How do I change my public name?

Not even those evil 藍日 purple bellies...

(Got the characters from

that pinyinary! http://fireflychinese.kevinsullivansite.net/episode4.html)

No power in the 'verse can stop you now. :-)

Welcome to the free world.

*gasp*

Look! I'm ME! I have a real name!

Xiexie beyond all measure!! *grin*

Awesome find, Jules! I'll dig in a little as soon as I have the time. Looks like a great resource!

Ooof. Just listened to a portion past Ken/Jenny's bit. It's *very* early in The Signal's history, and is, well... *grimace* I think it would not be a bad idea if they re-did it with different speakers. I guess I'm just spoiled by the quality of Chinesepod product. :)

And yep, listening to the file at

http://libsyn.com/media/thesignal/how_to_speak_chinese.mp3

which is a collection of the various bits of learning Mandarin from The Signal podcasts, it's definitely Jenny and Ken's voice. :) Shiny!

爽 !

Hey, Frank! I found a page of Browncoat terms at The Signal. :) It's at: http://signal.serenityfirefly.com/chinese.html

Pretty simple stuff, but still... :) I believe they got some help from Chinesepod it putting it together, as one of the staffers told me they'd worked with Browncoats previously. Anyhow, here's the list. Some of it is appears to be geared toward gatherings.

-----------------------------------

Xiao Ka's Firefly Pinyinary

I am a browncoat

* 我是褐上衣人

wo3 shi4 he4 shang4 yi1 ren2

oo'oh shr heh shang ee ren

Serenity

* 寧靜

ning2 jing4

ning jing

The Signal

* 電波 (electric wave)

dian4 bo1

dee'en boh

You can't stop the Signal

* 你不能把電波減掉了 (you cannot cut the signal)

ni3 bu4 neng6 ba3 dian4 bo1 jian3 diao4 le

nee boo nung ba dee'en boh jee'en dee'ao luh

Live life with Blue Sun

* 靠藍日過日子 (depend on blue sun to live/pass the days)

kao1 lan2 ri4 guo4 ri4 zi

kao lan r guo r dz

* 跟藍日過日子 (live/pass the days with blue sun)

gen1 lan2 ri4 guo4 ri4 zi

gen lan r guo r dz

You're listening to the Signal

* 你在聽著電波

ni3 zai4 ting1 zhe3 dian4 bo1

nee dzai ting jeh dee'en boh

Congratulations

* 恭喜 (usually said twice)

gong1 xi3

goh'ng shee

You look nice

* 好帥 (so handsome)

hao3 shuai4

hao shoo'ai

* 真漂亮 (so pretty)

zhen1 piao4 liang4

jen pee'ao liang

Please

* 求求你啊 (as in "please, I'm begging you")

qiu2 qiu2 ni3 a (the 'a' is just the sound at the end to make it sound better ... can put lo, a, lei ... whatever you feel like kinda depending on your tone of voice)

cheeou cheeou nee ah

* 拜托 (as in "pu-leeaase" or "come-ON, you gotta be kidding me" but also as in requesting someone to do something)

bai4 tuo1

bai too'oh

* 請 + verb (as in please sit down, please come in, please etc. ... invitational please

qing3

ching

* 請你 ... (can/will you please ... )

qing3 ni3

ching nee

Thank you

* 謝謝 (thanks)

xie4 xie4

shee'eh shee'eh

* 多謝 (lots of thanks)

duo1 xie4

doo'oh shee'eh

Excuse me

* 對不起 (sorry)

dui4 bu4 qi3

doo'ei boo chee

* 借過 (excuse me ... as in please let me past/get through)

jie4 guo4

gee'eh goo'oh

* 請問 (excuse me ... as in may I ask a question)

qing3 wen4

ching oo'en

* 不好意思 (sorry ... as in 'I'm embarrassed' I cannot do something, I need something etc. etc)

bu4 hao3 yi4 si1

boo ha'oo ee suh

May I?

