User Comments - jennyzhu
jennyzhu
Posted on: 孙悟空三打白骨精（第二集）
June 3, 2011 at 11:11 AMThe legendary CCTV 西游记 on YouTube and youku aired in 1986. It's Star Wars to the Chinese and has the best theme music with 80's sound effects.
Posted on: The Stepmother Role
June 3, 2011 at 6:06 AMis more prominently used in Beijing. Children address their parents using 您. Also, when things get confrontational, 您 can be used to diffuse tension.
Posted on: Dining and Dropping
June 2, 2011 at 9:25 AMYou could use "lai2" to mean "give me..." when ordering in restaurants. But it's mostly used for food not utensils.
Posted on: Introducing Kids to Each Other
June 2, 2011 at 8:07 AMLocal Shanghainese tend to say "wán". And I will stress that "er" or no "er" does not change the meaning of the words. It is a habit of speech. Your Chinese proficiency is not judged on that.
Posted on: The Stepmother Role
June 2, 2011 at 5:33 AMWhen I was young, I had two classmates whose parents were divorced. They did not want anyone to find out about it. Divorce was stigmatized. It's a very different story now.
Posted on: Introducing Kids to Each Other
June 1, 2011 at 11:00 AM玩儿/wán'r is still a lot more prominent in the North. It's also a generation thing. People in their 40's and above across China still speak somewhat accented Chinese and adopt way less Beijing vernacular than the younger generation.
Posted on: Introducing Kids to Each Other
June 1, 2011 at 8:21 AMThe voice actors should read things the way they are written instead of adding "er" to words that don't have "er' on the transcript. We will pay more attention to it. BTW, thank you for using my nickname. No one outside my family has called me that.
Posted on: Shopping in China
May 29, 2011 at 2:59 PMIn the 80's, we also had stores exclusively for foreigners. They were called "Frinedship Store"/友谊商店/yǒuyì shāngdiàn. They sold fancy, often imported things which were not available anywhere else and only accepted 外汇券/wàihuìquàn/"Foreign Exchange Certificate", not Renminbi. 外汇券/wàihuìquàn was issueded by the Bank of China for foreigners to use in China. I remember my parents taking me there a few times for the experinece. I think they bought me my first Coke there.
Posted on: Shopping in China
May 29, 2011 at 2:49 PMSounds like you had fun 代购/dàigòu/"intermediary buyer".
Posted on: 康熙来了
June 4, 2011 at 12:28 PMI feel the real issue is not so much about transcripts as it's about the purpose of the media lessons. I am not discrediting the value of transcripts at all. In fact all of the lessons come with them except for video-based media lessons.
The media lessons are designed to provide advanced learners with a deeper cultural and social understanding of China. We feature current events, pop culture resources, literature, etc and showcase not only how language is used in these contexts, but also the significance of these subject matters in their own right. We do so because for advanced learners or language learning in general, cultural awareness is key. Imagine calling oneself an advanced learner of English without knowing any Star Wars reference? The focus of these cultural references is not so much about the language in a pedagogical sense, but more about enabling the learner to truly be linguistically and culturally adept.