User Comments - Tal
Tal
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 13: Wang Meets the Big Boss
July 21, 2009 at 4:35 AMOne thought that keeps coming to me is that 杜老板 just doesn't sound mean enough to be a 黑社会 boss! Maybe I still associate her voice too much with the 选美比赛! And then appearances can be deceptive I guess.
Posted on: Job Interview
July 20, 2009 at 10:59 AM演出 yǎnchū v./n. perform; show | 祝贺你演出成功 Zhùhè nǐ yǎnchū chénggōng. (Congratulations on your successful performance.)
Well I think the Intermediate Level has been made easy enough. I think the speed is fine, (it's not actually that fast. Have you ever listened to the higher levels? You ain't seen nothing yet!)
Confucius I believe remarked that it doesn't matter how slowly you travel, as long as you don't stop. Persistence, patience and practise are the ways to improve.
Posted on: Job Interview
July 20, 2009 at 9:37 AMPerhaps I simply did not perceive your intended meaning from the words you used. It sounded like you were suggesting that most people will have no practical use for the language once they've learned it, (a complaint I hear regularly from young learners of English here.) Thank you for the clarification. In any case I still disagree. If they seek out a suitable environment/occasion, I believe any diligent poddie could use the language they are learning "in a useful way to suit themselves".
It's really just about time isn't it? Like any skill. How much time are you gonna give it? How much do you want to learn? I think it's a meaningful question.
Posted on: Job Interview
July 20, 2009 at 8:55 AMAs to your final sentence, it comes down then to why are you studying this foreign language? Some study for the joy of learning itself perhaps. Perhaps it's akin to the enjoyment of studying pure maths or particle physics. But learning (good) Chinese is surely a skill of immense "use" and value.
Posted on: Job Interview
July 20, 2009 at 7:42 AMbob,
you speak of reduplication, repetition in other words. This is not unnecessary when learning a new language. Believe me I consider myself to be a beginner in Chinese, regardless of my location. (In fact the local people in the area I live in predominantly do not speak 普通话, they have their own Chinese dialect which is very different from Mandarin.)
The modifications to the lesson plan you suggest are inappropriate to this level. If you listen to older Intermediate lessons I'm sure you'll agree that they're much easier and slower than they used to be, (one reason why I now feel comfortable at this level.)
Posted on: Job Interview
July 20, 2009 at 6:14 AMWell, I'm sorry to disagree with ouyili and other recent posters who have complained about this, but I don't feel that the dialogue or expansion sentences are too fast (for the Intermediate Level anyway.)
You're hearing authentic, natural Chinese. If you try to keep things slow and simple forever, real progress will be a long time a-comin'.
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 13: Wang Meets the Big Boss
July 20, 2009 at 1:47 AMHi changye
我回答这么慢，请原谅！《2010太空漫游》我当然看过！我非常想知道这个故事怎么继续！可是，老实说，我比较失望了！为什么呢？用中文，这个问题可能比较难回答！我试试一下！我觉得《2001》是完美的作品，Kubrick和Clark在一起的合作生产什么东西非常神奇，非常漂亮。怪不得续篇好像世俗的！哈哈！
我记得《2001》出来以后，一个记者对Kubrick说：您打算导演最完美，最典型的科幻片，是不是？他回答：是的，可是其实我觉得我导演最完美，最典型的宗教片！
Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 13: Wang Meets the Big Boss
July 19, 2009 at 12:40 PMzhenlijiang - 谢谢你的回答，真有意思。我发现在中文里面我们Trekkers说 《星际迷航》！ 关于多大的好莱坞片子我跟你同意，老百姓的鸦片！哇，《2001太空漫游》还是一个我的最喜欢的电影之一，我对它还有特别的感觉。
Posted on: Pinyin Section 4: R
July 19, 2009 at 3:58 AMchangye, you can use this site to get a peep at the clip rj posted, just copy his link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Bi_DVFecE&eurl=http://mandarinscholarship.com/) into the box, and click go.
Posted on: Drinking Game
July 21, 2009 at 5:49 AMSorry Matt but I couldn't really warm to your impersonation of an Aussie Dalek in the Audio review mp3. Can you try to sound more like the Enterprise computer next time?