User Comments - instantcalmer

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instantcalmer

Posted on: Fake Beggars?
November 07, 2012, 09:16 PM

The store closed down because you can buy the same clothes on taobao cheaper.

Posted on: City Districts in Shanghai
November 04, 2012, 01:50 AM

I'm a late bloomer on this lesson as I go back and consolidate before the jump to Intermediate. I'm up to 200 ele lessons now!

this is a great lesson:

transport methods, basic verbs like live, go, ride, times, questions and more all jam-packed into one full but not too difficult ele lesson


nàme hǎo!

a gem of a lesson, nice patter too!

Love your work

Posted on: Lessons Per Week
September 27, 2012, 11:18 AM

I'm not crazy, some kind of relief .... though I did reply to myself!!!!!

I have Windows Vista Home Premium SP2

Windows Media Player says V 11.0.6002.18311

when I go to update it says I have the latest.

Posted on: Lessons Per Week
September 19, 2012, 11:08 PM

Ok, has anyone else had a problem with this lesson not playing with Windows Media Player? It plays with my VLC player OK but Media player says 

"Windows Media Player cannot play the file. The Player might not support the file type or might not support the codec that was used to compress the file."

My toubles started from B2017 but it seems it's not a one-off now.

I have tried downloading again.

My older lesson mp3 are still fine

Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 06, 2012, 10:18 PM

Hi there

I am using IE9 and Windows Vista premium home kept updated by MS

This is the only lesson that shows the exercises "funny" on my computer

In the multiple choice - questions 2,3, & 9 are missing the fill in the blank sentence (but the options are there)

In the dictation questions 2 & 3 show 3 multiple choice options underneath the dictation sentence.

I just thought I would alert you to what I thought was a general problem buts it seems its not general.

Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!
July 05, 2012, 03:28 AM

the exercises for this lesson seem to have been corrupted

Posted on: Can I Sit Here?
April 18, 2012, 02:06 AM

So you like playing tricks - try this one

pretend you are going to spit - do the aaaaaarrrwwwwkkkk

but do it long, loud and exaggerated until everyone is watching

then don't spit

enjoy the expressions

ps perhaps 1 in 100 times do need to spit after all that arrrrking

read the expert on this

Chinese Spitting Riding the Iron Rooster – Paul Theroux P 361

The Tian Hu (a boat) was full of spitters – something to do with sea air, perhaps, and the wish to have a good hawk. I had resolved that I was going to ignore them, but it was on this ship that I realised what had been bothering me about Chinese spitting. It was simply, that they were not very good at it.

They spat all the time. They cleared their throats so loudly that they could drown conversation – they could sound like a Roto-Rooter or someone clearing a storm drain, or the last gallon of water leaving a Jacuzzi. With their cheeks alone they made the suctioning; hhggaarrkh! And then they grinned and positioned their teeth, and they leaned. You expected them to propel it five yards, like a Laramie stockman spitting over a fence. But no, they never gave it any force. They seldom spat more than a few inches from where they stood. They did not spit out, they spat down … But after the snarking, the mucus streaking thru their passages with a smack, Chinese spitting was always something of an anticlimax.

Posted on: Can I Sit Here?
March 28, 2012, 10:35 PM

Yes John and Dilu, so true. Westerners talk to the strangers and Chinese treat them as "air".

A Chinese person told me that if you do say hello you might then be under obligation to help, consider or otherwise treat them as a person. Maybe it's a defence mechanism because of China's huge population and (over)crowding.

When I'm feeling devilish to a Chinese that queue jumps or shoves me out the way I play a game called nǐ xiān (you first). It you say it several times the person will get very embarrassed and lose 'face' in front of the other people. I even had one queue jumper in a train ticket line get so flustered by the foreigneer that he backed off and meekly said ni xian. Little victories.

A stranger doesn't exist until you talk, look them in the eyes or otherwise acknowledge them so that justifies queue jumping etc

Because I'm Australian, I'm like Crocodile Dundee in New York walking down the main street saying "Gidday" to all and sundry. Strangers are real people.

One of many paradoxes of the Chinese is their formal, impeccable manners to family, friends, the boss etc and their atrocious (by Western standards) manners to strangers.

I have a Chinese wife who asks me why I talk to them - "don't get involved"

Posted on: Buying a Prepaid Cell Phone Card
January 21, 2012, 08:02 AM

Happy New Year Chinese Pod

It's a happy new year because I'mglad I renewed my sub as I'm finally making progress. I don't ask many questions but ...

what would be the right word order to ask for your card all in one sentence?

I want a 100rmb China Mobile recharge card

wǒ yào yī zhāng yī bǎi qián Yídòng chōngzhí kǎ

is it OK to swap the 100rmb and China Mobile?

TTFN

Posted on: Favorite Sports
October 26, 2011, 06:13 AM

Good well structured lesson that consolidated a few things for me.

England and English influenced countries have a strange sport called cricket. Of course that would be a "dǎ" sport - I can't think of another sport that would use "tī" for using the feet like soccer either.

Yeah in Australia, the word footy is used for Aussie rules or rugby not soccer

How do you say cricket?