Elementary - The Olympics on TV

This is an awesome lesson! I really feel like it pulls together a lot of info from newbie lessons in a very practical conversation. I've been sticking to newbie lessons, but I wanted to try this elementary lessons since I'm planning on bringing my family to Beijing for the Olympics. I'm surprised how well I was able to follow this lesson. I may be learning more than I thought and ready to move up to elementary -- boy, you all are good!

My favorite TV program in China is 动物世界. Its narrator's voice is deep and booming. 同一首歌 is also entertaining. History dramas are not so bad, but a bit too many. One of the most boring programs is 中央电台新闻联播, which is full of meeting, speech, and reception scenes. You can see day-old evening news programs in the morning. 播送 bo1 song4…....broadcast 重播 chong2 bo1…..rebroadcasting 直播 zhi2 bo1…….…live broadcasting 转播 zhuan3 bo1…...relay broadcasting 广播 guang3 bo1…..radio broadcasting

please help me !! how to dowload Mp3?? Xiexie ni!

right click on the link and choose "Save to..."

nadilu, You might also want to take a look at the "help" link below. You will see a menu with a choice marked "technical questions". Click on that. Hope that helps.

Hello Amber, Is the bo1 of zhuan3 bo1 the same as jung1guo2 bo1 ke3 ( our beloved cpod? ) Does that mean broadcast lesson? And if so, are other podcasts that are not lessons also boke? Also, has anyone noticed that the “a5” particle at the end of a sentence to indicate a soft questioning (“ Ni shr cong Jianada lai de, a”) is suspiciously like the Canadian particle “eh”?

I have a question for everyone not directly related to this lession. How many people, who do not live in a Chinese speaking country , have been able to become resonably fluent in Chinese using just Chinese pod or similar study methods? By resonable fluency I mean that you can talk to a native speaker about normal everyday things (no deep philsophical discussions). If you have been able to do this how long did it take and did you find a native speaker to practice with or did you learn it completely on your own? Chris

I've never really been a big Olympics fan, but I guess next year it will be a hot topic so I should accept it and move on... :)

Even for those not Olympic fans, you might (or not) appreciate that the first China Olympics is a catalyst for a $60B USD modernization of Beijing, not to mention infrastructure improvements in the several other cities hosting events, along with providing lots of jobs, and an opportunity for China to showcase its hospitality, friendship, history and culture to several hundred thousands of people who have never been in China.

lai2ha2ma, Yes. 播客 bo1ke4 means "podcast" (any kind I assume) and it is the same bo1. ChinesePod is 中文播客 Zhong1wen2 bo1ke4. Confusingly it is very similar to the Chinese for "blog", 博客 bo2ke4. Is there any difference in tone between using 可惜 ke3xi1 and 遗憾 yi2han4? Judging by the enthusiasm for the World Cup, which China was not even in, the atmosphere in China will be insane during the Olympics.

hi there lai4ha2ma, sorry for the late reply! and thank to danjo for answering for me :) danjo, re: the difference between 遗憾 (yíhàn) and 可惜 (kěxī). Please see the following examples to illustrate: 你不能来，真可惜。 (Nǐ bùnéng lái, zhēn kěxī.) You could use 遗憾 (yíhàn) here, but it would be a lot more serious in tone, and formal. 遗憾 (yíhàn) is used more commonly in written and formal language, and can also have the added meaning of regret, i.e.: 我们对这个国家的行为表示遗憾。 (Wǒmen duì zhège guójiā de xíngwéi biǎoshì yíhàn.) Here, the 遗憾 (yíhàn) carries the extra feeling of "dissatisfied" or "disapprove of."

Thanks danjo and Amber

Hello Amber, In the expansion section "huì" is equivalent to will, how come?. I wonder whether you all can write in bigger hanzì if possible. Thanks. Luis.

To Chris1, We suspect that NO ONE becomes fluent just listening to Chinesepod lessons,if only because you'd have to be a real hermit not to want to speak Chinese with anyone who would listen once you've got some of it in you. That is, I bet we all seek out other opportunities to use and learn Chinese. Plus that the culture determines so much of the language, that we end up wanting to know more about history and folk tales, classic novels and even Chinese opera and popular tunes. What you really want to know is how far can you get with Chinesepod, and here we are giving you a hard time by denying that you'd ever want to limit your learning to one medium. But the other answer is: we think you can get pretty far even though we are not very far.

iqichu, We change the size of the text to see the Chinese more clearly. Our browser (firefox) has a link to ext size under View.

Hi Luis, 他是最适合你的人，错过了他，你一定会后悔的。 (Tā shì zuì shìhé nǐ de rén, cuòguò le tā, nǐ yīdìng huì hòuhuǐ de.) That's right, in certain contexts, 会 (huì) has the meaning "to be likely to, to be sure to." This concept is best translated in this sentence in English as "will." It means this result will certainly occur.

luobinzhenmei, That was good answer to chirs. I don't live in China but I really want to be able to speak fluently, but who knows when I really can say "Yeah, I speak Chinese" without 一点点. Well, we all are going to keep studying and see where we're going to be in the future! And Ken, 上午and下午, I don't know what 午means, but can 上，下 be discribing movement of 太阳. What do you think?

Here´s a suggestion for another lesson: doping. Western media begin to focus in. It seems the central authorities have recognised the problem, but the doping stuff is extremely cheap in China and easy to get at, so....