User Comments - paulinurus

Posted on: Toothache

去医院要拉牙出来只是因为牙疼了这的确是一个吓人的事情。Going to the hospital to pull a tooth (especially a molar) out just because it aches is indeed a scary thing.

 How to say “root canal” and “crown” in Chinese?

Posted on: Blind Massage

We've been friends with a blind person for over twenty years. Attended her graduation, wedding, etc. She's working in human resources of a large corporation. If you don't know she's blind, you wouldn't know when she talks to you on the phone or answers your emails. I think she's probably busier and more active than many sighted persons..... full time job, wife (no children), church choir, and even performs on stage in community plays. Recently, her aging guide dog was replaced with a new young dog... another black labrador, equally cute and friendly as the previous dog. I've met many of her blind friends in social meets and they are all gainfully employed in either public or private companies.

Seems to me the yellow brick road leads to Yunnan, the Shangrila province, described as so different from the rest of China... where traffic obeys road laws, where grandma and grandchild can at ease cross safely, where there are no ugly industrial sites, where there are no long waits in hospitals, where flowers whiff away any air pollution, where blind people are assisted with work skills training, guide dogs and sponsored work, and where there are paths for disabled people to travel on wheel chairs unobstructed. My next visit to China will be this land of Oz, and hopely I wouldn't need to wear rose colored glasses.

Posted on: Interested in Chinese Medicine

Great to hear that you guys are planning to make some ellie lessons a bit harder. I second RJB's suggestion of formalizing some sort of Upper Elementary. After years of Cpod acknowledging the 'gap' and yet not much done to address it, hopefully this is a start of something concrete.

Posted on: Interested in Chinese Medicine

Very smooth first lesson between Jenny and Jason...no awkward moments, congrats both of you! And a promising start that since Jason is a translator that future lessons will continue with more explanations on sentence structures.. the bane of English speakers learning the Chinese language. Imust say I was a bit surprise though that Jenny felt that this lesson is a bit challenging for ellies...how are ellies ever going to cross to intermediates if this sort of lesson is deemed challenging?

Posted on: Chinese Idol

The pdf translated 评委老师 as "professor".

Is a singing contest judge a professor? Or maybe, to call a judge a professor is quite alright in Chinese culture, sort of calling an older person "uncle".  

Posted on: Hospital Visits and Prescription Medication

Hmm..,, perhaps due to the hoards of tripping tourists at West Lake? Hope it's not too serious. Get well soon!

Posted on: Hospital Visits and Prescription Medication

"I am puzzled why a Chinese person would find it difficult. Lack of experience with the Western system for comparison?! Maybe there is a culture of being nervous about hospitals?"

Are you implying that this lesson is not a real scenario? There seems to be two China, one according to your observations and the other of others.. so I'm puzzled too.

Posted on: Hospital Visits and Prescription Medication

Would you mind sharing with us here which surveys you've read showing Australia as having the best health care system in the world? The last survey by the World Health Organization showed France as number 1 with Australia at number 32, behind Canada.

WHO Ranking of the World's Health Systems

Because of the complexity of such a task, WHO has since discontinued such a ranking table.

Posted on: Introducing New Voices

I'm just wondering whether at the Newbie and Elementary levels it would really make a difference listening to a male or female native speaker. Seems to me, at these levels of more importance is to hear clear tonation and pronunciation of Chinese words whether from a male or female native speaker. Perhaps at the higher levels, Upper and Advanced (where we already have David) listening to diversity could offer the extra benefits since the listeners are poddies who already have mastered elementary Chinese. At the elementary and intermediate levels, more importantly is the role and ability of the non native partner to adequately represent us during the show podcast. ...asking the native speaker the right questions, mirroring in English the key grammar explanations when said in Chinese at the intermediate level. After all, the show podcast is the "class" and if we cannot comprehend what was said in Chinese that is not in the lesson dialogue, we might as well just learn from the pdf and not waste time attending classes.

Posted on: Introducing New Voices

Sounds to me like John will still be around but less so... perhaps due to more time needed for his own business (Allset Learning). Looks like succession planning is underway, a natural evolution in any organisation. So welcome Dilu and Jason.... looking forward to hearing you!