User Comments - Grambers

Posted on: Self-Taught Degrees in China

You've asked one Fujianese, I've asked two Cantonese. I think we can say with some assurance that southerns are probably less likely to be fond of this linguistic import. I blame the Shanghainese. For everything:)

Posted on: Self-Taught Degrees in China

OK, but I think it stands to reason that it's more likely you are going to have a greater variety of adjectives to describe attributes (which would seem to me to be more open to subjective interpretation) than you are different verbs to describe the same action. Leaving aside the debatable 逛街, in a language which already has two established and commonly understand verbs the describe the very basic process of buying stuff (English only has one, I think - alternatives are either specialised or literary), is a loan word really required? The answer is, of course, no, though who I am I to argue with its existence? It is what it is. However, I'd argue strongly for trying to understand who is using this word and why, and I'd certainly be wary of introducing it into my own vocabulary. Thanks to Bodawei, I'm now aware of it, but it'll be a cold day in hell that I actually use the damn thing!:)

Posted on: Self-Taught Degrees in China

Tragically 'hip', I'd say:)

Posted on: Self-Taught Degrees in China

I see. Thanks Bodawei. For my money it's a bloody awful transliteration of shopping. Bloody awful and also massively redundant. How many words for shopping do you already know in Chinese?...买东西，逛街，购物 (plus more, like, 采购, for specialised situations). The question has to be asked: is another word really necessary, and who the hell is it actually doing the import of these things? I suspect this could be a Shanghainese habit. Like Hong Kong, I suspect Shanghainese like to use language to establish a bit of distance between themselves as the rest. I appreciate they already have Shanghainese to do this in terms of their specific regional identity but a Mandarin word which could be used by any Shanghainese dweller - native, or migrant - helps to put that bit themselves and those unfortunates beyond city limits. I ran this past a couple of Chinese friends and neither had ever heard of this loan word.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

Your method seems sound to me. There appear to be those on this disussion thread who look to Cpod to solve all their Chinese language learning woes, and those folk, I fear, are destined to disappointment. It's a really useful tool, but only a tool, and needs to be supplemented with other materials. I watch the odd bit of news on Phoenix TV (the only Chinese language channel I'm able to get here in England), watch the odd Youku video, read the odd newspaper article,, scan the odd Weibo thread, read a bit of simple fiction, and try to practice speaking whenever I get the opportunity. I could do with doing a lot more speaking, and a lot more writing. However, it is in the process of dipping in and out of these various practice platforms that a lot of the learning that goes in Cpod emerges.

All that said, I have felt in the past that the gap between Int and UI is just a touch too large - something in between may be possible. I find Intermediate extremely easy these days, but nevertheless still wade through most lessons. I am finding UI easier, but they generally remain a bit of a challenge. Not a particularly constructive comment, but there you go!

Good luck with your Chinese dreams! They sound exciting - and achievable!:)

Posted on: Self-Taught Degrees in China

Is 血拼 (used in one of the expansion sentences) a very modern word, or slang? I've never come across it before and it seems fairly baffling from looking at the two characters.

Posted on: Matchmaking in the Park

I'm am 33 (one thing I've learned from China is the ridiculousness of being shy about confessing one's actual age) and I feel distinctly middle-aged. One middle-agedness is inextricably linked to one's family responsibilities, I believe. Now into my seventh year of marriage and with two children - one already at school, one at kindergarten - I cannot help but feel youth is long distant. However, there is no finer proof of Einstein's theory of relativity than the way that perceptions of age brackets shift as one gets older. I can still recall - albeit hazily - of being about 12 and feeling all 16 year olds were seriously mature people. Frankly, I never quite came to terms with the fact I am an adult at all. In other words, I feel highly middle-aged and seriously fledgling all the same time. Cognitive dissonance, anyone?

Posted on: National Stereotypes

Thanks for your thoughts. Indeed, it is a dangerous thing to be seen to lecturing a country like China from my moral molehill in deepest, darkest Hampshire. The prevalence of 外国人 seems to be agreed upon. We maybe disagree on whether it is a problem or not. Perhaps you are right, and - fundamentally, it is not a problem, as it's a harmless simplification which does nothing more than assist understanding. I personally don't agree: simplifications and generalisations are the drivers of stereotypes which, while having some use (for humour, or - perhaps - as you say, occasionally to help to classify and reduce, when classification and reduction are absolutely necessary), do more harm than good overall. That's my perspective.

Just as an aside, if you hit the 'reply' button at the bottom of one of my posts, that'll ping me directly. As it is, I've kinda stumbled across both your responses to me by accident and would've missed them had more people been writing at the same time as you. I certainly don't wanna sound like the big tech genius, for surely I am not! However, it's worth knowing!:) Nice chatting to you:)

Posted on: National Stereotypes

Aha. Thanks for spelling it out (in a manner which I was able to comprehend, at least). Baba should be ashamed of himself.

Is this a good time to admit that I have never watched Mary Poppins. I think it was a Cold War propaganda play made strictly for overseas audiences. There's a rumour that if anyone in the UK ever sees it their head explodes.

Posted on: National Stereotypes

Now, I like a Chinese reading challenge but I've got no way to get a handle this sentence, I'm afraid....Bing reckons it means this:

Sup Joel Swish Li Furi and calendar four Coffin moth fart Ah Lek has died

Aha - the old 'moth fart' gambit. Smart move, Babardwan, smart move.