User Comments - mikeinewshot
mikeinewshot
Posted on: Cheering
July 4, 2008 at 6:52 AMJust to add to the 'get it right' lobby. Actually I think that in the UK the media usually do try to get the pronunciations of foreign names correct. I am pretty sure that the BBC does train their announcers. For example, Russian names are usually basically pronounced correctly, albeit often with the accent on the wrong syllable...
So that is why it is so irritating to hear her called Zang ji or something like it. I wouldn't expect them to get the tones right but something more like jie would be appreciated ;-)
aporidgegame - perhaps there is not the same attention to this in US media?
Posted on: Taking the HSK
July 4, 2008 at 6:40 AMI got the first group right, but had yet another variation on the second ie c, a, b, a, b
Posted on: Cheering
July 3, 2008 at 6:42 PMAccorigan
I don't agree at all. Pinyin is the way to pronounce Chinese names and the media should learn it - it is not very difficult!
I think it is an insult to a nation not to bother to find out how to pronounce their names correctly.
Posted on: Moscow
July 2, 2008 at 6:43 AMThe music is Московские вечера (Moscow Nights)
I was there in the 70s working for 15 months. The Brezhnev era. Lots of restrictions for foreigners in principle, but not so many in practice.
I lived outside Moscow at a scientific institute, learned the language and found that you could move freely in Moscow.
Posted on: 人口老龄化
June 28, 2008 at 8:43 AMThe audio is now back - thank you
Posted on: Attitudes toward Religion
June 23, 2008 at 7:43 PMFor anyone who would like some help understanding Jenny's Chinese, here are some words I have managed to pick out – I hope they are correct. Lookups mainly courtesy of http://www.mdbg.net/.....?page=main
体系 ti3 xi4 system / setup
向上 xiang4 shang4 upwards / uplifting
尊敬 zun1 jing4 respect / to revere
潜移 qian2 yi2 intangible changes / unnoticed transformation / changes behind the scenes
包容 bao1 rong2 pardon / forgive / contain / hold
身处 shen1 chu3 in (some place) / to be in (adversity, a difficult situation, danger, turmoil etc) / to find oneself in / placed in / surrounded by
积极 ji1 ji2 active / energetic / vigorous / positive (outlook) / proactive
含义 han2 yi4 meaning (implicit in a phrase) / implied meaning / hidden meaning / hint / connotation
犹太教 You2 tai4 jiao4 Judaism
专用 zhuan1 yong4 special / dedicated
一无所有 yi1 wu2 suo3 you3 to have nothing / "The Dispossessed"
介入 jie4 ru4 intervene / get involved
干预 gan1 yu4 meddle / intervene
涉及 she4 ji2 involve / touch upon (a topic)
反而 fan3 er2 instead / contrary (to expectations)
转折 zhuan3 zhe2 turning point / shift in the trend of events / plot shift in a book
赞成 zan4 cheng2 approve / endorse
提倡 ti2 chang4 to promote / to advocate
短语 duan3 yu3 Phrase
符合 fu2 he2 in keeping with / in accordance with / to agree with / to correspond with / to be in line with / manage / to handle
天主教徒 tian1 zhu3 jiao4 tu2 Catholic / follower of Catholicism
弥撒 mi2 sa5 (Catholic) Mass
结尾 jie2 wei3 ending / wind up / coda
Posted on: 理想女人
June 22, 2008 at 6:33 AMI am trying to understand the girls chat in this lesson by repeatedly rewinding and re-listening as I usually do, but I am really getting irritated with the background 'music' which seems particularly intrusive, and makes it more difficult for me to catch the words.
Why do we have to have background musak to the explanations? Is this lesson's musak more intrusive than usual or am I just being grumpy today?
Posted on: 人口老龄化
June 21, 2008 at 10:38 AMno audio for dialogue in this one too
Posted on: 磁悬浮
July 12, 2008 at 6:15 PMClay
Please don't censor unless comments are really offensive. I am a real fan of Chinesepod, but opening up a discussion about improvement in principle should be encouraged, shouldn't it? I am sure Ken would say so.
I am about to listen to this lesson to judge for myself. In general though, I would like to see a little more development of the language in the podcasts rather than just describing the words, as sometimes seems to happen. I mean like Ken used to call lexical chunks when I listened to elementary and early intermediates.
One of the most productive lessons I remember in this regard was when Jenny and Ken developed a structure for 'I don't know what to ....for the best', among other patterns. Excuse me if I get it wrong but I think it is something like: 我不知道买什么礼物好。 我不知道吃什么饭好。etc...