<![CDATA[Comments on: Surfing the Internet]]> you like to do in the evening? If your answer is something that does not involve going online, then you're weird, and we're not going to help you. If, however, you like going online for your entertainment, we've got just the Chinese lesson for you!]]> 2011-05-23 18:00:00 <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> I like buying diapers online out of all things...

]]> I like buying diapers online out of all things...

]]> <![CDATA[By: almostoutofhere]]> don't worry about it, a lot of people have overactive bladder

]]> don't worry about it, a lot of people have overactive bladder

]]> <![CDATA[By: babyeggplant]]> 我喜欢在淘宝买东西！

wǒ xǐhuān zài táobǎo mǎi dōngxi

I like buying things on taobao. I have bought anything from food to clothes on there. I figure that the delivery fee is normally about the same as the puplic transportation cost if I went to pick it up myself in the store. I have gotten several warnings from others about buying "fake" food on there though. Perhaps I should stick with wearables and diapers.

]]> 我喜欢在淘宝买东西！

wǒ xǐhuān zài táobǎo mǎi dōngxi

I like buying things on taobao. I have bought anything from food to clothes on there. I figure that the delivery fee is normally about the same as the puplic transportation cost if I went to pick it up myself in the store. I have gotten several warnings from others about buying "fake" food on there though. Perhaps I should stick with wearables and diapers.

]]> <![CDATA[By: livinghere]]> I get all my son's diapers all on Taobao. Convenient:)

]]> I get all my son's diapers all on Taobao. Convenient:)

]]> <![CDATA[By: gssg4reedfds]]> Yet there is another newbie lesson titled "surfing the internet" http://chinesepod.com/lessons/surfing-the-internet-original

]]> Yet there is another newbie lesson titled "surfing the internet" http://chinesepod.com/lessons/surfing-the-internet-original

]]> <![CDATA[By: mahdsaed]]> I d like to hold the tip of the string that will eventually lead me to understanding chinese ,whichever way it was,internet or any other way

]]> I d like to hold the tip of the string that will eventually lead me to understanding chinese ,whichever way it was,internet or any other way

]]> <![CDATA[By: pauley]]> 不过如果我们上网买东西的话我担心商店很多关闭。生活方式好不好。我不这样想。

but if we buy things online i worry that many shops will close. is this a good lifestyle。i dont think so...

]]> 不过如果我们上网买东西的话我担心商店很多关闭。生活方式好不好。我不这样想。

but if we buy things online i worry that many shops will close. is this a good lifestyle。i dont think so...

]]> <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> Yes. We are redoing old substandard newbie lessons within the official ChinesePod newbie course. The old news are marked "original". The problems might be how the dialogues were written (e.g. this original lesson had several unnatural phrases), or recordings which don't conform with the standard now, etc.

]]> Yes. We are redoing old substandard newbie lessons within the official ChinesePod newbie course. The old news are marked "original". The problems might be how the dialogues were written (e.g. this original lesson had several unnatural phrases), or recordings which don't conform with the standard now, etc.

]]> <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> Try yihaodian. I find it more reliable.

]]> Try yihaodian. I find it more reliable.

]]> <![CDATA[By: babyeggplant]]> Many online sellers also have physical shops as well! Those who do often will list their 本体店 běntǐdiàn (physical store) information on their site. Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe all of things on taobao mall come from true shops.

]]> Many online sellers also have physical shops as well! Those who do often will list their 本体店 běntǐdiàn (physical store) information on their site. Maybe I'm wrong, but I believe all of things on taobao mall come from true shops.

]]> <![CDATA[By: gssg4reedfds]]> 谢谢

]]> 谢谢

]]> <![CDATA[By: bodawei]]> Hi pauley

babyeggplant has a very good point. When I buy inkjet cartridges for my printer, the list price is 120 rmb. If I stand and debate the point for a couple of minutes I get it for 100 rmb. But I can buy the identical product on Taobao for 30 rmb, or perhaps 50 rmb from a more reputable vendor (vendors are rated by users.) All of these options remain available, and viable (even for commodities), because different people like to conduct their business in different ways. Some people like to browse. Some people like building relationships with a shop keeper you can see. But even on Taobao you build relationships - you have a discussion with the vendor before you buy. It's the rich tapestry of commercial life in China.

]]> Hi pauley

babyeggplant has a very good point. When I buy inkjet cartridges for my printer, the list price is 120 rmb. If I stand and debate the point for a couple of minutes I get it for 100 rmb. But I can buy the identical product on Taobao for 30 rmb, or perhaps 50 rmb from a more reputable vendor (vendors are rated by users.) All of these options remain available, and viable (even for commodities), because different people like to conduct their business in different ways. Some people like to browse. Some people like building relationships with a shop keeper you can see. But even on Taobao you build relationships - you have a discussion with the vendor before you buy. It's the rich tapestry of commercial life in China.

]]> <![CDATA[By: user271828]]>

It does seem that Ken was rather fond of taking English phrases and translating them directly into Chinese without regard for sociolinguistic ideas (the "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help" line from the "Consoling the Bereaved" podcast comes to mind. I'm pretty sure a native speaker would never say this to someone who lost a loved one....)

Wouldn't it be helpful to point out said unnatural phrases now (perhaps in the comments section here) for learners who have already listened to the originals and are not clear on what was not so natural?

]]>

It does seem that Ken was rather fond of taking English phrases and translating them directly into Chinese without regard for sociolinguistic ideas (the "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help" line from the "Consoling the Bereaved" podcast comes to mind. I'm pretty sure a native speaker would never say this to someone who lost a loved one....)

