User Comments - marcopolosrhino

Posted on: Life after School

Comment and a question...

On a culture note...is this '人太多‘ （from Vera) something learned in school? I've lost count of the amount of times I have heard this in China. Why is the bus so crowded? 人太多... Why so many kids in a class? ...人太多 etc. etc.

Seems to me to be an allround 接口 for every situation, especially from those in authority who don't want to do their job to change things...China is actually not all that populated...OK so it has the world's highest population-granted, but it is also one of the largest land masses. In terms of population density, China is 83rd in the world - according to wikipedia! More like 人太少！ （NB:Hong Kong is number 4...and things seem to run a whole lot smoother there!)

Rant over. Question is to how to make a list of things you have done, or want to do: first....next...finally... etc. Has this been covered in a Qing Wen? If not, could we have one? Thanks in advance :)

Posted on: Noisy Renovations

hehe, very vivid image - thanks connie

Posted on: Kung Fu King Comparisons

second that - this is an excellent lesson, despite my complete lack of interest in kung fu. Note to self - look more carefully into functions and grammar of a lesson instead of dismissing it because of the topic.

More like this please, with a deeper focus on particular grammar points...will help greatly in making the difficult jump to Upper Intermediate..

Posted on: Noisy Renovations

quick question from the expansion...where exactly does '炒鱿鱼' come from? My browser translator gives me two translations. 1) to be fired. 2) fried squid! Are the Chinese comparing being fired to being fried squid!?!

Posted on: Dog Breeds

Check out the Task I uploaded for this lesson! Download

Posted on: An Improved Understanding of Improve

thanks...thats probably a little advanced for me now though!

Posted on: An Improved Understanding of Improve

good lesson, but I didn't really get the difference between 改善 and 改进 from the podcast. Both seem to translate as 'improve' relating to more abstract concepts - are they then interchangable?

Posted on: Fight on a Plane

thanks for the advice - I've decided I'll stick with intermediate until I'm about halfway through the recommended amount (another 10 lessons or so), and then take podster's advice. My main difficulty jumping up to upper is that I'm trying to do as much as possible using only hanzi, and no pinyin, and I find that much easier with shorter sentences (even if the dialogue itself is long). Upper intermediate tends to use LOOOOONG sentences which can sometimes leave me a little lost...but I'll give it a try!

Posted on: The Chinese Experience

ok, thanks for clearing that up.

'cross mountain car' - upon seeing that translation I would probably assume it was a cable car, up a mountain. Not a mistake one wants to make, especially those with a weak heart!

Posted on: Fight on a Plane

To the team: I wonder if there is some way to rank the levels more accurately? I can't be the only one who has noticed how they have changed. The new intermediate levels are about right for me, but the older ones are at an elementary standard, if that. Are the older upper intermediate more akin to the recent intermediate levels, and is there some way to mark them so that I can tell which ones to try without opening each pdf one by one?

A quick glance at lesson: 1688 (take some medicine) compared to 2079 (fight on a plane - great lesson btw) makes it hard to see how these can be considered the same level...

Would be glad to hear what others think on this...right now I'm working through some of the Qing Wens, as I feel like theres nothing for me to study at an intermediate level... what should I do? make the jump to upper and start at older lessons, on the assumption that they will be easier than recent intermediate lessons anyway?