User Comments - jennyzhu
jennyzhu
Posted on: Pageant Final Episode
June 3, 2008 at 2:59 AMStudying abroad has become quite popular amongst affluent Chinese. People generally think it opens up new doors, equipping kids with language skills, broader perspective and cultural understanding. All of which gives one an edge when returning to China to find work. That's exactly what my parents thought when they sent me overseas. But there are also parents and children who choose to stay in the country they study in. A lot of my Chinese friends from Sydney did. Fierce academic competition at home also motivates some who can't get into top universities in China to pursue studies elsewhere.
Posted on: 众志成城 抗震救灾
June 2, 2008 at 4:21 AMobitoddkenobi,
很少听到这样清晰和有思想的见解。换位思考、理解万岁。我一直觉得能有比较全面的世界观的人是很幸运的，希望我们都能做一些自己的贡献吧。
Posted on: Barbecuing
June 1, 2008 at 5:22 PMBoran,
Thank you for noticing and welcoming the change. John and I had a discussion about it and we both felt that it would be helpful to use some Chinese in ele lessons to give Poddies more exposure to the language. What I say will be relevant to the lesson and extends beyond it. It will also be high frequency language that an ele should grasp. We hope this will help you guys go to the next level.
Posted on: I'm Married
June 1, 2008 at 10:52 AMThere are 3 common words for husband.
Formal: 先生/xian1 sheng1, 丈夫/zhang4 fu
Informal: 老公/lao3 gong1
For wife:
Formal: 太太/tai4 tai, 妻子 /qi1 zi
Informal: 老婆/lao3 po
Back in the 50's till the 80's though, people mostly referred to their spouse as 爱人/ai4 ren2/lover. It was considered the most 'revoltionary' or 'comradesque' term. It's bewildering to me as 'lover' is probably the most romantic expression possible. The power of discourse, interprettaion and context.
Posted on: Barbecuing
May 31, 2008 at 5:00 AMThis lesson comes out at the best time of the year for barbeque. Perfect weather for an outdoor feast.
Barbeque is also a popular post-clubbing snack in China. Vendors selling assorted skwers can often be found outside pubs and bars.
Posted on: 理想女人
May 30, 2008 at 5:48 PMchangye,
“美女三天就看腻了，丑女三天就习惯了。”佩服、佩服。再漂亮也会审美疲劳，所以大概起点低一点儿反而有种其外的惊喜。
Posted on: 理想女人
May 30, 2008 at 7:04 AMsushan,
我觉得男人应该宽容、幽默、善良。
Henning,
“潇洒”也经常用来形容人，不过基本上是男人。很难说什么是潇洒，因为这是一种气质、一种感觉。
一般我们不会用这个词来形容女生。不过如果一个女生比较像男生，也可以用“潇洒”，比如超级女生李宇春。
Posted on: Pageant Final Episode
June 3, 2008 at 4:02 AMHi ewong,
'Quit' is either 戒/jie4, in the context of quitting an old habit, such as quit smoking, 戒烟/jie yan1. Or 放弃/fang4 qi4, in the sense of giving up. 退出 can't be used to mean quit.
ooka,
You are right. We have indeed made the intermediate lessons more manageable. That's also the case cross the board when you compare lessons in the past year to our early ones. We all learn and improve, right? There are 5 levels at Cpod: newbie, elementary, intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced. Making the transition from ele to intermediate has always been a concern, and we've treated it with extra caution. One of the measures is that we've increased the difficulty for ele and lower that for intermediate. I am really gald that you find it helpful. I hope you'll find the same triumph at upper intermediate. It is challenging. I remember a good thread about the topic in users' conversation. Henning suggested the backward approach where he studies the transcript first, learning the words and then listen to the dialogue.