* (我)可以 ... 嗎

ke3 yi3

keh ee

Long time no see

* 好久不見

hao3 jiu3 bu4 jian4

ha'oo gee'ou boo gee'en

How are you?

* 你還好嗎 (this means "are you ok" or "are you so-so" literally ... used more when someone looks like they might not be doing so well or you know they've been having a rough time etc

ni3 hai2 hao3 ma

nee hai hao ma

Let's go

* 走吧/了

zou3 ba or zou3 le

dzou ba or dzou luh

I'm leaving

* 我(先)走了 (if you add the 2nd character it's literal meaning is I'm leaving first ... but it's common to say it as a more polite yet casual way)

wo3 (xian1) zou3 le

woh (shee'en) dzou luh

Eat!

* 吃啊/吧 (more of a nudge, depending on the situation can be rude)

chi1 a/ba

chr ah/bah

* 慢慢吃 (means eat slowly ... but common to say to start the meal off)

man4 man4 chi1

mah'n mah'n chr

Really?

* 真的嗎/啊 (ma and a can both be used ... ma makes it more of a question, while a makes it more of a statement)

zhen1 de ma/a

jen duh mah/ah

How come / why?

* 為甚麼?

Wei4 shen me

Oo'ei shemmeh

Who is it?

* 是誰

shi4 shei2

shr shei

Whose is it?

* 是誰的

shi4 shei2 de

shr shei duh

Well, in that case

* 那, (subj + 就 + verb + 啊)

na4, (subj + jiu4 + verb + a)

nah, (subj + gee'ou + verb + ah)

No problem

* 沒關係 (it's ok, no problem)

mei2 guan1 xi4

mei guan shee

* 沒問題 (no problem)

mei2 wen4 ti2

mei oo'en tee

Hello

* 你好

ni3 hao3

nee hao

Good bye

* 再見

zai4 jian4

dzai gee'en

See you (time, e.g. tomorrow)

* (明天)見

(ming2 tian1) jian4

(ming tee'en) gee'en

Shiny

* 爽 (slang for sweet ... actually means feels good amongst other things)

shuang3

shoo'ang

Off-topic...

Well darn. It looks like the webpage henning gave us for the 'Dirty Word' list is non-functional.

Looking up other sites, here are some the search came up with. I don't know how accurate they are, and Click At Your Own Risk. Hmm, maybe I'll play it safe... ;)

There is, of course, a Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_slang

Go John! Thanks.

John, thanks so much! :)

good job john!

干得好！

Oh, good to hear that, John. I want my capitals back...pretty please...I like AZERDocMom better : )

Update: the CTO is on it.

Go, John! WOOT!!!!

Hey guys!

I agree that this username problem has been going on for way too long. I'm going to make sure this gets solved.

i was user(somenumber) too...got it changed recently by mailing chinesepod. so its possible user3881 :-)

Thanks Henning! And it even has the corresponding Swedish words beside the English. Danish and Swedish are pretty close to each other but it's always fun to compare notes. :-)

*sigh*

Ladies, here it is, framed in the blog of an accomplished linguist:

http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2007/07/06/condoms-and-sexual-vocabulary-in-chinese

Proceed at your own risk.

AuntySue - I used my yahoo address, that's probably it. I did check all the spam folders, and nothing there. I sent a private message to Bazza asking for assistance - hopefully, if he gets, back to me soon, I can substitute a different address.

Sorry girls, I had the "dirty word" link but cant find it. I think Bazza has it. When he wakes maybe he will be kind enough to post if for you again. Meanwhile, I will continue to look for it.

-RJ

Julie, if you have a gmail address your forum signup won't work, but maybe there's some other reason. Have you checked your spam mail folder, did the reply end up in there? Ask Bazza for help if you can't subscribe, you can message him here.

Where does stuff like the "dirty word page" get circulated? :) On the forum, rather than in the conversations? Wanna know!

