User Comments - Tal

Posted on: Zombies: Deader than Ever

@thinkbuddha - great post dude! I just read this interesting review of one of Wade Davies' books.

And there's a fascinating and entertaining interview with the guy here!

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

@lujiaojie - 多谢！你解释的很棒！

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

Chris, 哈哈, you're welcome! Actually I'm pleased by the feeling of learning a great deal myself from doing it. Pinyin? Hmm... that would turn a labour of love into a bridge too far I'm afraid! For those who cannot cope with the 汉字, there are tools available to help.

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

Here's my transcript of the podcast for this lesson. I think it's pretty accurate for the most part. Hope it's helpful and/or of interest.

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

@ljouneau - thanks so much for your appreciation! In fact I am currently working on a transcript of this lesson's podcast also and I hope to be able to make it available later today time permitting. I do it for the joy of learning and sharing, so no worries! I well remember the frustration of not understanding a lot of what Jenny says in the podcast (actually I still struggle at the higher levels), and I agree that being able to get all of her meaning is so useful in many ways.

Posted on: Excuses for Being Late

As to your final point (how to read the character properly) it seems to me that context is the key here, as in so many aspects of the Chinese language.

If you see the sentence: 我了解她。There's no way you're gonna mistake 了 (liǎo) for 了 (le), right?

Posted on: Hong Kong Visa Run

I'm quite sure that the word/character 学 cannot take the first tone, therefore your quoted sentence: 'xuēshēng qiānzhèng' must be wrong. The correct version would be (as you say): 'xuéshēng qiānzhèng'.

Posted on: Zombies: Deader than Ever

@tvan - that was interesting about the werefox. Now wouldn't that make a nice lesson? (hint hint!)

Personally I think it would be nice to have more folk tales and/or myths and legends in lessons. As we've seen here much useful vocab and speech patterns can be incorporated in such lessons, and at the same time poddies get the chance to learn and enjoy authentic Chinese culture.

Posted on: Zombies: Deader than Ever

Cow zombies! Whoa rj, that's so Gary Larson, I'm sure I saw one of his cartoons featuring that particular nightmare! Err... niubies! Right! ;-)

Just to show how useful it is to know the Chinese word for zombie I was telling some students recently how exhausting it is becoming a parent and how I always feel 'like a zombie' these days. I was pretty sure they wouldn't know what a zombie was of course, but they all smiled with understanding when I translated it as 僵尸!

Posted on: Zombies: Deader than Ever

Thanks guys! *bows*

@sfrrr - actually yes! Also since I started doing this (some of my earlier efforts were far too rough and incorrect for public viewing - lol) I have found that my all-round comprehension of Jenny's explanations has increased a lot. Maybe that's partly the repetition (I guess I did listen to certain bits several times, maybe not 10 though!) but also the process of 'filling in the blanks'.

When I first started listening to higher level podcasts I would often just not bother to look up something she said, I'd just let it go. I still hear things I don't get of course (especially at UI level) but I find that by making the effort to get down what she said the meaning will often suddenly just come to me, and that's a good feeling.