User Comments - Keth

Posted on: Don't push that button

I would like to ask why sometimes na4 ge is pronounced with an English "a "sound and sometimes with the sound "ney".

Does it matter? Is it just comman usage that determines when "ney" is used? 

Posted on: The Person Component

If I understand it ,what John is trying to do is fresh and innovative. Sure there are programmes that animate the “Radicals” and give you the stroke order- but this is not the concept that John has in mind for this series. Like he says , that approach is rooted in the need for dictionary organisation.

John expresses it very  clearly _” the deconstruction of the characters for understanding” . I am not interested in learning how to write the character ( although I can appreciate some people find it very satisfying to do that ) because I am ALWAYS going to be inputting Chinese on the computer.

So for me, this approach is what I am looking for. Something that helps me to recognise that  lots of different characters have locked into them, a thread of meaning, and how I can recognise that.

Some people complain that ren is too simple a character for a whole video, but that misses the point. This video is not to be thought of as a “stand alone lesson” but part of a cumulative approach to introducing many different “Radicals” that will eventually enable us to look at a complex character and “ deconstruct” it, to extract its meaning.

It’s disappointing to read so much negative criticism, because true innovation like this is all too easily extinguished by those who are unable to think “outside the box”.

So my advice to John and Marcod is press on. No we don’t need to spend more money on  more boring grammar .Give me creativity every time!

Posted on: Around the Office

In the extension exercises you have

咖啡机里加水了吗？

Have you put water into the coffee maker?

If I say it like this, is it OK as well?

你有把水放在咖啡机里吗？

Ni you ba shui fangzai kafeiji li ma?

Posted on: Hungry Traveler: Sichuan

Today I listened to this lesson but the sound stopped before the end of the lesson. Has somethng happened to the last part?

Posted on: Clarifying how to use "every" 每（měi）

There doesn't seem to be any sound today to anyof the lessons.

Posted on: I Just.... 刚 & 刚才（gāng & gāngcái）

wo gangcai qichuang le.

我刚才起床了

Posted on: Aren't you.... （不是.... 吗）

I want to say " Shouldn't we be thinking of things to say?"

So how about this ?

我(wǒ)们(men) 不(bú)是(shì) 觉(jué)得(de) 一(yì)点(diǎn) 东(dōng)西(xī)说(shuō) 吗(ma)?

Posted on: Cat in the Hat

When I imput who in microsoft word doc I usually use "shui2" and the character is the second one down the list. But you spell it Shei2 .Obviously what matters is the correct chinese character but I wonder my version with the ui is wrong? Keith

Posted on: Ending Your Sentence with 吧 (ba)

This is a really good idea-I found it very useful and I hope that you will indeed do a series on these little ending words. Great folks.

Posted on: The Third Tone

I think doing the tones individually has been a great idea. Very useful.