URLLesson Introduction
You like your little Roadrunner and T-1 ethernet connections that load pages in 1/100th of a nanosecond? Nice huh? Remember back in the Clinton administration when you could make a cup of coffee in the time it took a page to load? Well, welcome to our world. The Chinese internet ain't exactly up to speed, but your ability to vent your frustrations in Mandarin will be, after this podcast.
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john says
July 11, 2008
Ah, this topic feels a little too close to home... :)
billm says
July 11, 2008
Talk about, heat, power outages, and internet melt downs, Xi'an is starting to look good compared to St. Louis, MO. Tried to work from home and got shut down.
pcmi says
July 11, 2008
Has there been a concious effort to make the lessons shorter recently? I've noticed a stedy decline from 12-13 minutes down to 8 or 9. I don't get much out of Ken's talks about "pedagogy" or pitches for the website, but I always enjoyed the casual and often enlightening banter between John and Jenny. Is this just a new policy to ensure a streamlined and convenient product?
guolanusa says
July 11, 2008
So "死机" in the supplementary vocabulary means my computer screen has frozen up?
Is this sentence correct? 我的电脑死机了.
Very useful!
newbie888 says
July 11, 2008
@pcmi: maybe they use more time to produce new jingles and intros for the lessons. So they had no time for longer lessons. :-(
foleadu says
July 12, 2008
Is anyone else having trouble downloading the full lesson? The dialog is fine for me, but the full lesson is achingly slow.
How fitting, given the topic! :)
changye says
July 12, 2008
Today's lesson is brief, but very substantial and worth listening to repeatedly. I think this style should be applied to newbie and elementary lessons. Time is money.
我的电脑开不了机！
我的电脑关不了机！
我的电脑启动不了！
我的电脑关闭不了！
杀毒软件用不了了！
杀毒软件开不了了！
henning says
July 12, 2008
Nice Ele lesson.
An addition to 该死的:
If you like the classic Belgian Tintin-comics (丁丁历险记): In the Chinese version Captain Haddock (阿道克船长) uses 该死的 all the time for swearing. That is where I learned the phrase.
henning says
July 12, 2008
这集南公园惟妙惟肖地描写上不了网的难受。
pinkjeans says
July 12, 2008
Nice useful topic. Do you use 死 in place of 破 when you want to angrily describe a really nasty living thing? We do that in Cantonese, and I wonder if it translates into Mandarin as well. For example, if your neighbour's cat leaves its smelly litter in your garden, can you say, “ 死猫！"?
Cornelia says
July 12, 2008
How would you say if it's not the internet as such, but rather the server you try to connect to?
For example I keep having problems with flashcards in "Hanzi & Audio" mode: I rarely ever get the audio - it states it would read and transmit, but it usually does not succeed, I hear nothing.
Anything your techs can fix?
Thanks!
drewlang says
July 12, 2008
Perfect timing for this lesson! I was just lamenting how awful my connection was here in Shaanxi compared with my old home in Hebei.
Nothing worse than trying to use an online chinese dictionary (while listening to cpod lessons) and having it get temp blocked for no reason.
btw, i'd recommend: http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php
excuter says
July 12, 2008
nice upper Ele lesson :-)
I´m glad you managed to upload it even though you have such trouble with getting online ^_^
...man I love my dsl line (t-dsl 2000)...but hopefully the faster version (t-dsl 6000) of it will be available soon; the village only 2/3 km away from us already has it...[for the german telecom 2000 dsl user it takes about an hour to download 700 MB while those who have the 6000 line get it in an quarter of an hour]
gorgui says
July 12, 2008
hello! i was just wondering how can i study chinese with you online? i know that sometimes you have very very helpful lesson for chineses learners. so, i would appreciate you letting me get any of your PDF transcript Lesson. Thanks!
jill348 says
July 12, 2008
Gorgui, welcome! At the bottom of the page is a link to subscriptions, where you'll find all the information about what is available for free, and what is available with different levels of subscriptions. Here's a link: http://chinesepod.com/help/subscription
This is a great place for learners of all levels. I'm really a Newbie/Elementary learner, but I've recently realized I can "stretch" by trying to follow along with the Intermediate lessons as well.
a1pi2 says
July 12, 2008
I remember when computers were slow. I would start compiling (something that took an hour or more) and go out for coffee with my friends. Then we got a better computer and we barely had time to sit back at our desks and chat with each other while the compiler churned away at our code.
Now computers are fast enough that nothing takes more than a couple of minutes. The computer demands all of my attention so I work alone. I don't even have time to scratch my poor cat behind the ears. If the internet does die it pretends to still be loading that page long enough to keep my eyes stuck on the screen.
