News and Features - Introducing Shen Yajin (Helen)

Welcome Shen Yajin!!  Hope to hear you on the air more often.  

Good at crossing your eyes (i's)? What about dotting your t's?

@tudigong! LOL  That's funny!

@architpol, 谢谢你！I'll be always around you here! :)

I will miss poems with Pete as much for the history lessons in the commentary, as for the linguistic content.  (It will still be a few years before I can read Chinese poems without Pete.)

Great to hear different voices on News & Features! (It's also great to take an occasional break from it... hehe)

热烈 Shen Yanjin!

While I am sad Poems with Pete is to be no more, I think that it must have been a lot of work to put togther... nice work, but quite the effort nonetheless. So thank you Pete for sharing Chinese poetry with us in such an engaging way. Thankfully, I am a late comer to PwP so I still have a few to enjoy!

Shen Yajin，你好！

谢谢你平时和Connie、Jiaojie一起在ActivityStream上给我们修改错误，同时鼓励我们。我很喜欢看你写的帖子，请你今后继续多写些帖子吧！　:D

啊呀！ What started as a bad weekend just got worse with the news that PWP is drawing to a close.  It is without question the best CP product (in my humble opinion of course). A great act. Good luck on your trip Pete and look forward to seeing you back on board.

@Matt - 'if the wind changes'...  a purveyor of TCM once told me that this idea appears in Chinese culture as well.  The ailment Bell's Palsy (no idea of the Chinese) is said to be caused by a change in the wind. (It's possibly a very poor translation this was relayed to me in English.)  In Bell's Palsy there is an overnight alteration to your facial appearance (it looks something like the effect of a stroke but it is quite curable).

Shen Yajin 欢迎光临！You've already been a great help in the community, thanks.

Pete, any idea when the next season of PWP will begin?  TBD?

Is there any news on the beta version of the Activity Stream?  Any insights into improvements and where it's headed?

@shenyajin

欢迎。 还没知道你的英语的名字。 我岳母叫'Helen'所以我还喜欢用'Shenyajin'.  可以告诉我们Shenyajin的汉字？

Pete，你好！

下一个PWP是这期最后一个？ 哎哟～

期待着下一期的PWP早日再开始！

ouch. no more PWP. ouch, ouch, ouch....

@shenyajin:)) welcome:)) 

shenyajin,
curious: are you the same Helen who appeared in those very early Advanced lessons - before Aggie came?

Pete,
we definately need our dose of Pete content here. History, etymology, poetry, whatever.

@orangina, tarcy, bodawei, calkins, bendidelaowai Thanks for your warm welcome and contribution to this community!

@bodawei, 我的名字是：沈娅瑾，很难写的几个字! "沈" is my surname and "娅瑾" my name. "娅", originally means brother, here, my parents hope me all the best, to be cherished and loved. "瑾" is beautiful, flawless jade, I guess he wanted me to be elegant. (I think I failed my father on this) I'm not elegant, but I can cross my eyes very well! :)

@tarcy，好的，我会多写一些东西给大家的！Cheers! 

so is there going to be a new show/podcast to replace the poetry show? If so, what?

I will miss Poems with Pete very much, although I realise such great things can't appear in large quantities. Still hope to hear Pete's pleasant voice on Qing Wen though.

沈娅瑾:

  欢迎！

I guess CPod already has something in mind to fill the void left temporarily by PWP, but if not, how about some Chinese jokes?  Clean ones preferred by me.

shandonweifang says
6 minutes ago

will anyone help me in learning chinese,the most difficult language....

[Sorry I accidentally hit delete... Matt Coleman, ChinesePod Product Manager]

@Shandonweifang Hey am I right in assuming that you are in Weifang, Shangdong Province? I've been there twice on business. Not a bad little city. The city of kites I believe. If you ever get a chance to eat at the expensive restaurant at the amusement park with the big pond inside - do it! Great food.

Welcome to ChinesePod you'll find us really helpful bunch of people.

calkins, re Activity Stream just my observations--

(About technical stuff, I've noticed some things but will leave that up to other people to discuss)

It's gotten faster recently = definitely better! Prompting questions (lesson-related for all levels I believe) turnover is much quicker now, so you have new questions to answer all the time. In fact I've missed answering Mumbai questions because it's just taken me too long. Feedback on what you've written is also much quicker now, which is great, and probably has everything to do with the new addition to the team.

Elementary is probably the best party much of the time; I go there and bother everybody quite a bit. Hoping Intermediate and Upper Inter will liven up (with more of you dropping by, duh, it will!); it's always been sort of slow there.  But it is at this level that we finally start having enough vocab to work harder and write more interesting sentences!