(I tried to register for the forum, but the notification email never made it to me. Trying to figure out where to go from there...)

--Julesong

Hmmm, 'dirty word page'.... Somebody has to message that link to me ASAP. ;-)

2006, not 1996.

lunetta,

just for the records: I got the clavisinica-link from Bazza in 1996. Actually almost all of the better sources circulating in the CPod communicty can be traced back to Bazza (including, by the way, the infamous yet nevertheless stunningly impressive "dirty word page").

Julesong,

Firefly is indeed the better SciFi. But good (real) SciFi TV seriew and movies are unfortunatelly extremly rare and StarTrek is still not the worst out there.

By the way: In Voyager you never die or get seriously hurt. In the end there is always some kind of time-jump and the time line is reset to "everything as normal".

Henning - yep, someone has mentioned that. :) As a scifi geek, I suppose I shouldn't mind. But my favorite show is Firefly, rather than Star Trek. In ST I would probably end up wearing red. At least in Firefly I could wear my browncoat.

Trevelyan - thanks for the response! Much appreciated! :) Two months is better than forever.

My username, when changed, is "Julesong." It's how I'm known pretty much everywhere online. I can handle 3881 for now. ;)

:-)))

And by the way, what are you still doing here at this hour? ;-)

Henning, I was hoping no one would notice that. And it's getting later because of that link to clavisinica you just posted.... Who can resist a test like that?

Dave, thank you. An unpleasant (but knowledgeable) answer is better than no answer at all.

3881. Too late. You will always be 3881 for us now (did somebody already mention to you that this sounds like the name of a certain species in Star Trek Voyager?).

lunetta: It is 00.16 your time. That is addiction.

Dave, answering comments on CPod at 7 am in the morning on a Saturday... I guess it's not only the users who're addicted. ;-)

@user3881 -- in the short term, unfortunately, yes.

@henning -- we won't be springing the changes on anyone, and want feedback when we have something ready to show people.

Timeline for all of this is probably somewhere around two months, but that is very contingent on how development/testing goes.

trevelyan - is that to say... I cannot get my username changed? :(

Dave, you know what's at stake:

http://chinesepod.com/connections/viewpost/dogeatsrat/connect/Is+Chinesepod+addictive%3F

We all might run into life-threatening withdrawal syndromes.

I was just about to go to bed, when I saw your post, Dave.

Now I better wait a while, because I might get some nightmares about icebergs with version tags... o-:

Just kidding. You guys will do it perfectly this time.

And I keep my fingers crossed for you anyway - just in case.

P.S.: Will the next version repair those old glitches of the mobile site also (new posts from the mobile site do not appear, all lessons are categorized "Newbie", threads with apostrophs and Extra lessons are not accessible)?

hi guys,

I saw this on an internal TODO list we had, and seem to remember it being an issue for some reason related to maintaining database consistency between database tables on the new CRM and the current client site.

We're iterating through the next version of teh website, and you can expect this to be solved with that version, which will be upon us sooner than you can say "let's-do-a-better-job-migrating-the-data-this-time". So... we're aware this is a problem and are working to get it fixed.

*cough*lowercase*cough*

Heh. At least I hardly ever wear red...

Whenever I see a user name of the type: "userXXXX", I figured it was just their Borg user classification number (like "species8472"). Star Trek reference anyone?

RJBerki - I'll send Trevelyan a note. Thanks!

The edit used to work and I would think that it is supposed to allow this. Send an email directly to the staff and ask them. Either this is broken and they can fix or they can change it for you or at least if it is now forbidden they can tell you that. I know I changed mine several times shortly after signing up but why it doesnt work now I dont know. The edit button wouldnt be there if if wasnt supposed to allow you to edit dont you think. Send a note to Trevelyan, he would know the answer.

tvam... well, a free woman, at least. :)

I can understand non-paying members having numbers as usernames, but paying members? :(

Julie

I agree totally, I tried a long time ago to just change my user name to Tom, maybe it would cause a problem in the databases, but they should try to fix this. Its actually kind of funny, because I remember the time before Chinese Pod had any messages boards, it was just lessons. Then they obviously put a lot of effort to creating this community of users to make people feel social, but along the way, they somehow left a bunch of us with numerical identities.