When the internet goes down it should be interpreted as a blessing from the heavens. If your text messaging and phone service dies at the same time you should immediately go to a temple and demonstrate your gratitude.
jennyzhu says
July 12, 2008
pcmi,
No, we are not planning to make the lessons shorter. But there is a degree of variation within the level in terms of length and difficulty, because we often are 'in between' levels when learning a language. We also make a special effort to diversify format to best bring out the nuance of the language and make the lessons engaging. Today's lesson is an example of that. I'm beyond thrilled that you enjoy the banter between John and myself. Thank you!
tommyb says
July 12, 2008
I think the expansion section is an excellent format, especially for getting used to grammatical constructs
Changye
your examples have confused me, is
我的电脑开不了机！
I guess that means "My computer wont start" But is that different than
我的电脑开不了！
杀毒软件开不了了！ means "The anti virus software wont start" Is that different than
杀毒软件开不了!
thanks
Tom
john says
July 12, 2008
pcmi,
To back up what Jenny says, we feel that it's only natural to have some degree of variation within the lessons, not only in difficulty, but also in dialogue length. There has been a "the higher the difficulty, the longer the dialogue" trend for some time, but it certainly doesn't need to be that way. That's why lately we're trying out some shorter Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, and Advanced lessons.
zokich says
July 12, 2008
--> a1pi2
you are right!
raychenon says
July 12, 2008
I think the gap between intermediate and upper intermediate is becoming larger. I find some elementary more difficult than this lesson.
Anyone tell me the exact meaning 事情 shi qing ? work, homework
raychenon says
July 12, 2008
tommyb, following your construction
我上不了了网 shang bu liao le wang : I won't connect
我上不了网 shang bu liao wang : I'm unable to connect to internet.
I thought 了 le marked only the past.
daofeishi says
July 12, 2008
raychenon， "事情" is one of those often used Chinese words that perhaps sound a bit awkward when translated into English. I guess it's sort of like a "matter," "something to deal with" or "something to attend to." Perhaps you've heard the question "你有事(情)吗?" ("are you busy?"), which quite literally means "do you have any business to do/anything that needs to be sorted out/pressing matters...?"
chillosk says
July 12, 2008
Henning, thanks for the Tintin tip! Found "old" Tintin comics in Shanghai before, pretty cool since some of the Tintin comics are set in Shanghai. 该死的！ hehe, just wanted to use it!
Another great lesson guys! 非常有用！ 我的电脑坏了。。 上不了网。
auntie68 says
July 12, 2008
@raychenon: The good news is that the character 了 doesn't only indicate the past. So today may be a big "OH!!!!" moment for you, one that will power your Chinese to a new place. 加油！
The various 了 have been colourfully labelled by grammar experts: Eg. "Completive 了", "Inceptive 了" etc etc.
I found two QW on 了：
changye says
July 12, 2008
Hi auntie68,
I guess you've been busy for the past few days, perhaps dued to another big toy for your Stunt Toddler. I hope it is a super giant robot this time.
maoxian says
July 12, 2008
真是个破网:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/chinese-firewall
changye says
July 12, 2008
Hi tommyb,
The verbs like “上网” and “开机”, which have V+O structure, are a little tricky. They sometimes “separate”, just like some super robots in Japanese anime, when you use them with 不了, and so 上网 and 开机 become 上不了网 and 开不了机 respectively. Both 我的电脑开不了机 and 我的电脑开不了 have the same meaning. Some natives even say 开机不了！
As for 杀毒软件开不了了, the first “了” is read as “liao3”, but the second one is “le”. And the last 了 indicates the change of the situation. And therefore, the phrase 开不了 simply means “I can’t start it”, but 开不了了 (kai1 bu liao3 le) suggests that I can’t start it now (although there was no problem until a while ago.) “了” is really a confusing character.
pretzellogic says
July 12, 2008
Even in China, and certainly in the US, rarely is the "internet" down. It's more likely server connection delays, local area connection issues (my DSL connection in Lanzhou wasn't the fastest i'd ever had). I also got an earful from our IT guys when i told them I had problems connecting to applications back in the US from Lanzhou or Beijing or wherever. It would probably be more helpful to have a lesson that very lightly discussed what application was running, and what you were doing when the connection was down. It doesn't have to be detailed, but it could have been broadened beyond just the typical frustrated banging on the machine. I'm sure Cpod's IT guys could have easily written up a few sentences that would be helpful to start diagnosing stuff. Like how to say, "i've still got an IP address" or something like that.
auntie68 says
July 12, 2008
@changye: No, it wasn't a "super giant robot". I wish. Stunt Toddler has become addicted to YouTube. He loves to search for clips, make playlists, toggle between full screen and small view, pause, mute the sound, rearrange the playlists etc. Last week he was watching Pink Panther cartoons on TV AND on YouTube, simultaneously.
An Internet Nerd at 3! Like Aunt, like nephew, I guess... And when he takes over the computer, I don't get a look in (except to be a convenient spelling consultant). But I don't mind, because I think it's teaching him how to read and spell.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=932C4401AE312B22
yagna says
July 12, 2008
Da jia hao,
this seems to be an interesting lesson. I did not get the meaning of 杀毒软件用不了了！
杀毒软件开不了了！which changge has given. I could guess the meaning of 杀毒 as 杀 sha1 is to kill, murder or to slaughter and 毒 is to poison or narcotics. together what they meaning here when talking about computers is not clear. please give the meaning.
xiexie
yagna
auntie68 says
July 12, 2008
@yagna: The answer you are looking for is somewhere in the Supplementary Vocabulary... It is possible that the glossary translation of 杀毒 (as "to poison") is incorrect. Happy weekend!