Of course I'm still littering all over the place, and with the weather getting so warm now visions of my bad-grammar Chinese festering (turns out I think more about that than I thought I would) enter my mind now and then. HOWEVER--fear of festerers should not hold you or anyone else back! I get a lot of writing practice there. I use dictionaries, it takes me so long.  And it's fun. And it's possible also thanks to those poddies (other than our teachers) who help us out by answering our questions and correcting us. But if you're concerned about any of your mistakes going uncorrected, you can stick for the time being to answering prompted questions which will ensure feedback from a teacher--and still get lots of practice.

Oh I nearly forgot--it's so friendly down there (not that it isn't on the Conversation boards but you know what I mean)!  Really nice to have that change of climate.

See you there--!

Have a happy hiatus, Pete! And thanks for PWP season one: I look forward to future seasons, but in the meanwhile, but just want to say that I've hugely appreciated the show. The 20 or so episodes now broadcast are sufficient, I think, to have built up enough courage to go on reading and exploring on my own. Time to pull Zong-qi Cai's book down from the shelf again.

And, of course, welcome Shen Yajin.

Zhenlijiang, much thanks for the detailed response :)

I had actually forgotten about the AS until Tarcy mentioned it above.  I checked it out today and it does look more lively, and it's nice to see all the green corrections by Cpod staff (the lack of those in the beginning was my biggest concern).

The Instant Messaging feature also looks interesting.  I may have to create a Jabber or Gtalk account.  Cpod, any possibility of using the AS with other IM applications (MSN, yahoo, QQ, etc.)?

calkins, the green actually indicates you wrote (a) good sentence(s) ... if what you wrote doesn't really work as is, then you might get a "pink light" blah blah blah ... It's all good! (--as I see you do know of course).

And the other thing I like, you can hit "see all replies" and view that one thread (is this called "nested" comments? I so don't know anything) by itself--very helpful.

Zhenlijiang, I understood that :)  My concern in the beginning was that Cpod wasn't correcting posts very often (if at all), which I thought defeated the whole purpose of the AS.  So I am very happy to see this has improved considerably.

Just created a jabber account....will see how the IM goes with the AS...

Hi shenyajin

You have a beautiful name! According to my dictionaries, the character 娅 (ya) has a derivative meaning "妖娆/明媚" (enchanting, beautiful). There are two 娅-words that mean "beautiful", 娅姹 (ya4cha4) and 姹娅。This definition might be more appropriate for explaining your given name. 

http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/9/ZdicE5ZdicA8Zdic85119610.htm

Welcome Shen yajin! 

I'm already looking forward to the next season of PWP :-(  

Pete,

Thanks for such a great series of Poems with Pete.It has added a whole new dimension to this site.Though it'll be sad to see it wind up for the first season,it's a break well earnt I reckon as a lot of work obviously goes into preparation and it must be hard to keep pumping out such high quality lessons each week.The second season will be much anticipated and I'm sure you'll come back with renewed enthusiasm.Jiayou.

Shenyajin,

再欢迎来CPod [again,welcome to CPod].I remember being told exactly the same thing as a very young kid.If you keep crossing your eyes they'll stay that way.To me it put our plumber [who had a severe squint ] in a new light.That old wives tale was up there with ..if you don't eat the crusts of your bread you won't have curly hair.It always seemed to be delivered as some kinda threat but being male I couldn't have given a rats either way,but I did think my cousin must have had quite a regular intake of crusts.How about we have a new avatar of you with your eyes crossed? [Better throw on a dotted T]. Does it help reading Hanzi ?

What was the name of that movie mentioned?

Hope you all enjoyed the Dragon Boat festival.Any tales/photos to share?

@shenyajin

给我你的名字谢谢，很有意思。 沈阳的沈， 沈阳我去过。 'ya'和'jin'是有一点不普通的。 在我的词典找不到了，再在MSWord 也找不到了。 当然你的名字很漂亮。 

我叫柏大伟。 柏树的柏， 伟大的伟。 汉字是普通的， 不过声音是不普通的，因为一般发柏的音是白一样。我不喜欢白的声音因为我觉得中国人想白的名字跟外国人合适。 明白吗？

pete, thanks for all your hard work on the poetry section. I am looking forward to returning to it when my Chinese is more developed. Oh, and don't ever change.

Shen Yajin, welcome to Chinesepod. I have a new avatar for you.

@changye, 谢谢你的发现! And I'm embarrased to say that I didn't know that derivative meaning. It's my name........oh!

