User Comments - lester
lester
Posted on: Not on purpose
April 28, 2008 at 8:52 PMxiangld, 谢谢你的回答。That answers my question.
Posted on: Not on purpose
April 28, 2008 at 8:49 PMlanging, 很丢脸！ 我不是故意的“ball”了，我故意的“bawl" 了. Wow! I can't even speak American right :)
Posted on: Signing up for Art Class
April 28, 2008 at 1:49 PMpituitaryadenoma, By this point in my study of Chinese, I have come to accept that there is a kind of linguistic principle about shortening words. Zhongguo appears to get shortened a lot in combination with other characters. I hear Jenny or John constantly explaining a character as (for example) "the hou in shihou" (...时候的侯...). So, if my experience is similar to others', then I would disagree that learning 国画 without an explaination of "guo" is "blindly memorizing" words. Yes, if you are a "newbie" or low-elle, maybe you haven't noticed this tendency toward shortening and combining words. But, at a little higher level, you kind of naturally fill in the blanks. By the way, newbies and elle's, pay close attention to the intermiate moderators for that pattern I mentioned (... shi hou de hou..., zhongguo de guo..., etc.). This helped increase my understanding of the moderating in Chinese accompanying the dialog. Just a thought.
Posted on: Signing up for Art Class
April 28, 2008 at 1:22 PMsushan, 我同意。可是·，我觉得那种可简单一点·。 (wo tongyi. keshi, wo juede na zhongke jiandan yidian). I agree, but I think this lesson is kind of simple.(For an intermidiate lesson) The grammer construction... 一点什么什么都没有 ... reminds me of another podcast with ... 一点（用筷子）都不会。 Cpod, Would ... 我一点空都没有... mean "I have no time at all" while ...我一点空也没有... would mean "I have no time at all, either"? 谢谢。
Posted on: Not on purpose
April 25, 2008 at 12:20 PMAmber, thanks for correcting "zao" 3rd tone (not 4th tone). Light487, speaking of risk, I take risks every time I speak or write Chinese. But in taking the risk, I improve, and people are so kind.
Posted on: Not on purpose
April 25, 2008 at 12:10 PMlight487, I think its some comic relief or dark humor, every good tradgedy needs some. Or maybe we'd feel more sorry for him if his picture weren't so hillarious (bow tie and light blue vest, uh,uh). Cpod, is it a cultural thin to run to the toilet when one wishes to ball?
Posted on: Not on purpose
April 25, 2008 at 3:46 AM澡（zao4) is "bath". What would the bath house at the beach be called (is there such a thing in China)?
Posted on: Days of the week
April 23, 2008 at 11:38 AMCpod, please fix the minor problem in the PDF. Suppllementary Vocab is missing the 这个before the 星期(this week). Thx
Posted on: Days of the week
April 23, 2008 at 2:18 AMYes, made that mistake a lot. I've gotten use to 下个 as being the future by using 下子再见（xia4zi zai4jian4）when bidding my Chinese co-worker goodbye each day. "Xia4 ge xing1qi1 jian4" is another useful phrase around the office that helps in that regard.
Posted on: Not on purpose
April 28, 2008 at 9:06 PMIn America... Bathroom, restroom, washroom, facilities, toilet, "john", "can", "potty" and possibly others. In a home, if there's a toilet, there is always a sink for washing hands (I think its part of the building code). If there is no bath or shower, realtors say it's a 1/2 bath. If there's a shower stall but no bathtub, it's still considered a full bath (realtor-ese).