User Comments - julio
julio
Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Xinjiang
June 4, 2008 at 7:43 PMKen
There goes my feedback:
I confess I tought it was a malfunction when I heard it for the first time, I pressed the play button twice to make sure that the lesson started that way. But after all, I must say I enjoyed the challenge. On the other hand, I think it might scare some people. Me for instances, when I entered the mighty "elementary" level I would always read throughly the PDF transcript before hearing the lesson, because I was sure I wouldn't be able to catch anything otherwise. I believe listening to the dialogue cold turkey might frighten quite a few just-arrived elementries.
As to the accents, I don't have the faintest idea on how people talk in Ürümqi (actually, I can't even pronounce "Ürümqi") but the accent sounded very familiar -- and a lot like a cartoonesque middle-eastern peddler. I actually understood the dialogue betther the "新疆人" way.
The other new feature I would like to comment is on how many times you and Jenny repeat/translate the dialogue. I agree that 3 timas was too much, but just once is far too crude for me. I keep reaching the "rew" button.
Hope I've helped.
Posted on: Chicago
May 7, 2008 at 8:22 PMOk, you've moved 450 公迷, Detroit to Chicago. Can we go further on, please? For instances, Rio de Janeiro, my 老家, or the cities I will be visiting in August, 大同，桂林，澳门，西安... If not, just refrain from doing a lesson on 克利夫兰得 (Cleveland).
Posted on: Detroit
April 30, 2008 at 4:27 PMWhen my babe smiles at me I go to... 我认为你们应该做里约热内卢课。我们称它"精彩的城市". 在这个特大的城市有很多沙滩，绿林，桑巴爵士音乐... 还有一点儿暴力...
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
April 21, 2008 at 6:30 PMLujiaojie You're right! I was wondering why you suggested 林 and I had I guess you had done some research. Great job! Very few Portuguese-speaking people can track "Silveira" down to "from the woods" since it's a bygone Latin prefix. "Forest/ 林" is perfect. 很谢谢
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
April 18, 2008 at 4:10 PMThank you very much Lujiaojie I loved the given names, but I think I'll go for 周 for surname. It sounds more like "Ju" in Portuguese... How does it sound? 周立豪 周立萌
Posted on: Choosing a Chinese Name and Safety
April 17, 2008 at 4:34 PMHi everyone I'm filling the Chinese Visa form and I came across the "Chinese name" field. I've always thought of getting one but now it's urgent. Could you tell me whether the names bellow are viable or just plain ridiculous? The thing is I need two names, one for me and one for my father and we both go by the name of "JULIO SILVEIRA", but his middle initial is "O" and mine is "M". So I thought of 巨狸奥 (Ju Li Ao) and 巨俐门 (Ju Li Men). "Great mysterious fox"? "Great cleverness gates"? I hope these doesn't sound as bizarre as in translation...
Posted on: He's Not In
April 8, 2008 at 8:38 PMOnce a wise old Chinese master (actually my rather young Chinese teacher) told me to avoid the use of "不在". She said it's almost like "去世界", i. e., it's an euphemism for 死. Is that correct?
Posted on: Hiking
June 16, 2008 at 9:40 PMHey, Davidshanghai
Writing 汉字 in a Mac is a piece of cake.
In the "System preferences" (click on the apple on the extreme upper left corner), choose "International" and then "Input format". Click the languages you are interested in, no need for further installing.
Once you check the "simplified chinese" note that there'll be a little flag on the upper right side. This is where you toggle between languages. Once you choose the one who resembles the Chinese flag, you'll get (after a while) the ITABC. Just type pinyin, without the tones, an
d you'll see a little bar suggest ing some characters to choose from. You can either click or type de correspondent number and then type spacebar for confirmation.