@zhenlijiang, thanks for your noticing! We put up two lesson specific questions every day in a certain level. Hoping that dear poddies would come to visit AS and practise. And we'll kindly feedback to you, maybe help to correct or share with you our own stories. Yes, elementary is the most active level so far and I do hope poddies could also stop by intermediate and upper! BTW I'm sure I'll have good news to share with you! (see you there)

@infusiastic, thinkbuddha, monica5, thanks!

@raygo, ROFL, but.... I prefer my original avatar just a liiiitle bit better...plus when I cross my eyes, it looks much cuter than that...maybe I'll have to post a picture of me really crossing my eyes to prove this...lol

Raygo,

Great photoshop job mate;lol.

Shenyajin,

Yep,you said it.You will have to post it now. :)

Welcome Shenyajin! See you on twitter too. 

WOW, 20 episodes of PWP. 不知不觉间大家跟着pete学习了这么多精彩的诗歌。Thank you so much pete and we are looking forward to the next season.(BTW, i can't wait to check those episodes that i missed in the past two months.)

@shenyajin,

Welcome!  So glad to have another cute chinese girl here！期待ing~~~

Hi, Helen!  I notice you said you're from Xian.  The National Geographic Museum in Washington DC will have a traveling exhibit of the Terra Cotta Warriors,http://www.nationalgeographic.com/terracottawarriors/, from Nov-Mar.

I hope my parents will buy tickets.  My mom visited Xian long time ago (before I was born) and saw them.  She bought tiny replicas of a few of the warriors. But I would love to see the real ones!

PWP allowed me to dive much deeper into Chinese culture, history, and language than I could do on my own. It will be years, as Mark has also mentioned, before I can read poems "without" Pete. Thanks Pete, and I will revisit all of these again over time. As for Elvis, well, we all have different tastes :-). Great job. 

Mystic, I think that was the exhibition that was at the British Museum in London last year. If so, it's well worth going to see. Hope you get tickets!

Shenyajin

I dont know why they wait until someone has been with us for months before introducing them. I feel you are already fairly well know, well received, and a great addition, but since you have now been formally introduced, welcome aboard.

shenyajin, we've been talking already so it's not 初次见面 at all, but I join everyone in welcoming you. I'm sure it's hard work looking after us (we need so much help), but hope you'll enjoy it here too.  Good news? I look forward to it!

pete, I haven't been visiting recently as often as I would have liked, and believe I've been taking for granted that Poems With Pete will always be there--unbelievable. I should never take anything for granted! I will miss your show. There's always so much valuable community contribution in the discussions too, such a treat. Hope to see it back not too far in the future--it just doesn't feel like a finished work. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and enthusiasm with us.

Welcome Shen Yajin and good luck!

Wouldn't be a bad idea to introduce the rest of the Cpod crew on 'News and features' every week. Would be great to get to know the real people behind the voices we hear on our lesson podcasts  week in and week out.

cpod for life :)

Welcome Shen Yajin! I hope you'll enjoy working at Chinesepod!

沈娅瑾

欢迎你！

我也希望你会喜欢在中文播客工作啊！

其实我有个好朋友也是在西安出生的，她现在和她姐姐一起住在重庆。星期五我要坐飞机到重庆去主持她姐姐的婚礼。说实在的想着当主持人我感觉非常的紧张但是请我这个从来没有见过面的外国笔友来中国主持她姐姐的婚礼就是一个不可错过的机会而是她们给我的大光荣。我一定要记好台词.

我的笔友跟我说她小的时候西安的环境很糟糕，又脏又乱，然后两年前她回去老地方就发现西安有了很大的变化。城市很干净而且住民比较高尚。那，我想问你一下，你几岁离开了西安？你也觉得西安的变化很大?

小虎

Hello all,

Thank you for your warm response to Poems With Pete.

旧的不去新的不來. Nothing lasts forever.

If there is enough interest, I could always do another season.

Anyway, I've been lucky to work with people like John, Matt. I'm also very grateful to the sound team, and to all the CPod teachers and staff who provided readings.

谢谢大家！

@mystic, I miss Xi'an very much! Xi'an was the capital city of China in 13 dynasties. Wow!  Why not come to Xi'an and see the real warriors? (don't forget to have a taste of local food...yummy!)

