User Comments - standuke
standuke
Posted on: Chinese Universities
May 16, 2008 at 5:20 PMHere's my attempt at translating Changye's comment: I've heard it said that many chinese four-year university students are allowed to wander like little lambs. They basically don't have class and only have to write a thesis--some students (instead of/in addition to?) taking exams busy themselves searching for employment. Some Chinese universities have internship programs (which leads to?) a somewhat odd situation. Students intern off campus for a short period (which?) certainly can be an important experience but I know a student who interned for nearly a year. This student partly went to school and partly worked for a salary, he even rented his dormitory bunk to another student. (this last sentence is tough... maybe something like this:) The internship system really works out so no one loses! Ack--something like that... I still have difficulty making sense of some of the basic 'plumbing' of the Chinese language, if that makes any sense. I think I get the gist of it but I'm not sure of the intended logic... Changye, if you don't mind, what's up with the sentences that all have the same number of characters in each line??
Posted on: Beauty Pageant: It's a Mess
May 14, 2008 at 7:07 PMI really liked the snappy executive summary at the end of this lesson.
Posted on: Cat in the Hat
May 6, 2008 at 3:08 PMauntie68--There's definitely something 'deep' about what is creepy or not. I know there are lots of Chinese products meant for kids that strike me as rather demented. Some of the color schemes and the freaky big eyes, etc. At first I thought these were mostly just 'cheap' or 'low quality' products that were sort of blindly plastered with random art, but my wife assured me that no manufacturer decorates things in a way that won't sell... There's just a different aesthetic. With Dr. Seuss there's sort of a difference between early Seuss and late Seuss, where he started putting in moral lessons into the later books. Some of those later ones are the ones I really don't like. azerdocmom, your Mom is a good sport! What a great clip.
Posted on: Cat in the Hat
May 6, 2008 at 2:37 PMHmmm, I tried this on my daughter this morning and she ran out of patience during the translations. Yes, I know, it's not actually meant for kids but I figured I'd see what happens. I've played her a few newbie lessons and the first few times she was intrigued, but, not surprisingly, now she runs out of patience. She likes the new Nickelodeon TV show 'Ni Hao Kai Lan'. Now that it's spring there are ants outside and she was running around saying '蚂蚁， 蚂蚁', (ma3 yi3) which she learned from TV. Re creepiness of Dr. Seuss, I remember thinking his creatures were rather uncute and uncuddly, but not really thinking they were creepy. I think some of his later books are rather dark--for instance I remember thinking 'Horton Hatches an Egg' or 'Horton Hears a Who' were creepy. Even more so as an adult, I have to say I just don't like them, even though lots of people have no problem with them, apparently. I just think some of the characters are too mean.
Posted on: Cat in the Hat
May 5, 2008 at 1:19 PMWhoa, that was odd... I think I'll try playing it for my 4 year old tonight anyway, just 'cause of the 'Cat in the Hat' theme. I hope it doesn't scare her, though. I'll let you all know how it goes :>)
Posted on: Xīnkǔ 辛苦
April 23, 2008 at 5:48 PMI went home yesterday and told my wife '辛苦你了'. She was very touched, and then she asked my why I had never said that before. Of course I've tried to say more or less that in English, but it's pretty obvious the Chinese has a special meaning she never got from the English. It was very sweet! 谢谢你们！
Posted on: Regional Accents Part I
April 23, 2008 at 2:10 PMThank you Connie and Changye for clarifying the 'edited file mystery'... That was driving me nuts trying to figure out what you guys were talking about. Perhaps the CPod team might want to insert some sort of 'updated' flag or message when a file is changed. For those of us who aren't so confident in our abilities it can be a bit disconcerting when the discussion in the comments doesn't match the file. A little FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) can go a long way, after all...
Posted on: Regional Accents Part I
April 22, 2008 at 3:12 PMlight487, I was listening to the file on the web page, too. I checked the one downloaded on my iTunes software and it's the same. The Taiwanese guy says 'han' instead of 'he' right? And he's second (I swear)... When I mentioned two files I was thinking Changye posted a long time ago and perhaps it had been corrected, if the files were really different. It seems like at least three posters think so. You could try downloading a 'fresh' copy??? Anyway I really should to get to work... : >)
Posted on: Regional Accents Part I
April 22, 2008 at 2:24 PMWell, actually on 'my copy' it seems that the Taiwanese guy still speaks second in that example. That's Aric, right?--he was also on the 'er tong jie' lesson...? Perhaps there are two versions floating around in cyberspace while the CPod Gods rest?
Posted on: Chinese Universities
May 16, 2008 at 6:02 PMRich, my wife would be very pleased that you are describing her alma mater 南开大学 as 有名。I didn't quite get the logic for taking Chinese lessons at Edinburgh rather than going to 复旦， though?? Not sure if this is an issue with your logic or my understanding of your written Chinese :>) Speaking of 有名universities, I have to say that using ChinesePod compares favorably with taking classes at very prestigious universities. Thanks, guys, keep up the good work! Hey, it's almost June--how about a lesson on 高考？Isn't 高考in June this year for the first time??