User Comments - jeffnelson
jeffnelson
Posted on: The Trouble with Marrying a Foreigner
November 16, 2013, 04:59 PMThis is in reply to "skib" and anyone else who's having trouble with the Chinesepod app. I don't know if you noticed, but for me, I hardly need the Chinesepod app when I do lessons. This is because the transcription of the dialogue is already embedded into the MP3 that you download.
Let me say that again: you don't need to switch to another app while listening to Chinesepod lessons. The transcription is totally embedded into the MP3 and can be accessed from within the iOS default "music" app.
This is because it's embedded as "song lyrics" according to MP3 protocol. So, what you do is you just tap on the "album cover" (typically a pic of, I guess Jenny?) and the full transcription pops right up. Note, this doesn't seem to work if the MP3 is loaded into your iOS device as a "podcast", you need to designate it as either a song or an audiobook. To do this, in iTunes (on your PC) select the Chinesepod lesson or lessons, right click, select "get info", and then under the "options" tab, click on the dropdown menu in "media kind" and select either "music" or "audiobook". I'll try to post a screenshot here, hopefully it works...
If the pic doesn't load, here's a link to the pic.
Posted on: The Trouble with Marrying a Foreigner
November 16, 2013, 04:59 PMThis is in reply to "skib" and anyone else who's having trouble with the Chinesepod app. I don't know if you noticed, but for me, I hardly need the Chinesepod app when I do lessons. This is because the transcription of the dialogue is already embedded into the MP3 that you download.
Let me say that again: you don't need to switch to another app while listening to Chinesepod lessons. The transcription is totally embedded into the MP3 and can be accessed from within the iOS default "music" app.
This is because it's embedded as "song lyrics" according to MP3 protocol. So, what you do is you just tap on the "album cover" (typically a pic of, I guess Jenny?) and the full transcription pops right up. Note, this doesn't seem to work if the MP3 is loaded into your iOS device as a "podcast", you need to designate it as either a song or an audiobook. To do this, in iTunes (on your PC) select the Chinesepod lesson or lessons, right click, select "get info", and then under the "options" tab, click on the dropdown menu in "media kind" and select either "music" or "audiobook". I'll try to post a screenshot here, hopefully it works...
If the pic doesn't load, here's a link to the pic.
Posted on: Tea Tasting
November 06, 2013, 12:32 PMI am a Chinese tea fanatic. I was introduced to dragonwell, or 龙井茶 long before I could even say 很好喝. For some time it was my favorite, but when I met my current wife, she said that if I want good tea, I should drink oolong tea from taiwan. I've been hooked ever since. The typical price for 乌龙茶 is about US$130 for a 0.1kg box, which lasts me about 2 months of daily use. I bought some Japanese Matcha, or 抹茶 as it's known in both hanzi and kanji, and it's several times more expensive, but doesn't hold a candle to Chinese (or taiwanese) oolong. I also like 铁观音, but my wife tells me to be wary of tea from the mainland, as China doesn't have quality and safety practices that Taiwan does.
I should definitely try Darjeeling sometime. I hear they make oolong, green, and white variants also, which is good because I'm not a fan of black teas. I'd like to try it and see if it is really better than East Asian teas.
Posted on: The Trouble with Marrying a Foreigner
November 16, 2013, 05:02 PMBah! Posted twice! Dang lag! 真是个破网！Where's the delete button?