User Comments - zhenlijiang

Posted on: Video Contest, ChinesePod Korea and the Store

And I'm totally with you in hoping it isn't fragmentation, or reduced diversity that these various new CPods will bring about. I've said on several occasions in the past I wished we could see more Asian poddies in the Community.

But again, if such people are fluent in English they'll come here I'm sure. And if they aren't they likely won't be very active in the Community anyway. So I'm sure it's all good.

Posted on: Video Contest, ChinesePod Korea and the Store

Thanks for the kind words Baba (mm kind of sounds like you're saying goodbye to me ...?). I see what you mean though. You didn't mean us actually. Changye isn't a good typical Japanese at all of course, he's the exception. Do I think many more Japanese like him are inclined to come to English-speaking CPod? No I don't, because very few if any like him exist. However I did expect that there would be many more Japanese like myself than are here apparently, already fluent in English and now interested in studying Chinese. I know there must be Japanese, younger people especially, like that, and wonder why they haven't made their way here in greater numbers. It's possible I suppose that they're here and just not really participating in the Community, or not letting on they're Japanese?

I think Changye has said he enjoyed taking part in the community here in English, that the commenting in English was a great part of the fun for him besides the obvious opportunity to interact with learners of Chinese from a number of different cultures and countries. Of course on those occasions we went over to the sidelines to chat in Japanese he has said that's much less work for him. But anyway that leads me to think he would have hung out with us on this CPod even if there were a Japanese CPod all along.

Speaking for myself, as I've said before when I found CPod I was thrilled to finally have a place to discuss Chinese language and culture in English with fellow students and teachers. Where I live I can pick and choose from a whole range of Chinese tutors and classes, so I certainly don't need CPod if I want only to study Chinese. But I have this need to address in English the little things I discover as I study and some of the questions that come up, because English is one of my foundation languages and the language of a great part of my cultural background. Some of those things wouldn't ever come up if I operated only in Japanese (can't think now of any specific examples though). So I'd searched in vain for a Chinese class taught in English (there was one and I took it, but it wasn't what I wanted) or a place where I could ask Chinese-language questions in English. And kept wishing, until I found CPod.

(As an aside, I do think also it was a bonus for me that one of the main hosts and teachers, John, happens to know Japanese, even if I never communicate with him in it.)

So that's why I would have come here even if there were a Japanese CPod all along. I am interested to see what the Japanese ChinesePod is going to be like though, to see how the content and presentation will differ from the other resources we're familiar with in Japan.

As for your reply to trevorb, I think quite a few Japanese (who aren't fluent in English like myself) really fancy the idea initially, they think it's a challenging but possibly ideal way to achieve their goals; stimulating, effective and totally worth the effort. But then they actually try and just find it completely unrealistic and can't stick with it. I wouldn't do it. I couldn't work that hard.

Posted on: Video Contest, ChinesePod Korea and the Store

Hi Baba the short answer is yes, I'm sure we would have.

Posted on: Detective Li 11: Final Mission (Part 5)

Connie's reply to Jalaboom's question here:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/too-young-to-be-dating#comment-221913

Posted on: 老人摔倒扶不扶？

Yeah no, that makes sense. Anyway it was imprudent of me to say "high crime rates". The straightforwardness about people seeing others as non-human does freak me out, even though that happens all over the world (many societies try to set that "straight" through legislation I guess).

An interesting point I heard a commentator--he's supposedly the best-known Japanese in China--make was that "there is no jealousy in China". Chinese people do not envy others. Whereas in Japan there is envy, harbored toward people who seem to have it better than you. That's why billionaires and very low-income folks can live in such proximity in Chinese cities, as he explained it. Hopefully I'm not misquoting him because he was speaking in Japanese. Jealousy and envy are poison. I envy those who never know it.

Posted on: 老人摔倒扶不扶？

Hi Bodawei I don't say "serious crime", because I was thinking mostly about theft and fraud (and maybe things like melamine in baby formula), not that if you find yourself a victim of such crimes you still consider them not serious.

Just to be clear, of course I do not think a person is any more crime-prone than others just by being Chinese. I expect reasons to be behind things that I don't necessarily understand, and I like to hear what they are. It's because I found the background you gave persuasive as at least a partial explanation that I thought about lower deterrence for some crimes. "Chinese society has quickly become very mobile and so you are surrounded by strangers. You are very tight with your friends and family but anyone outside that circle becomes a non-person, even the enemy." It's just that much easier to steal from someone or damage their property, if your own life is very hard and the other guy is a non-person to you. This isn't a Chinese trait, it's a human trait. That's why we're discussing the social background, right? But if the circle is so effective that crimes against or by strangers can be prevented, that's remarkable. And that's part of why China doesn't need a large police force?

Something I don't really get is how a person who starts on the outside makes it into the circle. Just because a family has agreed that you can marry their son or daughter that still doesn't necessarily mean you've been accepted in that way. How do you ever know you've made it in?

Posted on: 老人摔倒扶不扶？

But do we disagree at all? I was saying in response to jialanw's comment that to me, aversion to risk doesn't explain the behavior I saw on that camera as presented by TV news here; also that the rareness of events we fear often just doesn't matter because our fear is an irrational response and not a decision based on assessment.

Thanks for offering an explanation (sounds like a base for high crime rates; do you see any evidence of that?). It's something I've also heard about before from a Chinese teacher, though not quite in such extremes.

Posted on: 老人摔倒扶不扶？

Hi Bodawei, the unspecified shock I mentioned is mine personally and that of Japanese in general, and of course I also made assumptions for the "rest of the world" (outside of China).

Posted on: 过(guo)

Hi Bill, say you are telling someone about an upcoming trip to Shanghai, and they wanted to know if you have (had? 哎呀 English 好难) ever been before (= if this is your first time to go there). So you tell them "I've been to Shanghai before". A real-life, actual conversation will flow a bit differently of course, but as far as the grammar of 去过 goes that would be:

Q: 你去过上海吗？　A: 我去过上海。　(in actual conversation, more likely just 去过。)　

过 indicates past experience as the lesson intro says, not “experiencing” really. I haven't listened either by the way--we all probably should.

Posted on: 老人摔倒扶不扶？

And now what we saw captured on that surveillance camera in Foshan has become every parent’s fear and nightmare，extremely rare as the occurence of such a tragedy may be.

Those passers-by displayed no concern. That's why it's so shocking, to see how unsurprised they seemed. Maybe a couple of them were interested enough to gｉve the bleeding girl a second look. That woman (mother?) leading a child by the hand--nothing from her. Or did those people just mask their true reaction as long as they remained within frame? There's something else there in that case besides concern for self and fear of being blamed. First of all how could that first driver ever hit her? It almost looked like he saw her and deliberately went to take her down.

Poor YueYue. It must be so very hard for her parents, not only to lose their beloved baby girl, but to see people like that.