User Comments - LeiGaoRui
LeiGaoRui
Posted on: Condoms
July 06, 2007, 03:06 PMMy question is: What are common terms of affection that couples call each other in Chinese, kind of like "sweetie" and "honey" and that kind of thing? That might even be a good lesson topic.
Posted on: Paying a Bill
May 18, 2007, 04:31 AMI know this has nothing to do with the topic but it is sort of elementary in nature - can someone explain to me the difference between 承诺 [ chéng nuò ] and 答应: [dā ying ], both apparently meaning "to promise" - or are they pretty much synonymous?
Posted on: 汽车消费
May 17, 2007, 02:45 AMChangye, 日文是你的母语吗?
Posted on: 汽车消费
May 17, 2007, 02:41 AM一个问题: 可以说 "毒品经销商", 有 "dealer" 的意思 或者该说"毒品贩子"?
Posted on: Chinese Wedding Customs
May 16, 2007, 07:34 PMcavadarossi On the surface that sounds like a good idea and I'm sure there would be a way to do some types of review lessons but there are a few issues here as well: 1) I think some of the complaints here were not about the vocabulary using in the lesson dialogues but rather what Jenny says when she is speaking Chinese talking ABOUT the lessons. This is all stuff which is hard to reproduce in a natural sounding dialogue as much of it it specific to context. Personally, although it is a little frustrating at times, I think it is good NOT to always have the crutch of pinyin and English there for you. Here you have the luxury of listening to these sentences many times if you like and I'm sure the CP team or forum members would not be adverse to talking about what is said. I'm sure if someone said, "It seems Jenny said 这是 … 中文的 … 中文名字 … 今天 … 中级课程 … 个特别高兴的场合 is that correct?" someone could give you an answer 2) Part of the appeal of the lessons is that they are for the most-part self-contained. If you start linking Intermediate Lesson 65 with newbie 3, 27, 45 and elementary 3, 12, 56, 71 etc. you lose that plus. I find though that the most frequent vocab tends to reoccur many times.
Posted on: Chinese Wedding Customs
May 16, 2007, 07:02 PMusr1, I really am not sure what you want to accomplish here. Try watching Chinese news or speaking to people - I find it to be lightening fast. Jenny tries to speak as naturally and as clearly as possible. Do you want people at CP to create this artificial environment for you where everything is nice and slow, unlike real life, so you are unable to deal with real life situations when they come?
Posted on: Chinese Wedding Customs
May 15, 2007, 03:57 PMI have to agree with Lantian. This is a gradual process, spoken Chinese is very difficult to understand in the beginning. Jenny and John do an AMAZING job in making it as manageable as possible. First, Jenny speaks more clearly than many speakers I encounter (the fact that her English is so shockingly flawless is a bit discouraging - maybe Jenny could make at least one horrible English error every podcast on purpose to boost our confidence about Chinese? : ) ) and John doe a great job breaking it down point by point. As I say, it is a process. 4-5 months ago, I understood nothing of what Jenny said, now I can understand about 90% of the intermediate lessons and about 65-70% of the upper intermediate stuff. Yes, it is frustrating when you don't understand but it is also very encouraging when you reach a new milestone. Particularly in the intermediate lessons, there is very little meaty material which Jenny says which John does not somehow gloss or make reference to. Listen to his verbal queues carefully. Also, after you listen to numerous podcasts, you will see Jenny uses many formulations many times and yes, there are some surprises thrown in. So then you can go to one of several websites that offer premium/(in the past) free transcripts of the dialogues or even better, get a Chinese friend to go through a podcast with you. There is another video series which I use but it is hanzi only and the people speak very quickly, so I run through it with my Chinese teacher and eventually I get it. Remember: Chinese has some special challenges which French or Spanish do not have. It takes time to understand what people say. I find it discouraging how I can TALK about all sorts of issues like, "Acupuncture can help digestion" but then not always understand even simple questions like, "Did you drive here today..". It is just a question of time and persistence. I was an absolute beginner a year ago and now am probably upper intermediate.
Posted on: Late Getting Back
May 14, 2007, 02:13 AMWhat is actually the difference between 出事 (chū shì) and 失事 (shī shì) ?
Posted on: Where's the bus stop?
May 12, 2007, 02:18 AMHere's something I would REALLY like to see as a Newbie/Beginner topic: Telling people "Please speak Chinese with me because I am trying to learn". I encounter so many people who are so eager to learn English that they refuse to speak Chinese, it gets a little frustrating at times.
Posted on: Before Noon, After Noon
January 02, 2008, 04:16 AMV ery, very off topic here but can someone help me? I just got an email from my Chinese teacher and he told me that his wife of 25 years had died suddenly. Can someone help me with a couple of lines that express my condolences and pay respect. Perhaps there is some Chinese saying that is comforting at a difficult time like this. Any thoughts would be appreciated. By the way, this would make a very good intermediate or upper intermediate lesson - expressing condolences and paying respect to someone who is grieving Thanks so much! Greg