User Comments - wolson

Posted on: Wait!

zhanglihua says
5 hours ago

Hmm, wolson, have you forgotten a 不? And the last sentence only refers to *whether* they are different.

Thank you: I missed it! And for the last sentence: I think you are right: but I assume that given that question and that they are different, I would be told how they are different.

changye says
2 hours ago

Hi wolson, ....

 

Uncle Changye, Thank you. I continue to learn from your wisdom and knowledge.  I did not know "区别" or "差异".

Posted on: Wait!

Regarding

(And how do I say "What's the difference between A and B?"in Chinese? "怎么A跟B不一样"?)

I would say "A 跟B 怎么一样?”, 

"A 跟B 什么不同?”

or “A跟B 一样不一样?”

Posted on: Wait!

没问题 mei2 wen4ti2 means "no questions" or "no problems". You would use this as response tot he question "Do you still have any questions?"

没关系 mei2 guan1xi4 means literally "no relationships" but usually means "ignore it: it is not important". You would use this as a response to an incident that you don't care about or that you want to dismiss.

Posted on: Golf

Something else that I should have mentioned but it did not make the leap through the deep infinite fog between my ears:

There are many Confucius Institutes established by the Chinese government in the United Staes and the World. For a description and a list please see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Institute

These have the mission of teaching the Chinese language. I have been involved in the initial formation of one at my university.

Posted on: Golf

fayimadu says
2 hours ago

Hello, i'm extremely glad to find this site. Please in how many months can i be good in spoken and written chinese as a foreigner in China?Also how do i study the chinese?

There are no easy answers to these questions. But most commentors seem to agree that Chinese is 5 times more difficult to learn than French.

Most foreigners in China do not speak much Chinese other than some courtesies. However, people that make a conscientious effort to learn Chinese can master an Elementary Level in between 6 months and a year of serious study.

With regards to studying Chinese, there are several methods which, in my opinion, can be mixed together within reason:

• First, there are several plans available here at ChinesePod that you can choose.
• Second, you can go to reputable University and enroll in formal classes.
• Third, you may be able to find a qualified Chinese Teacher and Tutor (this is a bit more than just someone who speaks Chinese!)
• Some companies now internally sponsor Chinese courses which you can generally find out about through the Human Resources Departments.
• There a number of tape and CD lessons sets available but I can not recommend them. They can be used for practice and refresher, however.

I have little faith that someone can learn Chinese on their own through self study from a book. Such a person would have to be lucky, very talented and very dedicated.

Posted on: Money Values and Beating the Summer Heat

It is very clear that Chinese will spend a great deal of money on getting their children into universities and will spend a great deal of money on education. I have not seen anything like this in the Western world.

With regards to Chinese parents spending money on their children's education, a number of companies have sprung up which tailor students to be accepted by American Universities. While I was in China, I visited a number of these. Since I am the person that decides on Graduate Student Admissions to my Department, these companies took rather keen interest in me which I totally did not want.

Apparently, these companies charge upward of 50,000 RMB to prepare a student for admission to an American university. They will provide language coaching, practice TOEFL and GRE preparation. In addition, some claim that they will expedite the visa process to include getting the I-20. I am concerned that they may also participate in test falsification.

As someone who reviews admission paperwork, test scores and transcripts, I want to be sure that they reflect the actual ability of the student. I am afraid that these companies are making my job much more difficult.

Another thing that happens in China, when certain people learn that I am the approving authority for graduate admissions, I suddenly get invited to very high level dinners and meetings with government officials and their children.

I have been told by certain people that they will provide me with any pleasure that I could wish. I have been offered money, women, drugs, massages: you name it. Of course, I understand that my acceptance would mean that I am also admitting their child into our programs. As far as I know I have resisted these offers, in some cases probably offending the person making the offer.

Posted on: Money Values and Beating the Summer Heat

What are the 5 "furnaces" in China? I was aware of three: Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing. Wuhan is reputed to be the hottest. What are the others?

Posted on: Sound Check

Jenny Zhu... whereever did you get the clips from my alma mater: West Point?  35 years ago, those could have been me!

Posted on: ...都 (dōu): The Bryan Adams pattern

auntie68 says
11 hours ago

 

Hi baillies. If you want to type a ü (as in nü - 女), the key to use is actually "v". It took me a while to figure that one out.

If you use the ZDT software for flashcards, you must type u: for ü.  E.G., the pinyin for 女 in ZDT is nu:3.

Posted on: ...都 (dōu): The Bryan Adams pattern

谁都爱Amber和 Connie! 谁都知道Amber和Connie很漂亮。 谁都知道Clay很帅。可是 谁都Clay吞咽咖啡，也卡壳酒！请问，Amber, Connie和Clay谁都不出去. 什么都有趣，有意思。