News and Features - Jason and Sarah

Cool,2 intermediate lessons..nice unexpected surprise.

hehe...I loved Sarah's "or am I?" comment,and then her ducking off mid programme.It kinda reminded me of the Leadside episode of Get Smart "I can run but I can't walk".Jiayou Sarah. :)

Welcome Jason.Gotta dig out that Saturday Show yet.Does CPod not have it in the archives for us? Could serve as good inspiration.

Big props to Jason.  I've been diggin the translations this last month. Really hitting the mark! Keep up the good work and don't slack on the 二锅头!  Actually, speaking of that devil in a green dress, I'd like to suggest doing a lesson specifically on 二锅头...who's with me?! 

大急流城加油！

你好 Jason and Sarah! You guys have the best job in the world! Wish I could do what all you guys do at ChinesePod >.< Maybe one day when I've actually finished school and learnt a wee bit more Chinese! hehe ^.^

Good luck to you both, Jason and Sarah! ^.^

@bodawei:

Thanks! I can't seem to find it actually. I'll ask around in the office tomorrow. 

@mikl124:

Thank you! Means a lot. Oh 二锅头...

@xiaophil:

Oh yeah!

@doodlemonster:

Thanks for the support! I agree. It's a super cool job. :) Make sure to drop by the office next time you're in Shanghai. 

Oh and by the way!

Haha, that reminds me.  I have been wanting to buy a high five shirt.

Welcome aboard Jason.

btw - before he notices, you called bababardwan bodawei. I know, all those Aussies run together but you might want to fix that. :-)

And Im from Ohio, if I was a college football fan that would make us rivals but since Im not, we are just neighbors.

What was the translation challenge Jenny mentioned that you and John discussed for 30 min? I want to prepare :-). Translations are looking good.

@rjberki

Ah! Thanks for noticing. (@bababardwan, sorry about that! B-name, both Aussies, both frequent commenters... oops ;) )

Ah, Ohio! Not a bad place in my experience. Like you, I'm not much of a college football fan. The rivalry is crazy though. I've seen people get heated all the way over here in Shanghai.

The word we were talking about is 上火. Check it out. It's a condition described in traditional Chinese medicine. It has to do with having too much 阳气. It may seem a bit particular, but all Chinese people subscribe to it and it actually comes up quite a bit. I remember, when I first heard it, I just assumed it was something simple like heartburn. Man, was I wrong.

(The lesson is about 火锅, too. A personal favorite! Mmm...)

Thanks for the support. :)

Jason,

Ah, thanks. Eat "warm" food in the winter kind of thing. I love Hot Pot. Why do you think there are no Hot Pot restaurants in the US? I wonder if its a legal liability thing, or just that there is no percieved demand.

Intersting... 上火 sounds a bit like the classical definition of "choleric" based on the four humors. An imbalance in the humors was believed to cause disease and foods with hot, cold, moist or dry qualities were used to rebalance the body. (The words "hot" for spicy and "dry" for wine are from this system.)

RJ, lots of hot pot restaurants here in California, at least the bigger cities.  Given Midwest winters, though, it'd they'd probably taste better out there.

Wrong 锅 guys...the good stuff, for both cold, mid-western winters and warm California sun is not 火锅...it's 二锅头.  However, much like 火锅, I'd imagine that this tangy beverage faces some rather strict liability issues in the US, as it should.

By the way, I saw a bottle of it in Chicago's Chinatown...$20!  我的乖乖! 

RJ,

 When you come out to LA to visit us , we will take you out for hot pot.

Deal.

mikl124,

You'll be happy to know that we already have an 二锅头 lesson in the pipeline! :D

@Doodlemonster - To echo Jason, thanks for your support! I feel lucky to be part of the ChinesePod team  :-)

@Babardwan - Recording News & Features was fun. I cannot imagine how many hours of laughter must have been recorded over the years at ChinesePod, then edited out for purposes of professionalism!

I'd also really like to listen to the archived Saturday Show with Jason, so will help look into this today...

Hi Chinesepod,

one question - what's going on with the Flashcards? I might have to stop using them, the changes are driving me insane. the programme doesn't seem to respond to being adjusted and keeps on at its own pace necessitating having to go back. It is kind of OOS inducing.

Grateful for a response. Thanks.

chas33735,

Yes, the flashcards have been updated. It sounds like maybe you have "Auto" on? (Simply uncheck it if you don't want it on.)

Could you tell me your system (Win/Mac/Linux) + version, and your browser + version?

Thanks...

@Jason the "Sch" is "so Dutch" any Dutch ancestry?

@chas3375, works fine on a Mac (Snow Leopard) with Safari and a Vista box with Chrome.  Other than moving a couple of things around, the things I notice the most are:

• Supports traditional and simplified as was recently promised.
• Once you click to "Show Answer," after a slight delay, the slide advances automatically.

@channelle77

Yep, my ancestors hail from the land of wooden shoes. Friesland to be exact.

Lucky you *wink wink*

Jason,

No need for apologies...I was flattered you'd mix us up...I think it's bodawei that needs the apology.Just remember,I'm blahblahblahwan.Hey,I loved the Michigan America's High Five pic..not seen it before..very cool.

