User Comments - zhenlijiang

Posted on: The New Intern

Hi Bodawei

Ah I never thought of the prompt to log in as a possible deterrent to anyone! It would have been more thoughtful of me to be clearer about that. It would be a shame if it is keeping positive contributors away.

But I guess ChinesePod's community function has at some point (after that raging discussion--the one I mean is before dashboard was introduced--we once had about how to get more users involved here, because the few of us were taking up all the space) shifted away from this site in relevance. Even in 2008-2010 though it was always mainly what, about 50-60 very active users? And about a couple hundred semi-regular contributors? Maybe I'm overestimating here. But anyway, that's out of CPod's staggering 1 million users. So really now ...

And as was mentioned elsewhere, it's probably more about Facebook these days. Not that I'm familiar with what goes on there because I'm one of those people who "don't have time for" FB, one obvious advantage would seem to be that people are way less likely to be rude, sarcastic, complaining or otherwise generally negative there.

So I guess I'm saying the shift has already happened and it's not too likely to go back.

Posted on: The New Intern

Hi Baba--sorry can't type Chinese now. Wǒ hěn hǎo, yǒudiǎnr máng. Nǐ ne?

Posted on: The New Intern

Hi Bodawei (Oh just saw your latest comment now.), I just logged in, like I've always been able to without a subscription.

I think my tip was that to stay actively involved in the community without a subscription, the best thing to do is just bookmark the Conversations page URL (while you're on it) and go there directly instead of trying to find it via the CPod homepage which for some reason had been made difficult after some site updates. Maybe that's no longer the case. Last time I checked was quite a while ago.

I'm not sure either why you wouldn't be able to get to any lesson discussions via the Conversations page. I would think everyone's Conversations page has all--general, lesson and user group discussions. No?

I don't mind that non-subscribers aren't able to post their own comments but can Reply to others. It's been that way as long as threading was introduced I think.

Have a good weekend everybody.

Posted on: Taxi Conversations: Arriving at your Destination

The difference between "money" and "cash".

Posted on: Restaurant Recommendation

Hi Matthew, the problem with the word 衣服 of course is that it isn't specific like "dress" or "catsuit" is, so to someone like me who had always thought of 这件衣服 as necessarily singular not plural, it forces the translation to be awkward English in order not to be inaccurate. With this measure word 件 actually I did not know it was OK to translate 这件衣服 as "these clothes", thought 这件 necessarily indicated some article (no more than one) of clothing, and to say "these clothes" you had to say 这些衣服.

But plenty of examples here I see: http://www.nciku.com/search/all/examples/these%20clothes

So when 这件衣服 means "these clothes" the 衣服 is an "outfit" I guess? It's going to take a little getting used to though, for me.

Posted on: Playing Mahjong

And on 15:18 - I listened again and don't know about the 子 either. I think it's more likely the way you had it.

“自摸”不是这样，自己摸自己。

Posted on: Playing Mahjong

Sorry Baba, having just turned to a couple of dictionaries I don't know why I was so sure 长 means "to look like". None of the dictionaries I consulted are backing me up on this, as you could have told me. So now I don't know what those syllables are.

OK and this comment by John in another lesson confirms I was wrong as well:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/what-does-she-look-like#comment-198792

Posted on: Playing Mahjong

Baba 你真辛苦了！ I skipped 5:58 and 6:26.

3：06 我演【得】这个人 - 的 "this person I played"

4:32 其实条子是【这样】这样 (这样..repeated?) - 长 "looks like this"

5:24 水桶，【这】是bucket (Is this John speaking? Wasn't sure which spot you mean. If it's the spot I think, it's covered up and I can't hear.)

5:35 它有没有【John】很像 - Think it could be another 长. "doesn't it look quite like~?"

5:41 所以【有没有】可以叫“饼”？- agree w/CoolP

6:40 讲到了，【是】，一个 - don't think it's a 是, I seem to be hearing an "o" sound in there. 说 maybe?

7:27 别人【又】打了 - agree

9:12 你拿【一】张牌 - agree w/CoolP

9:37 不是啊，【这是】“碰胡” - This is very quick. Guessing here really--觉得 maybe?

10:29 但它是红【道】 - Again guessing here--的，啊

11:05 Jenny： 就像很白【嘛】你不觉得？ - Agree with the 嘛. Wondering if it's 就【是】很白嘛，not that I understand what that would mean.

13:05 Jenny： 杠了一个以后【呢/那】，我【将】摸一张牌 - I hear "na" too, but if it were me I'd choose to just transcribe this one as a 呢 (which I find easier to understand in text). Think you're right w/将.

13:14 Jenny： 这个时候【就】叫 - agree

15:18 Jenny： 自摸不是这样【自】摸自己 - 子 I think it goes “自摸”不是这样子，自己摸自己。

19:10 Jenny: 呵呵，你怎么会看不到这个视频【第二】看一下？ - 一定要. There might be 2 or 3 ways to punctuate, but I'd probably go for 你怎么会看不到视频，一定要看一下。

Posted on: Getting to the Office

Yes it's interesting. I've seen a few documentaries on this on Japanese TV. CPod has done at least two lessons on this subject.

an Intermediate, perhaps exactly what you're looking for:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/matchmaking-in-the-park

and an older Advanced (w/out English translations unfortunately, not even in the rollovers):

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/%E7%9B%B8%E4%BA%B2%E6%B4%BB%E5%8A%A8

Posted on: Getting to the Office

Hi Scotty P, see this comment by Bodawei and Jenny's reply to it:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/cant-get-a-taxi#comment-194483