can worry about later.

In fact, if you've really mastered all 280-odd Upper Intermediate lessons, then the discussions are going to start to come very easy. I will say that's how the process worked for me. (I'm not saying I've mastered or even listened to all those lessons, only saying after I had listened to 50, 60, 70 something UI lessons and a lot of Advanced lessons too I found that the discussions got much easier to understand, since my general Chinese level had increased so much.)