User Comments - paulinurus

Posted on: Fasten that Safety Belt

Hi,

I just had a brief look at map of Foshan. That's in Guangzhou province, which I understand people speak more Cantonese than Mandarin, same as in Hong Kong. How about outdoor activities... parks, mountains? Yeah, I too have heard many stories about taxi drivers and traffic. As for food and shopping, seems to me many Asian cities are likewise to China i.e. lots of food stalls, restaurants, and shopping alleys. Best Asian city for me is Singapore... clean, modern, safe, and lots and lots of food courts everywhere serving dishes out of this world,

Paul

Posted on: Fasten that Safety Belt

Data? data from China, or about China? And who would provide objective data, the govt?

Posted on: Utensils in the New Kitchen

Patience is the key word. John does say at the end of each podcast that if there are any questions concerning the lesson, to come here. I'm also waiting for a response to find out what is the difference using 赶紧 in the sentence instead of 块,

Posted on: One-Way Street Scuffle

Great lesson ! Very practical.. now I know how to say crossroads in Chinese. Also, nice that the supplementary vocabulary contains most of the words used in Jenny's dialogue. Makes it easier to understand the podcast show.

As for the traffic in China, it's gasps of 'holy moly' for many of us in the tourist bus. Seems to me, traffic flows according to the the law of 'who noses first'. Who dares to nose first, whether pedestrian, bicycle, motor cycle, car, bus, truck etc. gets the respect and get to go first. In Huangzhou our bus driver drove wrong way in a one-way street (to get us to the tea plantation in a hurry, said he). Unfortunately for him, there was a cop at the end of that road, who handed him a Y150 fine via a hand held device, which he had to pay cash right there and then (and which we reimbursed him). And at a cross road in Beijing (near the bird's nest), there were traffic wardens in each corner, holding  megaphones, directing people to cross obeying the traffic lights. Eye opener indeed... but despite  seemingly the traffic chaos every day of the total seven days of city tours, I didn't see a single accident.

p.s. after reading Bodawei's posts here and elsewhere, my observations don't seem to apply to his city.     

Posted on: Slippery Ground

RJ,

Yeah, I agree with you. I really don't see the harm using English when explaining usage and grammar in the Intermediate and Upper lessons. The podcast show conducted by Jenny and John is the only real teaching medium of Cpod for basic and premiium subscribers. The other materials are all just that passive "materials" for self study. Listening to Jenny and John is like attending a class... teachers teaching students Chinese using a specific printed lesson. Now, if students cannot understand what the teachers are saying.... hey, essentially there is no point attending the class. As we said before, this class format was established five years ago when Cpod started. Hopefully the CEO and management team will see fit to review the approach and revise the show podcast with the goal that English should be used in the teachers explanations on a lesson. As for the bantering, I'm like Zhen... don't mind it, or got to live with it, since I think that's their style of teaching.

Posted on: Fasten that Safety Belt

RJ,

"I suggest you return and stay in one place for a few weeks next time."

Alright, I must just do that (if my better half also agrees)! A smaller city (but not too rural), not too much pollution, traffic with some regards for road laws, and interesting scenic spots. Foshan... will look into this one. Friend says I should check out Yunnan.

Posted on: Utensils in the New Kitchen

Interesting that in the sentence 不会吧，赶紧去看看， the dialogue uses the word 赶紧, instead of the more commonly used word 赶快，or just 块 by itself.I wonder why 赶紧 is used in this sentence instead of 赶快.

Anyway, good to have different types of words of almost similar meaning to use in sentences.I was wondering too how to associate the character 紧 so that I can easily remember it. Looked up this character on mdbg, and found it in the very commonly used phrase不要紧.

p.s. .. 赶紧 gan3jin3 (hurriedly) versus 干净 gan1jing4 (clean)

Posted on: Slippery Ground

Hey pretz, actually this evening I've been going through some of the most recent Intermediate lessons released, including Utensils In The Kitchen released just now, and I found them all not that difficult. I didn't listen to the shows... just read the pdfs. So I think yeah, read the pdf first and then much later listen to the show to check and see what I've missed from just reading the pdf. Interesting point you've made about first studying a higher level lesson on a topic of interest then go to the lower level lessons... thanks for sharing.

Posted on: Fasten that Safety Belt

Thanks Mark for answering my question. I was curious because you said you had those moments - traffic and health, and yet you would dash back in a flash. Seems to me only a small minority of people would uproot themselves from a country such as America to live in a completely foreign country and culture, unless for monetary or relationship reasons. In fact, the reverse situation is more common, Chinese people wanting to go to America. I could now add fascination for a foreign culture to the list. In my brief visit to China, I found the pace of its modernisation dazzling, and felt it safer to walk the city streets and not be a victim of crime compared to many other countries. However, the crowds, the traffic. and the air pollution got to me.

Posted on: Slippery Ground

Abelle, I was away from Cpod's lessons for 9 months, re-subscribed recently and completely went through the 9 months of Ellie lessons in one week - that's how repetitious are the words in the Ellie lessons. So I think your approach of combining Ellie with Inter is a good one.