2006-04-17 18:00:00 Ken Carroll
Is this one, like, too easy or something???]]> Ken Carroll
Is this one, like, too easy or something???]]> Marc
I think that the level is just right. I think my level is somewhat higher but there were a few new words and useful sentences as always. There is of course already a large amount of newbie material (I'm still struggling to catch up...) but it's good to keep having new lessons at this level so that we are not left on our own, i.e. totally dependent on lessons from the past. Regards]]> Marc
I think that the level is just right. I think my level is somewhat higher but there were a few new words and useful sentences as always. There is of course already a large amount of newbie material (I'm still struggling to catch up...) but it's good to keep having new lessons at this level so that we are not left on our own, i.e. totally dependent on lessons from the past. Regards]]> Lantian
RECEIPTS - I used to be a receipt-hog 发票猪迷. I horded every possible receipt for my expense reports and presented my manager with a caseload of receipts that included toll-bridge receipts to get over the Bay Bridge, hey a buck is a buck is a RMB! I devoted a better part of my Fridays filling out expense reports. A word of advice for those visiting Beijing/China, ask for and get receipts when metering a taxi. There's a code number and complaint hotline number on it that keeps the cabbies on the up and up. My friends told me that just one complaint causes a world of grief for a cabbie and the market is very competitive so they are easily replaceable. 'Qing gei wo (kai) fa piao, hao ma' right after the destination is determined keeps things kosher. I still find the Newbie lessons fun and interesting. I work on my pronunciation and less-frequently used words, rather than meaning, vocab or sentence structure in the other levels. I really wish I had Cpod in the first few months of my learning Chinese---these words/phrases they introduce are SO HIGH-FREQUENCY, I don't have the words to express this to newbie Cpodies. You are SO lucky! In this lesson I focused on saying outloud 'gong' as in 'yi gong duo shao qian'. Sometimes I say 'quan2 bu4' 全部 duo shao qian, but I really want to use 'gong' 一共是.. Does 'gong' also apply to buying vegetables? Sometimes those ayi (aunties/seller at markets) are nice to me, other times they are....trickky!]]> Lantian
RECEIPTS - I used to be a receipt-hog 发票猪迷. I horded every possible receipt for my expense reports and presented my manager with a caseload of receipts that included toll-bridge receipts to get over the Bay Bridge, hey a buck is a buck is a RMB! I devoted a better part of my Fridays filling out expense reports. A word of advice for those visiting Beijing/China, ask for and get receipts when metering a taxi. There's a code number and complaint hotline number on it that keeps the cabbies on the up and up. My friends told me that just one complaint causes a world of grief for a cabbie and the market is very competitive so they are easily replaceable. 'Qing gei wo (kai) fa piao, hao ma' right after the destination is determined keeps things kosher. I still find the Newbie lessons fun and interesting. I work on my pronunciation and less-frequently used words, rather than meaning, vocab or sentence structure in the other levels. I really wish I had Cpod in the first few months of my learning Chinese---these words/phrases they introduce are SO HIGH-FREQUENCY, I don't have the words to express this to newbie Cpodies. You are SO lucky! In this lesson I focused on saying outloud 'gong' as in 'yi gong duo shao qian'. Sometimes I say 'quan2 bu4' 全部 duo shao qian, but I really want to use 'gong' 一共是.. Does 'gong' also apply to buying vegetables? Sometimes those ayi (aunties/seller at markets) are nice to me, other times they are....trickky!]]> jenny zhu
Marc, Thanks a lot for letting us know. Ken and I get lapse of OCD when it comes to the levels. Lantian, I think OCD can somehow apply to your situation. 发票强迫症。Jus one of the things you have to adapt to living in China especially as a corporate type.]]> jenny zhu
Marc, Thanks a lot for letting us know. Ken and I get lapse of OCD when it comes to the levels. Lantian, I think OCD can somehow apply to your situation. 发票强迫症。Jus one of the things you have to adapt to living in China especially as a corporate type.]]> Lantian
Hi Jenny, ummm...your English is too hip for me... what's OCD mean?]]> Lantian
Hi Jenny, ummm...your English is too hip for me... what's OCD mean?]]> Ken Carroll
That would be 'obsessive compulsive disorder' or something like that . I should know.]]> Ken Carroll
That would be 'obsessive compulsive disorder' or something like that . I should know.]]> Bazza 吴白锐
I was watching an episode of Charmed the other day, and Piper asked Phoebe how do you say 'dream on' in Chinese. According to the episode script she replied 'Ni Tsai Tsua Mung'. As they were discussing Hong Kong it was thinking it was probably Cantonese, but in a later episode she clearly says 'zaijian'. How would 'dream on' translate to Mandarin?]]> Bazza 吴白锐
I was watching an episode of Charmed the other day, and Piper asked Phoebe how do you say 'dream on' in Chinese. According to the episode script she replied 'Ni Tsai Tsua Mung'. As they were discussing Hong Kong it was thinking it was probably Cantonese, but in a later episode she clearly says 'zaijian'. How would 'dream on' translate to Mandarin?]]> Max
A lot of places (especially in the PR of C) will give you a discount if you don't need a 发票. But most of the time they aren't as sweet as in the dialogue! Take one though, you never know when you'll need it. Especially if it's a dodgy mp3 player from some guy with a stall on the street near Xu Jia Hui metro stop...]]> Max
A lot of places (especially in the PR of C) will give you a discount if you don't need a 发票. But most of the time they aren't as sweet as in the dialogue! Take one though, you never know when you'll need it. Especially if it's a dodgy mp3 player from some guy with a stall on the street near Xu Jia Hui metro stop...]]> Ken Carroll
Bazza, You're right. The pin yin may be spelled differently, though - perhaps 'ni tasi tsou meng' - literally, "You're dreaming".]]> Ken Carroll
Bazza, You're right. The pin yin may be spelled differently, though - perhaps 'ni tasi tsou meng' - literally, "You're dreaming".]]> AuntySue
To easy? For me it's only a glimpse of the future, but one I can almost touch. There seems to be an enormous change after about three or four lessons. It's a shift of level from pre-newbie to newbie, from what's going on to oh yeah here's another lesson, from complete bewilderment to ok this is a language with this general sound and these types of features. It's also when you realise that the first two lessons were not a lucky fluke, the whole thing's going to be something you can manage. There is a need to take stock of what you know, check it and make sure that it sticks, and plan the next stream of learning, now that you deeply know what it is you're planning for. Then it doesn't matter if something's too hard, because on that long line of learning there is now a point, right there, with your name on it, and from that point you have a defined relationship to every other point.]]> AuntySue
To easy? For me it's only a glimpse of the future, but one I can almost touch. There seems to be an enormous change after about three or four lessons. It's a shift of level from pre-newbie to newbie, from what's going on to oh yeah here's another lesson, from complete bewilderment to ok this is a language with this general sound and these types of features. It's also when you realise that the first two lessons were not a lucky fluke, the whole thing's going to be something you can manage. There is a need to take stock of what you know, check it and make sure that it sticks, and plan the next stream of learning, now that you deeply know what it is you're planning for. Then it doesn't matter if something's too hard, because on that long line of learning there is now a point, right there, with your name on it, and from that point you have a defined relationship to every other point.]]>