Jonathan Lampon learning Chinese here

Joachim
 April 03, 2009, 09:01 PM posted in General Discussion

So this bbc presenter is learning Chinese around here.

I quite enjoyed his interview with Ken (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p002m3ps at appr. 02:19) 

I had doubts on Ken's answer that Chinese (Mandarin) is the number one language in terms of the number of (nativ) speakers, but it's backed by this wikipedia article:

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

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sk_buff
 April 04, 2009, 05:46 AM

The wikipedia link declares Chinese as the most spoken language.

But I guess, if Chinese is divided into Mandarin, Cantonese and the other dialects, the statistics look different.

 

 

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suxiaoya
 April 04, 2009, 08:08 AM

Jonathan had not agreed to take on this challenge, until he announced it on air. What a good sport!

It would be really great if any UK/London-based users would send him a direct message of support, here on ChinesePod (user name: JLampon), or an email to lampon@bbc.co.uk.

I think he'd appreciate assurance that Chinese isn't too difficult to pick up!

Regarding the interview, which was totally live and unrehearsed, I think Ken was pretty convincing in his explanation of why hobbyists would choose to learn Mandarin. I wonder if he inspired any listeners to start...?!

 

 

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Joachim
 April 04, 2009, 09:08 AM

Hiya bazza, billgloveruk and the whole UK group!

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WillBuckingham
 April 05, 2009, 09:00 AM

Hmmm... as far as I can see, the iPlayer link seems to be to a different episode. First there was an item on naturist hotels (!), and then there was something about Boris Johnson, the mayor of London. Fortunately, these were separate items. But, as far as I could see (unless I missed it) no ChinesePod. Anyway, I've sent Jonathan a message of support.

All the best,

Will

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Joachim
 April 05, 2009, 09:34 AM

thinkbuddha:

The link is correct - even with reports on the naturist hotel and on London mayor Boris Johnsen's going through the roof for being alleged of not having prepared for the public transport chaos in London due to heavy snow earlier this year.

The show taks HOURS, so that you either have to listen to everything OR move the slider to a position of 2 hours 19 minutes. I did the latter after listening to about 30 mins. 

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WillBuckingham
 April 05, 2009, 04:27 PM

Ah! Thanks for that. I missed the "at approx. 02:19" noted after the link above. I'll go over there now and have a listen, and hopefully will be able to skip over all those mayors and nudists.

W

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ilovepopup88
 April 06, 2009, 01:31 AM

I grind my teeth flat any time Ken says that "Chinese has no grammar".  He's absolutely wrong!  And even if he meant to say Chinese has no "verb inflection", he would be ignoring the role of particles such as 在,了,着 etc.

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Joachim
 April 06, 2009, 03:46 PM

I was slightly taken aback, too, bearing in mind that John is working hard on the grammar guide.

How about Ken telling him that it's actually not needed ... err. ;-)