User Comments - Tal

Posted on: Daddy Changes a Diaper

尿不湿 is correct. 湿 means 'wet' - I guess the idea here is that these nappies, err... sorry, diapers, don't feel wet after use.

Posted on: The Mysterious Student Record

Interesting reading. Part of me feels reluctant to generalize, but I'd have to agree that 'cheating' is rampant, and that the gut feeling of many Chinese is that it's not wrong per se. Students I know have actually told me of collaborative cheating schemes they participate in to help each other get through courses which are 'required' for their diploma, but boring for them to do, (some of these are probably just badly taught.) They certainly feel no shame about doing this, the predominant attitude is that it's a community spirit thing, their way of coping with an unfair and/or badly designed system.

As for Chinese students abroad not being terribly good, I can only speak of a young couple from 福建省 I got to know back in the UK some years ago. The guy (who told me frequently how much he disliked study) was doing a Masters (lol) in Marketing or something, and his industrious girlfriend literally begged me (despite my objections that I knew zip about business and marketing) to go through his dissertation, correcting mistakes and improving his English. I did, (I'm a softie at heart, especially when implored by a pretty girl - lol) but what I did was effectively to rewrite it! The English was so poor and the ideas so lame I couldn't understand how he'd ever even been accepted onto the course!

Posted on: Kinds of Nuts

Seems like a remarkably low figure... sure you've not been overdosing on Douglas Adams, RJ?

Speaking of coverless manholes, there was one close to my home here in Guangdong for ever such a long time, but the workers (?) had thoughfully inserted a torn-off tree branch into it to prevent accidents. It struck me as both a creative and a considerate action.

Posted on: Discussing Contract Renewal

Fair enough, but there's plenty of Pinyin on this site already. (I'm not knocking it, as a westerner I could hardly have learned any Chinese without it, and I still make use of it of course to learn how to pronounce a new word properly.) But I still believe that serious Chinese learners should aim to be less dependent on it, and for Intermediate lessons and above I don't think there should be any expectation that every bit of Chinese should be accompanied by Pinyin.

I am myself a working person incidentally, though I'll admit I do (at certain times of year) have the luxury of plentiful 'free time', (which is usually filled by family/domestic affairs.) I certainly am not able to spend hours every day studying 汉字, and even after roughly 7 years of learning Chinese, I still consider myself to be at a comparatively low level of knowledge and ability. I know that I will almost certainly never 'scale the heights' that even a foreign university student (of Chinese) will reach.

I continue to believe though that 汉字 are 'part and parcel' of Chinese study, and that anyone choosing to learn Chinese should accept this. Even if one aims (as I mostly do) to get a fundamental working knowledge of the most commonly used characters and not to be forced to lean on Pinyin exclusively.

Posted on: Kinds of Nuts

Another good point... err... raised. The lesson is about nuts after all.

Posted on: Kinds of Nuts

I'm not sure you could make that stand up in court.

Posted on: Kinds of Nuts

Seems like the sound production on the Audio Review MP3 for this lesson (and actually just recently for others) is somewhat less than perfect. Connie's wonderful voice sounds like it was recorded on an old style cassette recorder, maybe while she was stuck in the 厕所. What's going on?

Posted on: Discussing Contract Renewal

I'd have to say that for Intermediate and above, posters should not be expected to provide Pinyin for every bit of Chinese they post. Once you get more used to using and reading Chinese characters, it's laborious and counter-productive to always have to construct sentences in Pinyin.

There are tools available to help learners of Chinese cope with 汉字. I use them myself, my knowledge of Chinese characters remains at a rudimentary level. However learning Chinese means learning and/or coping with 汉字, and that's a given fact, in my opinion. Every learner needs to face up to this at some point and make some start on discarding the Pinyin crutch. Surely the Intermediate level is the right place to do so.

Posted on: 游大观园

To my delight I have just come across a longer and fuller version of the poem I quoted above.

As blossoms fade and fly across the sky,
Who pities the faded red, the scent that has been?

Softly the gossamer floats over spring pavilions,
Gently the willow fluff wafts to the embroidered screen.

A girl in her chamber mourns the passing of spring,
No relief from anxiety her poor heart knows;

Hoe in hand she steps through her portal,
Loath to tread on the blossom as she comes and goes...

You can see the full version here accompanied by charming music.

Posted on: Love Tangle 6: The Pregnant Wife

Great to see the lovetanglers back! I'd say we're still on course for classic Chinese soap opera here. In other words it'll all end in tears and a powerful moral lesson to beholders.

Please don't keep us waiting for the next instalment!