@xiaohu, 我去年离开西安的，就是2008年。我的大学时光也是在西安度过的，很美好很开心的日子。现在西安很漂亮，街道很干净，绿化也好多了！居民的整体素质也有较大的提高，毕竟西安是个教育大都啊！那里有很多大学。我觉得西安的变化很大，比如在建设方面，整个城市是一个完美的古建筑与现代建筑的融合! 欢迎你来西安小虎！BTW, 恭喜你做婚礼的主持！I'm sure the wedding will bring you good luck!

@Xiaohu Wow man, that is pretty awsome! Are they flying you over from the States? The key is to have fun with it, and leave room for improv - it makes the experience much more fluid for you and the crowd. Maybe a couple of sips of Baijiu to loosen you up before you hit the stage will help out. Prepare some time fillers for the inevitable delays - 绕口令 always help. :)

Say it ain't so Pete... I have so enjoyed Poems with Pete!   I think there is definitely enough interest for another season.  Soon... soon!   Shen Yajin, good to have you on the ChinesePod team.  Keep up the good work ChinesePod!

shenyajin

这次我们要看重庆，成都，还有湖南的一个漂亮的城市 （我把名字忘掉了）。真可惜我来不及看九寨沟，我又错过观看九寨沟的机会啊！

我恨不得看重庆的热闹而吃正宗的四川菜。你去过四川吗？其实在我住的城市 （我住在洛杉矶的华人地区）我能吃辣子鸡丁，辣子肥肠，水煮两样，麻辣烫，四川火锅等等，不过我朋友说她要给我介绍更好吃的东西。

我觉得我下次去中国一定要去西安看一下。那，西安菜是什么样子的？西安有什么特色，你有没有什么要推荐的呢？

Matt_C

Thanks alot for the advice!  I was really nervous worrying about forgetting a line, but you're right, improv is a great way to get through it, since there's no opportunity to stand there blankly and say to the P.A., "LINE!"

BTW, when Chinese actors forget a line, I wonder if they stand there and say, "台词"?  Hmmmm...

I know some lines from 赵本山的小品 but I'm afraid it might be a bit inappropriate...I'll try and learn some 绕口令 in between trying to learn my lines.

@xiaohu, 我去过四川，成都和绵阳，但是没有去过重庆！我希望你可以去趟峨眉山，因为我觉得那里太美了！山上有很多会喝可乐的猴子，它们太聪明了，不过要小心哦！猴子会抢你的照相机呢！还有两样四川的美食你一定要尝尝，辣子兔丁和石泥鳅，都非常好吃，又香又辣！

到了西安，就一定要吃羊肉串儿，羊肉泡还有肉夹馍，凉皮.....好多好多！还有西安是一个以面食为主的地方，有很多种面食哦！比如最最有名的，biángbiangmiàn, (the character is so complicated that it can not be found in the dictionary), 还有棍棍面、拉面、扯面、臊子面，总而言之，什么面都有！这些面的特点就是酸和辣！

这是陕西八大怪，就是八件很奇怪的事情！

一怪、面条像腰带 Belt-like noodles
二怪、锅盔像锅盖 Pan-cover-like pancake
三怪、辣子是道菜 Chili be served as a dish
四怪、碗盆难分开 Cannot tell a bowl from a basin
五怪、帕帕头上戴 Hankerchief on the head
六怪、房子半边盖 Only half of the house is covered
七怪、板凳不坐蹲起来 Squat rather than sit
八怪、秦腔吼起来 Roars during Qin Opera

很有意思吧！

@shenyajin

The monkeys at Emei Shan are more dangerous than you imply - it is not a matter of stealing your camera (though they may do that as well.)  My family was savagely attacked there and we were lucky to survive - we still bear the scars physically and emotionally. Sorry to bring a serious note to the story, but I feel I have to counter the flippant advice and inadequate warnings given about monkey behaviour.  Guide books are wrong on this matter; official signs are misleading.  The only people I found who speak the truth are the doctors and nurses who treat monkey bites, and provide rabies injections, on a daily basis, on the mountain and at Emei Shan City hospitals.

锅盔是世界上最好吃的。

@bababardwan, all in good time! The movie is 《赤壁》，chìbì!  对了，cross my eyes, 用中文说，是“斗鸡眼”，dòujīyǎn

我奶奶也会常常说，你要是不吃蔬菜，你就长不高了！还有，你要是不刷牙，明天早上你就没有牙了！I was so scared!

Hi bodawei,

That is a terrifying story. I have heard that the monkey situation is also serious in India. Buddhism (whose legacy lingers on Emei and in parts of India) teaches nonviolence toward animals, which makes effective population control even of dangerous animals quite difficult.

