User Comments - carlosmentos

Posted on: I'm Not Here

Jenny,

I want to add to what the others are saying about repeating the dialogue 3 times. Training your ear to hear and understand what people are saying is essential to learning a language. If all you hear when people speak is a mass of sounds, then obviously you can't communicate with them. I've found it very, very helpful to hear the dialogues repeated 6 times in a lesson -- it's definitely helped me to understand people in real life. Some of these dialogues are very challenging, so I really hope you guys stick with the tried and true 3 at the beginning, 3 at the end formula.

Posted on: Pinyin Section 4: R

I have to say, I don't hear even the slightest hint of a buzzing sound -- nothing at all that might suggest the zh sound in "leisure." Listening to Jenny and to the speaker of the Pinyin Chart samples, the r sounds more like a soft r. Like where your mouth ends up when saying the word "hair." Or like they're saying "yao" using an r sound instead of the the y, but keeping their tongue and mouth in the same position as they would with the y. Am I hearing it this way because I've got defective hearing (could be!) or because of the sound quality -- or does anyone else hear it this way too?

Posted on: Pinyin Section 4: R

Love this series. We beginners seem to focus on the tones and worry too much about them -- because pronunciation is the big problem, in truth. We just don't distinguish some of these sounds in English and we have a hard time speaking them. The "R" is a great example, and so is the U with an umlaut (my personal nemesis). Please keep going all the way through the end... and when you're done start from the beginning again.

Posted on: No TV Before Your Test!

The dialogue doesn't repeat -- only plays once (off the web site, at least). Which is really unfortunate since this is a very fast dialogue. Also, exercises 2 and 3 don't work. 

But I really like this lesson. Lot's of very useful words and expressions here!

Posted on: Mosquitos and Olympics

Taking a high-dose B Vitamin supplement seems to help. There's some debate about this, but I've found that it either keeps mosquitoes away or makes the bites smaller and less itchy if they do bite. Apparently, mosquitoes don't like the smell of the B vitamins (I think it's B-1 they especially don't like). Seems to work for me, so I'd say it's worth a try.

Posted on: The New Site and the Guided Plan

I like the new site a lot, but have noticed that it's harder to find lessons now. For example, I searched for tones in the search box and it only brought up a few sample sentences, two discussions (which disappear if I actually click on the tab), and two related lessons (which doesn't include the lesson I have in my queue. Considering the importance and difficulty of tones, I suspect there is a lot more on the sight (and I think I've read references to other lessons).

If I'm within the "Newbie - Tone Practice" lesson it only shows me one related lesson (which is not the other Newbie lesson I have in my queue). If I click on "tones" in the "Topics" area, I only get this same lesson.

Also, I'm having some difficulty with Safari and the site also. I have the latest version and have the Chinese fonts installed and all that. It has something to do with punctuation marks and special characters not coming through. So, for example, quotation marks appear as â€œ. If anyone has any idea what is causing this, please let me know.

Posted on: Taxi Conversations: Small Talk

The exercises aren't working. I'm on a mac and I've tried both Safari and Firefox, but the exercises don't load in either browser.

Posted on: Roommates and What Chinese Think of Foreigners

Here in San Francisco, where I live, I'm starting to see many more white, blond women dating Asian men. It's nice to see, and about time. Also, I think the US is becoming influenced more and more by hispanic culture--in a very good way. This might just be in California, but it's normal now to kiss and hug when greeting and saying goodbye. I'm so used to it, that I feel awkward outside California, where I'm not sure if this is acceptable or not. It feels weird to me not to hug someone I've met and really like. I have to hold myself back when traveling in China.

Posted on: What's Your Name?

Just came across blackjacksadie and farrago1979's recommendations up above. Good to know--I will look into these.

Posted on: What's Your Name?

Hi everyone, I just signed up with ChinesePod and think it's great. My one and only criticism so far was touched on by Ken Carroll: the lack of writing exercises and instructions. Having this would really help me learn the characters. It's also something I can fit into my work life. Instead of doodling during meetings I could repeat the characters and memorize them--which would be a great use of the time. Please let me know if you can recommend any books for learning the charachters! Thanks.