User Comments - podster

Posted on: Telling Your 尽 Apart

I'm not sure if my first reply to your question was clear. A quicker solution than going to the glossary might be to use the search function. As an example, I plugged 尽快 into the search box in the upper right hand corner of this page, with the search category set to "Lessons". The results returned included the following:

Intermediate - Interpreting Gig at the Exhibition

Intermediate - Attending a Trade Show

Upper Intermediate - New Employee in the Office

So you could listen to these recordings for the pronunciation of 尽快 as a supplement. To my (foreign) ear Connie's speech always sounds quite standard, her "admission" about tone variations on this podcast notwithstanding. I'm sure you won't go wrong following her as a model.

Posted on: Telling Your 尽 Apart

I was going to suggest that you listen to the recordings under the "Dialogue" tab to see if it was a different native speaker's voice than Connie's, but at the moment that function is not working for me so I'm not sure what it sounds like. You could also try checking the glossary for other occurrences of the character or its compounds, and listen to selected parts of the relevant lessons indicated.

Posted on: No Fear of Street Food

我的姑妈给我听据说 "you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die" (需要吃很多泥土才会死。）

A peck is a unit of measure which, If I remember correctly, is equal to half a bushel.

姑妈的年龄快99岁！

Posted on: In My Songs

In the dialog tab, the mouse-over translation for 防备 appears to be wrong.  It says "proof" whereas the full translation is "guard" as in guard against, which matches both my dictionaries' definistions and Tom's verbal translation in the podcast.

Posted on: Chocolate Country

I'm curious why Greece is 希腊. It does not sound like the English name at all, and I don't know what the Greeks call their country.

Posted on: Choosing Fruit

Pomegranate is 石榴 shíliu in Mandarin. The English spelling is "pomegranate" as far as I know. No "granite" but interesting that the Mandarin word starts with the character for "stone." Maybe a reference to the seeds? The second character has the meaning of pomegranate.

Posted on: Wait!

As a solution you can go to the dialog tab, first sentence and keep pressing the play button to hear a clearer pronunciation as many times as necessary until you are comfortable that you have learned a more "standard" pronunciation. Chinese Pod does attempt to teach "standard" Mandarin, but if you are going to be spending any time in China it will be worth your while to get used to slight variations. Only a small minority of people may fit your definition of those who are "speaking properly." Stick with it: as you get through newbie level into elementary and beyond you will find more and more material that was recorded more recently, and may be more to your liking. Good luck!

Posted on: College Kid Expenses

Thanks, I was wondering what it had to do with curry. ;D

So to expand the meaning to clarify the China context 打到卡里 means transfer the money to my bank account which my debit card is linked to.

Posted on: Heat Stroke

This question about 凉快 also inspired me to do some dictionary checks and I came to the same conclusion; it can serve as a verb, though I was not familiar with this usage. I previously only knew it as an adjective, although I knew that 凉 by itself means to cool when pronounced with a fourth tone.

Posted on: A Gift for a Man

lujiaojie, I'm a bit confused; you say that 在 is not necessary but then give an example which actually includes it. I don't think the question fit the "跟……一起+Verb" pattern since 幸福 is either a stative verb or an adjective. To restate ecleu1's original question, if we go from 我觉得跟你在一起很幸福 to 我觉得跟你一起很幸福 does it really makes sense or sound right? Does the meaning stay exactly the same? My guess is that 跟你在一起 means "being with you" whereas 跟你一起 should be followed by a verb for DOING, something, (not a verb of being in some state). I hope my question is clear, and thanks for all your replies to user questions.