Tom

As I hinted at in an early post, the sudden proliferation of user####'s reminds me of the old 60's show, "The Prisoner". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner)

In this post, I can hear julesong crying, "I am not a number - I am a free man!"

(laughter from user3880)

I'd really like to hear from Chinesepod folks on whether or not we'll be able to change our public name. Why do I have to be stuck as "user3881" - especially as I've paid for a subscription?

TIMMEH!!!!

Other Firefly/Serenity phrases in Mandarin that would be neat...

"Shiny!"

"Big Damn Heroes"

"Pretty cunning, doncha think?"

"Because we are so very pretty..."

"Keep flying"

"I love my captain." :)

And I'd love to hear 懂嗎・懂吗 (which the pinyinary mentioned below says is "dong3 ma5?") pronounced correctly.

Have you seen the "Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary"? I wonder how accurate it is. It's at:

http://fireflychinese.kevinsullivansite.net/

Yep. My user name got lowercased too, right after I renewed my subscription. And I really wanted that capital "P", mostly because of my gigantic ego. :)

The one phrase I'd love to have translated from that show and hear Jenny say is: "Can't stop the signal."

Oh, and maybe "Joss Whedon is my master now." LOL

Have you noticed how everyone's usernames are being systematically lowercased? It's a gorram conspiracy!

Hey, Browncoat Frank! *grin* I've talked to the Chinesepod folks about getting some Firefly-phrase specific casts, and they're looking into it. Shiny! :)

In the meantime... I'd still really like to be able to change my username. ;)

HEY, Julie (aka user3881)! I just noticed that you were a Browncoat, too! SHINY! :-D

*bump*

Another weird thing? Prior to this thread, my name had a capital F. Now it doesn't. It's like I'm being warned off or something. What's next, huh? You gonna lowercase my family, too?!

WE WON'T BE STOPPED!

*cough*

Then again... maybe it's that server thing they did. :-)

*whimper* ;)

...and keep asking. :)

I really don't like being "user3881"...

:)

Frank, thank you so much for trying! :) I really, really appreciate your trying to answer my request/question!!

It's good to know I'm not the only one. I'll keep asking.

So I'm not the only one... I'm relieved. :) I was surprised that changing my public name wasn't an option anywhere that I could find.

It would be nice, Chinesepod folks, if that option were available to us!

Xiexie!

calkins - I wasn't taking it personally, dude. I just genuinely felt bad about steering a fellow user in the wrong direction. That was a bone-headed move!

ChinesePod, do you think you could change the way this works, so that a user's display name is different to the username? When I registered I chose 'rsmith91' as my name, but when I'm posting comments I'd really rather people know me as 'Richard'.

Gee Frank! Totally kidding. I think our public name is also our user name (mine is at least, not sure about everyone else)...so it might be a nightmare for CPod if people kept changing them.

bazza...I like the little b!

Yeah, looks like it's fixed now, you used to be able. When I changed my avatar recently it wouldn't let me have my capital B anymore.

WOW! I'm so sorry! I should have clicked that link to verify that what I was saying wasn't a total crock.

So, then... yeah. I have NO idea. Sorry!!!

I've also wanted to change my public name...I'd rather be called by my first name. Frank, unfortunately that area doesn't let you change your public name. I'm guessing someone at CPod needs to do it.

Brent

Hi Julie!

On the main conversation page, you'll see your own picture at the top right. There's a button there for Your Profile. Click that. Then you'll see an area for "Public Profile & Privacy Details." Right next to that is a tiiiiny little orange link that says "Edit."

Click that and you're golden!