User Comments - jennyzhu
jennyzhu
Posted on: Taking the Train to Beijing
May 19, 2011 at 7:22 AMGlad to hear you like this lesson! And it's great to hear you embrace the challenge. 加油！
Posted on: Taking the Train to Beijing
May 19, 2011 at 7:20 AMWe call bullet trains "动车“／dòngchē. The tickets are very affordable. A trip from Shanghai to Hangzhou is about $8 dollars.
Posted on: I wet the bed!
May 19, 2011 at 5:41 AMThe 候 in 小时候 is neutral tone, which answers your previous question. And it's marked as neutral tone in the dialogue and vocab section as well as the transcripts. However, it does sound borderline forth tone.
Posted on: Interesting Architecture
May 19, 2011 at 3:04 AM
The tallest building is the Shanghai World Financial Center, aka the "bottle opener". The second tallest is the Jinmao Building.
Posted on: I don't smoke
May 16, 2011 at 7:30 AMThat's very extreme even by Chinese or I should say Shanghai standards. In general, people observe the non-smoking rules in hospitals in Shanghai.
Posted on: I don't smoke
May 16, 2011 at 7:27 AMWe say 吃烟 in Shanghainese too. However, it doesn't work in Mandarin Chinese. You need to use the verb "抽“/chōu, “抽烟”(chōuyān)。
Posted on: Understanding China's Geography
May 15, 2011 at 3:14 PMGlad to hear you liked the show. You can't enjoy learning a langauge without learning about the culture, and that's what BST is intended for. I'd say don't even focus too much on the language covered in BST's. The cultural discussion is the beef so to speak. BTW, suburbanite's suggestion is excellent.
Posted on: Mild Swearing
May 14, 2011 at 3:09 PMOur plan with redoing lessons is to start with those that are a part of the official ChinesePod courses (structured themed courses at various learning levels) . The new newbie lessons fall into this category. On a personal note, there is a certain rustic charm to the early lessons. It's like looking at your pictures from the 80's sporting acid wash jeans and giant shoulders pads. Bittersweet memories.
Posted on: Asking Height and Weight
May 14, 2011 at 2:55 PMSharp analysis. 英镑 refers to Britain's currency. (Note the radical). 磅 with a 石 radical refers to the weight.
Posted on: Ordering Fancy Coffee
May 20, 2011 at 8:49 AMVery glad to hear about your improvement! 一份蛋糕/yīfèn dàngāo and 一块蛋糕/yīkuài dàngao both mean "one piece of cake". But the word 份/fèn is used more in restaurant settings. If you are dining at home, you would not really use 份/fèn to describe a portion of food.