User Comments - helandou

Posted on: The Surname Code

hmm.. now I just read Jenny's 3d comment, and I got confused.. So my example is also possible??

Posted on: The Surname Code

Interesting! I heard chinese people say things like this a lot, but I interpreted it wrong. I thought it was like: ' 我姓马，马路的马。', butit's not that you add a character to make clear which character you mean, but you actually combine two characters... that makes it almost impossible for foreigners to follow, cause you have to make the 'picture' of the two characters combined in your head.... 真麻烦！

Posted on: Dorm Life: Late For Class

I like this dialogue, except for the snoring, it gives me the... how to say that in english... the 'scratch your nails on a blackboard' feeling. Almost the same as the peeping of the (electric)bikes, the slurping of the noodles and the endless horn sounding in everyday china-life. ;-)

Posted on: A Flat Bicycle Tire

It's interesting to notice that John thinks you should use the polite form of 'you' only for people with a high(er) status and for older people. I think it might be because in english you don't have this distinction of you and you (;-), so english speakers have learned 'rules' for when to use the polite form and when not. In dutch, you usually always use the polite form for you when you don't know the person, from the milkman up to the GM, except for if you meet somebody in a very informal situation with people of about the same age. You kind of 'feel' when you should use it and when you shouldn't. But maybe it's different in every country, cause those things change over time and place.. Always using the polite form is probably the best. Great lesson btw, but why do I always come up a lesson right after I could've used in in a similar situation... 

Posted on: Calligraphy

Where did Aggy go?

Posted on: Goals for Studying Chinese

khal 09 ??

Posted on: Future Plans

Hmm..this is one of the older lessons, which I thought were more difficult, but I guess the intermediate level went from easy to challenging to  easier again.. Good to hear that the quality of the dialogue discussion changed. You are all much more professional but also funnier now!

:-) 

Posted on: Girly Talk

I wish the other intermediate lessons were more like this one. That there is little english forces you to listen to the context to understand the dialogue, which make you learn much more. I understand the step from elementary to intermediate would become bigger then, but on the other hand the step to upper intermediate would be easier.

Posted on: Tool Delivery

Nice lesson! I am wondering if chinese men in general are like Jennies father (not having his own drill-machine and saw) or that they are as crazy about tools as most western men (still don't understand how a new dremel can be exciting, but ok). I would have thought chinese people would have even more tools because they are more inclined to repair things than by new ones...right?

Posted on: Birth by Chinese Zodiac

So Jenny is 26 en John is 30. Not that it is in any way useful to know, but I'm one of those people who are curious just for curious...

Jenny, how lucky you are with a job like this since your 23d!