User Comments - BrianInSuzhou
BrianInSuzhou
Posted on: A Disappointing Delivery
July 23, 2014 at 2:59 AMUnder the expansion section for 抱歉 the audio does not exactly match the characters. The sentence is 让大家等了这么久，我感到十分抱歉。
Where the characters are 十分 (shí fēn extremely) the audio uses 非常 (fēi cháng extremely).
Although both translate to extremely in english, I am wondering when
十分 (literally ten parts?) would be used? This is the same construction used for describing a well done steak. Maybe a better translation would be 'completely' or 'totally' for 十分?
I'm not sure, but I don't think I hear 十分 very often. On the other hand I seem to hear 非常 all the time. Possibly 十分 is such an uncommon usage in this context that the person recording the audio didn't even catch it... or caught it but felt it wrong and put in 非常 in it's place ?
At any rate, I don't usually point out minor flaws.. lord knows I have enough of my own. I know they are there, but still don't like to hear about them ;-) However, after pondering if I should comment about it, I realized a minor correction here might be worth making to take the lesson from a 9 to a 10. 是不是十分吗？
Posted on: The Man and the Dog
July 23, 2014 at 3:33 AMThis is a totally Awesome lesson!!!
I took the time to memorize this joke when I was just at the newbie+ level.
I have long since lost track of the number of times I have told this joke as an ice breaker. Almost without exception it gets a good laugh.
Now after more than two years of telling this joke I think I have only run into one person who claimed to have heard it before.
If there is a list somewhere of all time best or most useful lessons, this one would have to be on it.