User Comments - zhenlijiang

Posted on: Discussing Old Jobs

Hi David 我来晚了！谢谢你很认真地解释这个方面，对我很有帮助。

那看来我原来的理解不对。讲的其实就是中国特有的事情吧。

“入党”这个方面比较具体，我清楚多了。可是关于“政治追求”我还是不完全明白在中国指的是什么。从中国社会和价值观来说，政治追求有什么意义，什么意思？除了成为一个优秀的党员之外，政治上的抱负还有什么？是说一个人有掌权的抱负或者野心吗？好多愚蠢的疑问吧，呵呵

也许我觉得不够清楚的原因之一是英文翻译。“无党派人士”意思当然是那一个人没有参加任何的党。可是在对话的语境下（其实在讲中国的时候），翻译成 don't belong to any political party 恰当吗？我想有点问题的部分是 any，因为原来只有共产党这一个。在这里 I'm not a party member 更好，不是吗?

嗯，说“政治追求”，“无党派人士”的这个人是半开玩笑的，我很容易理解。对话里的3个人原来在午休边吃饭边聊天吧，而且他们之间人际关系好像很舒畅（我的意思是“特别复杂”的相反，不知道这个时候“舒畅”搭配不）。气氛比较轻松。

我不是看得仔细啊，所提的问题好多外国同学应该不太明白，像我一样好奇。对你们来说这些是常识吧。对我们来说，倒是神秘的事情。

有一天你们能不能给我们介绍一下关于入党——想知道要通过什么过程和手续，原来谁有资格，全国共有多少党员，“无党派人士”是不是少数政治立场，好处和坏处是什么等等——都很有趣，对 Beijing Standard Time 正合适的内容吧！

* 真不好意思我的中文很乱。*

Posted on: Playing Mahjong

I do think with this lesson we're assumed to have a basic grasp on how mahjong is played. Which I do, so I can only speak from that perspective. And ChinesePod teaches language. Aside from culture channels like Dear Amber and now BST, I assume always that ChinesePod is giving us a language lesson. So I didn't expect this one to be a tutorial on how the game of mahjong is played (and yeah too long for a lesson I would think), I expect it to be a language lesson on a subject that benefits from visual aids. I don't know if the majority of users had the same expectations I did or not, on seeing the title "Playing Mahjong". If I had no idea how mahjong is played, would I have felt let down by this lesson? I don't know.

About the way the lesson intro is written though, I do think more like you than like Baba. Without my knowledge on mahjong (knowing that explaining the rules would take too long for a CPod lesson), I might also read the first two sentences and be led to believe I was going to go from no knowledge to being able to start playing. I do think the intro could be improved.

The first thing I thought when I heard about video lessons was--good, that would be great for lessons on cooking and recipes, which people have asked for in the past and which I would be very interested in. I can also see video being great for something like the yoga lesson (done once in Upper Inter I think), going through a set of taijiquan moves, or the strokes in handwriting hanzi. Editing a photo on your computer. Even simple household tasks such as ironing a shirt or sewing. Or someone being coached in some sport, like serving in tennis, or improving their free throw in basketball. Probably the less acting required the better, for the time being anyway.

If you're feeling like the oddball here, I think that's mostly due to the absence of those poddies who used to critique (not criticize necessarily. I mean critique.). Seems like right now it's just you and Baba. The others have gone, or maybe they're just busy. Or like Chris, just not getting involved in discussions when the subject matter doesn't interest them to begin with. I think you've offered CPod good feedback here. I don't agree with you on all of it, but you've made good points about this lesson and about video.

Posted on: Flattery in the Office

I don't know the answer, but there's probably a cultural difference in terms of how a young woman is expected to behave and speak in the respective societies. Connie's a good voice actor. She really gets into the roles--some of them a bit whinier than others. I don't find this young woman D whiny though, just a bit girly.

Posted on: Discussing Old Jobs

Could I ask for a little clarification on the understanding of these terms?
... if you wanted to advance, you not only had to have political ambitions 有政治追求, you also had to be good at sucking up. I'm an honest person and no good at that kind of thing. Plus, I don't belong to any political party 是个无党派人士.
The latter in particular seems to be a very literal translation. Of course in English too we speak of politics in the workplace or wherever there are enough people to organize and start politicking. Not political parties though. In this workplace/career context 党 (党派) refers to groups formed in the power struggles and loyalties within the organization doesn't it. This guy saying 我是个无党派人士 means not just that he didn't join any such groups in his former company but also that he isn't the political kind (would rather stay clear of power struggles) and wouldn't in any organization, is that right?
(Those of us who live and vote in democratic societies can also, I assume, use 我是个无党派人士 literally to say that we aren't supporters of any particular political party.)
About 有政治追求 "have political ambitions"--in this context what does that mean more specifically? To me, someone said to have political ambitions means a businessman for instance who intends to run for mayor, then governor, maybe eventually president / prime minister etc (I understand things don't work the same way in China).
My purpose here isn't to pick apart the dialogue translation btw. I listened to the lesson and found myself wishing there was further discussion on these terms even though I think I generally understand what's being said.

I like 沾不上边. Good to have another expression to use instead of saying 和～没有关系 all the time. Is this another one of those things where the negative form is more commonly used than the affirmative?
An example sentence given in my dictionary for 沾边（儿）--那种事我根本不想沾边。 I'm not getting mixed up with anything of that sort.

Lastly, a minor point--the lesson intro says we have four coworkers.

Posted on: Visiting the Aquarium

I imagine it would have been delightful to hear a baby voice aahing or laughing in there (not speaking lines really), but you know that was a mock "disappointing!" right? I hope! And I'm sure none of us expect your baby to go to work as a ChinesePod voice actor, certainly not unless or until he can tell you he wants to try!

Expressing just the right tone esp in text is often difficult for me and I suspect for many learners of any language. If you have any suggestions how I could have done that differently to make clearer I wasn't really complaining about the lesson I'd be most grateful. 谢谢

Posted on: Visiting the Aquarium

哇脸蛋儿胖呼呼～
有点令人失望啊，对话里没有轩轩的声音！

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 14: The Finale

谁会赢 - who's going to win

Posted on: Discussing Old Jobs

In the dialogue I think it‘s like he's saying “... you also had to be good at sucking up. Me now, I'm an honest guy. I'm no good at that kind of thing.” Or maybe "Me now, honest guy that I am, I'm no good at that kind of thing."

Posted on: 孝道

I think that's senile dementia (痴呆症 being dementia. btw in Japanese we no longer say 痴呆症, we say 認知症, not sure if such a change has also happened in Chinese since--this lesson is already nearly 5 years old), and Alzheimer's specifically is 阿尔茨海默病 or 阿尔茨海默氏症.

Posted on: Fresh Air vs. Heat

Just a thought--does this desire to open the window for fresh air have anything to do with fear of death by carbon monoxide poisoning? We have that in Japan, or at least I do, because we are reminded to 换气 all the time during the winter.
This differs of course with what sort of heating a home or office depends on. In some homes hot water is provided by gas-burning heaters. I guess some people still heat rooms with kerosene stoves. So we stay mindful not to keep our rooms airtight, to make sure the air can change enough. I don't like to use the fan above the gas kitchen stove, I prefer to open the window for a bit. But such facilities are retro, from another century, and new, cost- and ecology-conscious home heating/hot water systems are available now so perhaps this particular concern is becoming extinct ...
In any case "fresh" air here doesn't refer to a level of unpollutedness but to new or different air doesn't it?