User Comments - lamps5jam3

Posted on: Grab Some Veggies From the Store

I lived in Qingdao, and most often heard "qingcai" used to refer to vegetables in general (more often than "shucai" even).  The first picture above I learned to call "bai cai."  In the US we call that Chinese cabbage or Napa cabbage.  The second picture is bok choy.  I'm not sure what that was usually called where I lived.

I wonder if calling peanuts "tudou" in Taiwan is because it translates close to groundnut, and groundnuts are similar to peanuts, usually found in African cooking in my experience.

Posted on: Measure Word Fundamentals: 个，只，条，张

I've never quite understood why measure words aren't learned with the word, the way articles in French or German are learned with the word.

Also, once while sightseeing in Beijing, I got brave and asked to buy two of a book using the proper measure word.  I was surprised when the clerk repeated my request to confirm what I wanted and just used "ge."  Any comments?

Posted on: Tea Tasting

In case anyone's actually doing the lesson, not just talking and drinking tea (not that it's a bad choice!), from the Expansion, would anyone really invite you in China to eat "top-grade steak"?  It sounds pretentious in English.

Posted on: Podcast Language 1

Jenny's Chinese name sounds just like "Judy" to me.  But of course, you could only be Jenny to us now!

Posted on: Learning the Lei Feng Song

This lesson and the song have become an institution in our house (along with "Shei fan pi le?" and "La duzi!" -- we have kids!).  I may not understand all of the meaning and context represented by Lei Feng, but I do think it's very helpful to be exposed to some of these pieces of history because a slogan or melody will pop up somewhere and it makes a huge difference to a foreigner or student to be familiar with it.  While living in China for 4 years there were numerous occasions when something a local Chinese person did just didn't make sense to me no matter how I imagined it.  But the more I read about history and learned about culture, the more I could see how history shapes society.  It helped me understand the mindset of Chinese people, which helped to understand some of their "mystifying" ways.

Posted on: Swimming Pools and the Beijing Accent

Your pool coverage didn't include the pool-issued slippers which you have to wear from the beginning of the locker room to the locker rather than shoes.  But if you wear the slippers toward the pool (so as to not slip or maybe keep your feet off the germy floor) you always get yelled at.  The more I learned about Chinese culture, I could understand what they were getting at (not tracking street dirt in, I guess), but never completely accepted that this system made sensef!