I can't find it now but there was an article in the NYTimes a few years ago about ferocious popular resistance to a PRC animal control scheme in Lhasa. The police were rounding up and killing stray dogs, and the people were not amused.

Hi bodawei, I'm sorry to hear that! Oh! I fully underestimated the monkeys! They were adorable and nice to me! I think I 'll alert my friends on this. Thank you for sharing!

Hi infusiastic, 我也觉得锅盔很好吃！又大又厚的pancake, 其实看起来像个井盖！呵呵！

Eeesh! Poems with Pete is awesome, I really hope we get another series, but I needed some time to go over Series 1 again.... it keeps on giving.

Looking forward to series 2, and I hope you have a great little respite!

Hi 娅瑾, 

A warm welcome to Cpod too! I must say you have a very nice voice and your English accent is good too. Did you major in English at the University? 

I'd like to second the request for a lesson on vaccinations,esp rabies.Hopefully this would be at Intermediate or Upper Intermediate so that much of the relevant specific vocab can be introduced in a lengthy enough dialogue.A doctors consultation would be great rather than just a couple discussing how 怕 they are of 疫苗。也许 going through the standard list of vaccines and other medical advice for travellers as you would get at a travel medicine clinic.

Good on you for sharing that Bodawei.I think many people are either unaware of or blase about rabies [a lethal disease if not treated promptly] until they are confronted with it.

Welcome Shen Yajin!  Hopefully I'll be around more to read your very helpful comments. :)

@ Pete
I will miss Poems with Pete.  Enjoy your hiatus!  :-)

@ 沈娅瑾

欢迎！  欢迎 ！ 
没想到你是cpod老师。  很谢谢你参与在Mr. Dragon.  你参与又有意思又有创造力。  我希望更多的人也会参与了。

谢谢你的评论在Activity Beta. 

Dear Pete, thank you for "Poems with Pete".  When you first launched it, I wasn't sure if it would be something I would/could follow.  However, you made it so interesting that I listened to every episode.  I particularly like the insights you bring into Chinese poetry, poets and culture.  You seem to have a wide interest, and I wonder if you will come up with something different next time.  (I'd be interested in your thoughts on Buddhism, Daoism and eastern philosophy generally.)  Best regards, I hope you achieve your scholastic ambitions and help make the world a better place.

@paulinurus, thank you! I'm so happy to hear "娅瑾" here. My voice actually didn't sound natural at the beginning, because I was kind of nervous. You're right, I majored in English literature and linguistics at university! It is a really popular major here in China. (easy job-hunting)

@Shenyajin, 教艺超卓  ;o)

@Pete, I'm sorry to hear about the end of PWP (1st season?). Your way to present the poems is quite elegant and easygoing.
Btw, I don't want to turn this news-podcast into an englishpod material but if I interpret well what you said at 02:33 (dead pen human doesn't go overwhelm), I hope you'll stay onboard.

Kimiik,

From memory I think it was:

"Deadpan humour doesn't go over well"..though in the current swine flu climate and ships on our shores here being quarantined,I do like your interpretation. :)

Thanks bababardwan,

I didn't know the word "deadpan" and as you can see my brain drifted ... a bit (and forgot grammar). ;o)

@Shen yajin

我正在准备雅思,你那段自我介绍不错.

我借来用用拉..嘿嘿

沈娅瑾

欢迎来中文播客!

Pete

Whenever I want to hear you sing Elvis I check out the magic episode of the radical show :)
-来，来来来。。。When you're weary, Feelin' small, When tears are in...
我真喜欢听！你通常唱歌吗？我喜欢洗澡着唱歌, 别人都听不到我唱的, 在瑞典这种的人叫＂浴室歌手＂, 我就是啊 ^_^

Hi dunderklumpen,

I'm flattered, 但如果你真的想听猫王歌曲，还是Aloha From Hawaii 或 1968 Comeback Special 好一点吧 !

PS 我也是“浴室歌手” ;-)

Wow, what a great way to teach the language with poetry, but it seems that will be ending, but I will be sure to check out the previous Poems to see what I was missing for not finding this site earlier, I am really looking forward to learning as much as I can about the chinese culture and I realize that Chinese Pod has a wealth of knowledge. 

@sgn316, Oh! Don't do that! Are you good at crossing your eyes? Just want to let you know, it's a liiiiittle biiiiit devastating!

@kimiik & dunderklumpen, 谢谢你们！

歡迎！Shen Yajin Helen.

Nice eyes! I'll try to do the same, but I'm afraid can't put it back to normal again.

Lovely voice! I hope you back often.

I am a new comer,  hah~

i am a new comer  . and i am from china .