User Comments - mikeinewshot
mikeinewshot
Posted on: What does 厉害 (lìhai) mean, anyway?
December 19, 2007 at 8:01 AMMaybe a French native speaker will confirm or otherwise: I think the French word 'terrible' can have the same two opposite meanings.
Posted on: Capital Punishment
December 12, 2007 at 9:57 PMThis comments thread is garbled and repeated. Never mind! If anybody is interesting in decifering the banter here are some of the words: 观点 guan1 dian3 point of view / viewpoint / standpoint 口气 kou3 qi4 (friendly or unfriendly) tone (of comments) 语气 yu3 qi4 tone / manner of speaking / mood 温和 wen1 he2 moderate (policy, etc.) 强悍 qiang2 han4 valiant, brutal 温和 wen1 he2 moderate (policy etc) 差异 cha1 yi4 difference / discrepancy 取消 qu3 xiao1 cancel 制度 zhi4 du4 (political or administrative) system or institution 条例 tiao2 li4 regulations / rules 立场 li4 chang3 position / standpoint 不顾 bu4 gu4 in spite of / regardless of 天理 tian1 li3 justice 广泛 guang3 fan4 extensive / wide range 夸张 kua1 zhang1 to exaggerate / vaunted / overstated / exaggerated 稳定 wen3 ding4 steady / stable / stability 无奈 wu2 nai4 have no choice 处境 chu3 jing4 plight 强迫 qiang3 po4 compel / force 案件 an4 jian4 law case / legal case / judicial case 起诉 qi3 su4 to sue / to bring a lawsuit against 罪犯 zui4 fan4 criminal 偶然 ou3 ran2 incidentally / occasional / occasionally / by chance / randomly 热血青年 re4 xue4 qing1 nian2 hot blooded youth 正义性 zheng4 yi4 xing4 sense of justice, controversial 敏感 min3 gan3 sensitive / susceptible / (politically sensitive, a pretext for censorship)
Posted on: Teacher Salary and Perks
December 10, 2007 at 1:46 PMThanks Ypsing - I have now fallen behind a bit. The way that Intermediate lessons are done these days with John translating Jenny's Chinese into English, means that I don't feel that trying to supply the banter vocabulary is particularly useful any more. However, if I had the time I might try and do a similar job for the upper intermediates but I need a new lease of life for the effort... What do you think?
Posted on: Using ChinesePod
December 10, 2007 at 7:35 AMActually there was an intermediate lesson on Chinesepod which disappeared after the previous upgrade - Since it was one of the early lessons that I listened to when I found the site, I remember it well. This is the lesson text: 我刚发现了一个很棒的学习中文的网站。叫做中文播客。 是吗？我怎么找到那个网站？ 只要输入www.Chinesepod.com，你就直接到那个网站了。那个网站很棒 。你可以每天下载中文播客，然后在你的iPod或者mp3上听。 听起来太棒了。我真想提高我的中文。它是免费的吗？ 播客是免费的。我推荐你注册成为 会员去了解更多。 It is interested to compare it with this lesson to see how intermediate lessons have changed over the years (or not!)
Posted on: Teacher Salary and Perks
December 6, 2007 at 6:41 PMWow - are you really spending $500 a night in the UK for a hotel - you must be rich
Posted on: Getting a Library Card
November 25, 2007 at 11:19 AMAnd the expansion and exercise sections are blank
Posted on: Getting a Library Card
November 25, 2007 at 11:18 AMThere appears to be no words in the vocabulary tab for this lesson at the moment. Have they disappeared?
Posted on: Interviewing an Ayi
November 25, 2007 at 9:52 AMShouldn't this lesson have been classed as Intermediate rather than Upper Intermediate? I found it relatively easy, the dialogue was not long and John spoke English throughout - all of which seem to point to an intermediate level. Very useful lesson though.
Posted on: Adventures in Chinese Learning
November 23, 2007 at 8:09 AMHenning I am CPod user trying to learn to speak fluent Mandarin who started learning Chinese in his late-50s, who has not lived in China, has a stressful job and who does not have a Chinese wife! I go through those phases all the time :(
Posted on: Handsome Boy
December 22, 2007 at 2:48 AMMaybe a topic for Dear Amber - I am still very unsure how to use the various words for the English: say, tell, talk about, talk to, etc... For example, can 说我 also mean to 'talk to me'? Can it mean 'tell me'? If not, how do you say "Are you talking to me?" How about 讲， 告诉， 。。。?