User Comments - light487

Posted on: I want coffee!

Well I got a few responses from the other places I asked and here is the result:

这杯咖啡很好喝
zhèbēi kāfēi hěn hǎohē

Notice here that hǎohē is grouped, rather than hěnhǎo being grouped. This is the same as how hǎochī is to food as hǎohē is for drinks.

Of course it makes complete sense now that I see it.. 这 + （measure word) + (object) + (adverbials) + (verb). Or something like that.. I am not a linguist.

Posted on: I want coffee!

I know this is a newbie lesson but I was wondering how to say: This cup of coffee is very good.

I have come up with:

此一杯咖啡得很好
cǐ yībēi kāfēi dehěn hǎo
(this) (cup) (coffee) (very) (good)

Posted on: Christmas Surprise

I was behind the camera, so you heard me say a few things and get yelled at because some people didn't appreciate having 100's of photos taken of them.. :)

Posted on: Christmas Surprise

A video taken at work today showing my office colleagues at Christmas time. Mild language at 0:51.. but hey.. what can you do when the people in the video are sick of you taking photos :)

Posted on: Always in Chinese: 总是 (zǒngshì) and 老是 (lǎoshi)

Unfortunately my trip won't include Taiwan anymore, I just can't afford it. So I will only be going to Shanghai, Wuhan, Chengdu, Xi'an (why do they put the ' before all the second words starting with a?), Beijing and then make my back to Shanghai.. not sure what I am going to do between Beijing and Shanghai.. if I had the money I would have used that time to go to Taiwan for a few days.

I'll be in China between March 18 and April 17..

Posted on: The Person Component

I guess what is happening here is that cPOD is trying to be innovative in the market place. When it first started it was the only show like this and that was innovative.. now that we're almost to 2009, it's like cPOD is looking for a fresh perspective.

I suggest to go back and look at the learning model and work from there. It's an awesome learning model and should be at the core of anything you do.

Yes this idea bombed but I think that it was just an offshoot idea rather than an idea based off the core principles of the learning model.

Posted on: Always in Chinese: 总是 (zǒngshì) and 老是 (lǎoshi)

@changye:
Yes! Only 87 days to go till I arrive in China. I realised yesterday that I don't even know how to properly ask for directions. I remember learning the "turn left" "turn right" etc directions a while ago but I don't remember them because they are not things you use in day-to-day speach. So I am trying to make a list of things I need to cram over the next 3 months.

I'm thinking also that it would be good to make a sort of mental map of what I would do each day and then work out the vocabulary I would need for that. Like "where do I collect baggage from?", "where do I queue for a taxi?", "please take me to (name of hostel)", "please give me a receipt".. and so on.. all the things I would do, in order during my first day..

I know that nothing ever goes to plan but I think that if I do have a plan and rehearse it a little, then if I get stuck and wondering what I should be doing, I can remember my plan.

我自己去中国。 Going to China by myself.

Sooo.. I really need to at least be able to get around town..

Posted on: Always in Chinese: 总是 (zǒngshì) and 老是 (lǎoshi)

我总是收听"请问“的中文播客
wǒ zǒngshì shōutīng "qǐngwèn" de zhōngwén bōkè
I always listen to "QingWen" on ChinesePOD.

Not sure if I got the ChinesePOD bit right.. 播客 is definitely the right word for POD but not sure about the 中文. Also, considering that it is a brand name.. may be it should be just written as "ChinesePOD". I think I used "de" in the right way for once because qingwen is an attribute of ChinesePOD? or should it be the other way around because ChinesePOD owns QingWen.. I am so confused by "de"...

Posted on: Always in Chinese: 总是 (zǒngshì) and 老是 (lǎoshi)

Is it possible to make a "fix" for QingWen's? Just take the actual examples and repeat them 2 or 3 times each and butt them up against each other. I hate having to rewind the podcast again and again to listen to one of the important examples phrases. I know that currently the system for QingWen is setup differently meaning that some featues can't be included but is this something that could be added in the future?

lǎo "shi" seems to be a very common chunk.. change the tone on the shi and you get all sorts of different meanings.. how confusing:

老师 ( lǎoshī ) (1st Tone) Teacher

老实 ( lǎoshí ) (2nd Tone) Honest / Sincere

老式 ( lǎoshì ) (4th Tone) Old Fashioned / Out-dated

老是 ( lǎoshi ) (Neutral Tone) Always

Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do except practise your tones and learn to remember the tones. Maybe using 老 by itself might make it easier in the short term but by learning the chunks as a whole rather than two separate syllables, it would probably make it easier in the long term. Just like Teach-er has two syllables, 老师 lǎoshī does too.

Posted on: Haircuts

不要兼得太短
bùyào jiǎnde tài duǎn
Don't cut it too short.