User Comments - light487

Posted on: Can't Get a Taxi

Oh dear.. yes.. even in the licensed taxis it is always an interesting experience.. for those not familar with the 打的武术.. :)

My funniest event was when I was travelling to my hostel in the evening of my arrival to Wuhan. We were driving down this 6 lane wide main road and then the taxi driver starts to pull out on to the other side of the road, slowly we edge our way in to oncoming traffic and eventually make it to the other side of the road where the hostel is.. :) ha!

Interesting! :)

Posted on: Slippery Ground

The grass around the sign looks healthier :) haha.. because no one can walk on there :)

Posted on: Good Morning!

Having never used the other site, I can't say which is better or why. Even after having a look at their site, it's too hard for me to say what would make ChinesePod better or not..

However, what's the first thing they try to do when you sign up for a "free" account there? Try to sell you something.. before you get to the lessons, they are hammering you with a sales pitch. This, using standard "scare tactics" as seen in many online phishing scams... yes, I already don't like these guys. I went to see what they are about so I could see if there was a way of making a quick evaluation.. and I get this.... not off to a good start. Second point, they say "unrestricted" access during your 7 day trial.. oh except for that 10 PDF limit.. hehe :) They lost me at scare tactic sales approach on their doorstep.. but let's have a bit more of a look.

This all surprises me though because I know the person who is part of this site personally. I just realised after finally wading through all the sales stuff and getting to the lessons that one of the hosts is an old ChinesePod member. This is all starting to make a lot of sense now and why so much of the presentation is similar.

Look.. all you can do is give both a try and decide for yourself.. ChinesePod is the original of course.

Posted on: Please speak slowly

Here's a more defined translation of kěyì and huì:

可以 kě yǐ /can/may/possible/able to/

会 [會] huì /can/be possible/be able to/will/be likely to

(I've cut out some of the more obtuse translations as they are irrelevant at this stage.)

Here you can see that these two chunks of Chinese have similar but not the same meanings. With 会 huì, this means "being" able to do something is "having the ability".. as in having a skill. "Can you speak slower" isn't really a "skill".. it's more of a mode of speaking. You can speak fast, slow or regular speed... so 可以 kěyì is asking whether they are "able to" speak slower.. change their mode.. not whether they can speak or not.

I hope that is clear and makes sense.. :)

Posted on: Hanukkah

革 could also be translated as "to reform".. so, makes even more sense. Not only "change your life" but "reform your life"..

Posted on: Can't Get a Taxi

I remember one, near refusal, I had in Hangzhou. I had just gotten off the bus from Deqing county and needed to get to the train station, all the way across town. As you are aware.. it's pretty chaotic around the main bus and train stations so I opted for a cab instead of trying to work out which bus to get. I told the driver where I wanted to go.. he understood me, no problem but he kept saying something and repeating a number.. but I didn't understand.. so I just urged him to go ahead and drive me to the train station.

What I realise he was trying to do was explain to me that it would be cheaper for me to take the bus number XXX, which would take me straight to the station.. oh well.. I wasn't in the mood to go on a bus anyway.. it had been a long day already.. :)

Posted on: Baby Talk: Friends Song

Listening to this lesson, I realise how important it was for me as a newbie to have Ken as a teacher. He has such a knack of teaching in the right way. I always remember Ken going on about the "music" of the language and this lesson puts that into a more literal form but it is still the same idea.

Ken's teaching style is refreshing and most importantly impactful.. it has left a last impression on me right from when I started with ChinesePod on 2008.. amazing. I am so grateful to him and this service he, and a few others, created.. yourself included Jenny.

John Pasden is awesome too, don't get me wrong.. but it was during my newbie moments.. my own "baby talk" with Chinese that I had Ken as my kindergarten teacher. :) Ahh.. good times.. good times..

Posted on: Baby Talk: Friends Song

It's just a matter of training your ear.. I admit I can hear what you mean but knowing the context makes all the difference.. This is going to happen a lot until you get used to the sounds. When Jenny says it, she says it VERY clearly.. but unfortunately , for us, most Chinese people do not speak that clearly unless they are paying attention to the fact that you are not a native speaker.. and even then.. well.. you get the idea.. it's just a matter of listening practise.

Posted on: This Needs to be Dry Cleaned

I have a landry room here.. but it is much cheaper for me to take my clothes to the local laundromat (barely 2 minutes walk from my apartment). They wash it, dry it and fold it for me.. and it's cheap! If I had a washing machine and dryer, I'd be paying for all that electricity and would have to do the work myself also..

便宜和便宜 :p lol

piányí hé biànyí :)

Posted on: How many family members do you have?

Oh and with 口, this is (as far as I understand it) only for your family. It does say, in my dictionary, that this is a classifier (measure word) for all living things with mouths but my friends tell me that it is only really used for family.. though I think they make an except for the family pets as I have seen an example with someone saying that they have 5 members in there family and go on to say that there is their mother, father, brother and themself... then of course the question is made "but what about the 5th" and it the answer is "oh.. our little dog.. she is part of the family too" :)