If you don't use 防毒 software, your computer may 中毒, in which case you will have to resort to a 杀毒 application.
changye says
July 12, 2008
Hi yagna,
The word 杀毒 is a shortened form of 杀掉病毒 (sha1 diao4 bing4 du2) or 杀除(sha1 chu2)病毒 (to kill viruses), and 杀毒软件 means an antivirus software in Chinese. FYI, 毒品 (du2 pin3) usually means drugs/narcotics, not poison, in China.
minshirui says
July 12, 2008
I think this lesson brings up an extremely interesting point about the difference between the following:
However, I was unclear on what other such constructions mean. For example:
Also, I was wondering if someone could post some sample sentences with 得了 as opposed to 不了? I've never heard deliǎo before.
auntie68 says
July 12, 2008
[Oops. This comment was deleted by me, the person who posted it. Sorry!]
nygards says
July 13, 2008
I think it's great that the lessons are shorter now. A dialogue no longer than two PDF-pages is enough in Intermediate.
wjefferys says
July 13, 2008
@raychenon:
Chinese doesn't have tense in the same sense as English does. The marker '了' often can be read as past tense, but there is a reason for it. '了' is, from the point of view of linguistics, an aspect marker, and as I learned it, its primary meaning is that an action has been or will be completed (as contrasted with an ongoing action that's been done in the past and will continue in the future). Usually, the completion is in the past, therefore it's often read as past "tense." But you can use '了' to mark an event that will be completed in the future.
So, for example, I believe that you can say "他明天来了" to mean "he will arrive tomorrow." Note here that the fact that the event will be completed in the future is noted by "明天", "tomorrow." There's no actual tense marker.
Chinese has quite a number of aspect markers. Another common one is '过'. For example, "你去过中国吗？" would mean "Have you ever been to China?"
If Jenny or one of the other native Chinese speakers wishes to expand or correct these remarks, I hope they will do so. I am not a native speaker
shensw says
July 13, 2008
Hi, guolanusa,
Yes, you are right ! We often say like that.
我的电脑死机了.
We also say :
我的电脑又死机了.(again)
我的电脑老死机/我的电脑总死机/我的电脑常常死机/
我的电脑动不动就死机.(often/frequently)
amber says
July 13, 2008
hi Cornelia,
If you cannot connect to the server, you say:
服务器连接不上
(Fúwùqì liánjiē bù shàng)
amber says
July 13, 2008
hi pinkjeans,
Yes, you can use it for living things too, you can say:
死猫！Sǐ māo！
raychenon says
July 15, 2008
Thank you daofeishi, Auntie68 and wjefferys for vocabs and your explanations on 了.
I sometimes feel teachers are less and less needed, the community can handle by themselves. Well only on CPod.
guolanusa says
July 16, 2008
shensw, thank you for helping me out with that!
nickcripps says
July 21, 2008
Good Lesson!
我记得我在苏州的时候，一下雨就上不了网。
In Suzhou whenever it rained, I couldn't use the net for at least an hour after the rain stopped.
khin says
August 21, 2008
您好 guolanusa,
我认为“我的电脑死了”比较好说。
khin says
August 21, 2008
你好 nickcripps
佩服你会这么多语言。你真了不起。好棒 好棒！
我也是个语言迷。正在学西班牙文。
khin says
August 21, 2008
user34147 says
September 9, 2008
I really wish a PDF lesson transcript could be provided in Traditional character form.
Is this possible?
amber says
September 9, 2008
hi user34147,
Yes it is, you can either get the traditional character PDF by using this plug in, or by just changing the URL when you open the PDF document. You just need to add four letters at the end... ('trad') as in:
http://s3.amazon..../pdf/chinesepod_C0983trad.pdf
calkins says
September 9, 2008
It is possible...just add trad to the end of the PDF link. For instance, right-click on Lesson Transcript PDF...copy the link...paste it into a new window...add trad before .pdf:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/chinesepod.com/0940/6f28570189262301af1a77efd809b1a3107b3f20/pdf/chinesepod_C0940trad.pdf
There is also a Firefox plugin that will give you some traditional support on CPod. When you click on the PDF link, it will automatically open the traditional version. Also, the Dialogue and Expansion tabs will be in traditional (no support for the Vocabulary tab yet).
I don't remember what the download link is though. I don't think there is one on the site, but there should be. Does anyone have the link?
Ha ha, you beat me to it Amber....thanks!
camcheung says
September 20, 2008
Thanks! Great lesson! Not as intimidating as some of the longer ones where I'm a bit overwhelmed by new vocab =).