Wouldn't it be helpful to point out said unnatural phrases now (perhaps in the comments section here) for learners who have already listened to the originals and are not clear on what was not so natural?

]]> <![CDATA[By: Dorayaki]]> 我喜欢上网听中文播课。wo3 xi3huan shang4wang3 ting1 zhong1wen2 bo1ke4.

]]> 我喜欢上网听中文播课。wo3 xi3huan shang4wang3 ting1 zhong1wen2 bo1ke4.

]]> <![CDATA[By: Baodeng]]> Has anyone used amazon.cn (I think it was yoyo.cn before). I am in the states, and buy from the US version, and would like to know before I go over next year.

]]> Has anyone used amazon.cn (I think it was yoyo.cn before). I am in the states, and buy from the US version, and would like to know before I go over next year.

]]> <![CDATA[By: shroukgazaly]]> wo ye xihuan shang wang

]]> wo ye xihuan shang wang

]]> <![CDATA[By: shroukgazaly]]> hello every one I am shrouk Gazaly from Egypt i study chines in my university .please i need you help me to improve my language..Thanks alooot with my best wishes

]]> hello every one I am shrouk Gazaly from Egypt i study chines in my university .please i need you help me to improve my language..Thanks alooot with my best wishes

]]> <![CDATA[By: pauley]]> maybe i am old fashioned and dont like change...but honestly i think it is dodging all the delivery guys on motor bikes with parcels protuding in the traffic that makes me hate buying online...those guys ride their bikes like they are in a race.....everything has to happen so fast these days....you buy it online and it arrives the next day....my lao wai teaching buddies all reckon it is much cheaper online....i concede...

]]> maybe i am old fashioned and dont like change...but honestly i think it is dodging all the delivery guys on motor bikes with parcels protuding in the traffic that makes me hate buying online...those guys ride their bikes like they are in a race.....everything has to happen so fast these days....you buy it online and it arrives the next day....my lao wai teaching buddies all reckon it is much cheaper online....i concede...

]]> <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> Ken's style was he always translated in both a word-for-word fashion and a more idiomatic style. So you'd get a way that is natural in English, and another which literally reflects the Chinese. He thought it was useful for a beginner student. And our guiding principle throughout has been to reflect the most authentic and naturalistic speech in both English and Chinese. For example, the sentence level translation in dialogues while conform to the Chinese as best as they can (especially at the lower levels), they will take a more idiomatic form if fully matching the Chinese becomes too awkward. And the annotations in mouse over show the literal meaning of words.

]]> Ken's style was he always translated in both a word-for-word fashion and a more idiomatic style. So you'd get a way that is natural in English, and another which literally reflects the Chinese. He thought it was useful for a beginner student. And our guiding principle throughout has been to reflect the most authentic and naturalistic speech in both English and Chinese. For example, the sentence level translation in dialogues while conform to the Chinese as best as they can (especially at the lower levels), they will take a more idiomatic form if fully matching the Chinese becomes too awkward. And the annotations in mouse over show the literal meaning of words.

]]> <![CDATA[By: user271828]]> Thanks for the reply Jenny, but isn't that what _any_ translator or language teacher does? I think it would be hard to teach a language if you only did one of the two things (translating idiomatically and word-for-word) you mentioned.

Again, could you tell us what was unnatural about the first version of this dialogue? I'm not trying to embarrass or heckle you (it's to be expected that the first few versions of your "product" had bugs), I'm just eager to avoid using language that isn't really native-sounding, and I would think it would be your responsibility to point these things out.

For example, I can still find the expansion sentence 她没有口渴。from the early "Thirsty for Water" podcast, and I can't find any native speaker who thinks that's standard Mandarin...

]]> Thanks for the reply Jenny, but isn't that what _any_ translator or language teacher does? I think it would be hard to teach a language if you only did one of the two things (translating idiomatically and word-for-word) you mentioned.

Again, could you tell us what was unnatural about the first version of this dialogue? I'm not trying to embarrass or heckle you (it's to be expected that the first few versions of your "product" had bugs), I'm just eager to avoid using language that isn't really native-sounding, and I would think it would be your responsibility to point these things out.

For example, I can still find the expansion sentence 她没有口渴。from the early "Thirsty for Water" podcast, and I can't find any native speaker who thinks that's standard Mandarin...

]]> <![CDATA[By: n3buluz]]> Hi,

I'm just wondering what the difference is between 上网 (as presented in the podcast) and 网上 (as I've learned in class). Is the first one a verb related to actually doing stuff online, and the second one an adjective (e.g. 网上聊天室）? Or are they somewhat interchangeable? 谢谢！

]]> Hi,

I'm just wondering what the difference is between 上网 (as presented in the podcast) and 网上 (as I've learned in class). Is the first one a verb related to actually doing stuff online, and the second one an adjective (e.g. 网上聊天室）? Or are they somewhat interchangeable? 谢谢！

]]> <![CDATA[By: jennyzhu]]> 上网 is a verb which means to go online or surf the web, e.g. 我喜欢上网。/I like to surf the internet.

网上 is an adjective which means online, e.g. 我喜欢在网上买东西。I like to shop online.

]]> 上网 is a verb which means to go online or surf the web, e.g. 我喜欢上网。/I like to surf the internet.

网上 is an adjective which means online, e.g. 我喜欢在网上买东西。I like to shop online.

]]> <![CDATA[By: n3buluz]]> Great, I get it thanks :)

]]> Great, I get it thanks :)

]]>