User Comments - jennyzhu

Posted on: Bangkok

johns,

Double verbs are generally used to make the tone casual. It also adds a sense of encouragement. It's often used when you want to make a suggestion.

Posted on: 室内装修

Most apartments and houses come literally as a concrete shell in China. There is not even basic paint on the wall or some kind of flooring. In Shanghai dialect,  they are appropiately called '赤膊房;/chi4 bo2 fang2/naked house. In Mandarin, it's 毛坯房/mao2 pei1 fang2. Buyers will find an interior designer and a construction crew to create their dream home from scratch. I guess the original reason for it was economical,but it fostered people's penchant for expressing their personal style. However, there are more furnished houses /装修房 on the market now.

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Hong Kong

The cart adds so much life to the dim sum ritual. But it's a dying tradition even in Hongkong. Most restaurants just take orders and bring out the food. Another reason to go to Chinatown while stocks last. The chicken feet in Clay's picture is a cold dish, which is quite chewy. In dim sum feast, we tend to have it braised in soya sauce and black bean paste. It is softer in texture. And the ultimate test is if it melts in your mouth.     

Posted on: Fortunate Cookies

I've always had the firm belief that fortune cookies will sell in China, especially if it's about horoscopes. It really gets young consumers. It\s a popular marketing strategy for food products. And i have an even firmer belief that flash cards fortune cookies is a great idea. But I seem to be alone in my thinking on both accounts.   

Posted on: Sightseeing at Tiananmen

My memory of Tiananmen was a freezing January early morning. My best friend and I braved the cold, wanting to see the flag raising ceremony, which takes place at sunrise everyday. But it was so abusingly cold and the square was such an open place with nowhere to hide from the wind. We eventually gave up. But a few month ago, I was in Beijing attending a Hanban conference (China's government agency responsible for promoting Chinese worldwide). I walked past 天安门 on the way，and it happened to be the time of the flag ceremony! That's fate. (The conference started at 7 in the morning).

Posted on: Sightseeing at Tiananmen

osckeezee,

In both cases,the meaning are the same. The 儿/er sound at the end is a Beijing speech habit. It adds some nuance to the language, but doesn't change the meaning of the word.

Posted on: SBTG: Sun Yatsen

Very informative discussion. One of the most distinguishing features of ChinesePod is the realness and liveliness. After more than 900 lessons, I have to admit that it's a real effort to keep that up. But it's something we are adamently determined to do. What's also interesting and somewhat intriguing is that upper intermediate is a bit of an awkward teenager stuck between the vibrant lower levels and the more colourful advanced. I agree that we havn't done any gripping upper int. in a while. Think back to the days of the Jizhou series and even a lesson called 'abduncted by aliens', what should we do to spice up the upper intermediate? 

Posted on: Preparing to give an Interview

ewong,

采访/cai3 fang3 is only used to mean a press interview. A job interview is 面试／miane4 shi4.  

Rash,

We've got an ele lesson on golf coming out soon (which seems to be my answer all the time. But it's always tru^_^). It is a fantastic dialogue taking place on the golf course.

tvan,

Yo can use 系列／xi4 lie4, which means 'series'. 系列课程／xi4 lie4 ke4 cheng2/lesson series.  

Posted on: SBTG: Sun Yatsen

Derek,

孙 is 'sun1' in pinyin, which is very close to 'su-en'.

'Soon' doesn't really reflect the pronunciation.  

Johns,

We'll take you there.

Posted on: Hiking

Who knew hiking would be such a controversial topic? 

Speaking of 爬，here is how the entire population of China climbs the Great Wall during a Golden Week (one week long national holiday).