RJ,

I wonder if its a legal liability thing

..whaddya mean? Like from food poisoning? Is it shared in a similar way to Swiss Fondue[ultra cool for a dinner party]? Do you have that in the States?

orangina,

The words "hot" for spicy and "dry" for wine are from this system.

...superb nugget of info.I didn't know that.Thankyou.

Sarah,

then edited out for purposes of professionalism

..sounds like a blast.You'll have to release a bloopers podcast for a laugh.Actually I've noticed a few bloopers seem to have been deliberately left in for a laugh lately in some of the Praxis podcasts such as John recently saying something along the lines of we better edit that out about picking up from the police station.That or someone behind the scenes [gulam ,what are you up to?] is having a bit of a laugh.Anyhow,thanks,looking forward to that episode if you can find it.

@Jason

Yeah, no need for apologies, I know that us white folks from Brisbane all look the same.  :-) 

Used to 白酒 hey?, that definitely takes some drinking. We had a party here on Sat and I am just surveying the damage.  I carried out a lot of empty foreign beer bottles (how is it that Australian wine and beer sells in China cheaper than in Sydney?)  The 劲酒 bottles are empty - it was recommended to me because it contains 白酒 and medicine in the same bottle, not to mention a lot of sugar. Apparently the medicine perfectly balances the damaging effects of alcohol.  Perfect 阴 and 阳 ..and a cute-shaped bottle.  As a virtual non-drinker the aesthetics are important to me.  

All my bottles of Yunnan wine seem to be intact.   

RJ - you can have some of our 火锅 restaurants, we definitely have too many. US productivity would fall noticeably if you had this many; they are designed for leisurely eating.   

So I don't listen to the News and Features until Mondays at work so this is the first time I heard this show, so PIRATES! Pirates pirates pirates pirates pirates pirates pirates pirates pirates PIE-RATS, people!

We're gonna have a friggin' pirate lesson! ChinesePod you are wonderful I love you! We have a ninja lesson and now a pirate lesson NO OTHER CHINESE LEARNING SITE HAS THIS!!!!!

Okay, calming down now.

(pirates!)

pirates. huh. we're having a pirate lesson. I thought Talk Like A Pirate Day was in the spring.

well, after checking, I stand somewhat corrected.  But cpod could have been a bit more timely. It will be fun to hear cpod translate "chumbucket" into Chinese. probably something like "fish parts pot" ...

Welcome, Jason! Glad to have you on the team. Also happy to hear everyone's support. Thanks, guys! 

@simonpettersson: your enthusiasm is very encouraging. I'm now thinking we might need a whole series on swashbuckling. Hmmm. Food for thought.

Chatherine: Don't say things like that unless you mean it. Don't play with my heart.

Actually, a series set on a Chinese junk with some buckling of swash would be completely radical.

China's had several famous pirates.  Not sure what they talked like, though.

re 上火, what Orangina said about choleric sounds right to me. I used to go to a shiatsu therapist who trained in and practiced Chinese medicine, he always told me I had it. We had this routine in which he would give me a hard time about my sharp tongue and temper (I was young then) but he would say later, seriously, that I "had too much inner heat from the chest above". 内熱が高い I was told, and then he would remark on how my liver and kidneys were too hard. He said I had to stop drinking cold beverages regularly. And said that was what was making me, well, choleric all the time.
From what I've seen here westerners sometimes have difficulty understanding the "cold will kill you", and "drink 热水", prescribed when one is unwell. Japanese do too I guess though I have no trouble accepting the "cold isn't good for you" thinking because of that bit of experience with Chinese medicine. I hardly ever take cold drinks anymore though it's a minor hassle sometimes. In Japan people think it's rude when a guest asks for water, to give them something room temperature. They think it has to be ice-cold in a glass on a coaster, with ice cubes or they're embarrassed to serve it. And you can't get unchilled water at convenience stores either. So I just always take my own everywhere.
But yeah, it will be interesting to see how you decided to say that in English.

harrrrrr

Hi John,

I'm using Windows XP on a work computer. our IT geeks deliberately steered clear of Vista. the problem with the Flashcards is that the auto doesn't seem to respond to check/uncheck. I'll try it out again today to see if its working but it has been frustrating.

chas33735,

Ah, I see...  It looks like there's a discrepancy between how we designed auto to work and how you think it should work. (This is a design problem.)

Actually, "auto" is designed to be "hands free" practice.  You let it go, and you review with your eyes only as your eat corn on the cob (or whatever you're doing).

So we never designed it to work together with marking words as right/wrong (which also auto-advances to the next word).

We'll have to look at this more carefully. If "auto" mode disabled the marking right/wrong also advancing to the next card, would that solve your problem?

John: The way I interpreted chas33735's comment is that he is unable to check/uncheck the checkbox that toggles auto on or off.

re: flashcards - i get it it now! if i click on the cross or tick on the bottom, the flashcard moves forward without having to click on the arrow. my problem appears to be that i was doing both and the flashcard was advancing by two meaning i would then have to go back to see the previous one.

anyway i guess this is a convoluted way of saying that i've figured it out and it works fine!

Hi Jason, Welcome aboard! I almost missed this News and Features.^_^

I think people who can be translator must be awesome, Such as Pete.I am looking forward to learn from you in the future. ^_^