User Comments - Tal

Posted on: Ordering Songs at Karaoke

As for me I'd never bother with this kind of music in my own language, (I'm a King Crimson kinda guy - lol), but for the purposes of learning Chinese, getting to know these songs is great.

Oh and I take back what I said earlier, there's some really useful vocab in the lesson and the discussion between John and Jenny in the podcast is first rate.

Oh John, you're so unromantic! You don't like love songs and you think shopping for a baby sounds kinda boring! How did your wife fall for you? (开玩笑!!)

Here's a vid for 天天想你, also by 张雨生. (I can't figure out how to embed the vid in this page, so if you wanna see it, just click the link.)

Posted on: Ordering Songs at Karaoke

Hmm... yeah, at first glance, apart from the songs, this lesson doesn't seem to add a lot to the other (relatively recent?) Intermediate Karaoke lesson.

反正，here are the lyrics to 大海 (if like me, you really cannot be doing with 繁体字). Cheers for the vids Matt!

从那遥远海边,慢慢消失的你,
本来模糊的脸,竟然渐渐清晰.
想要说些什么,又不知从何说起,
只有把它放在心底.
茫然走在海边,看那潮来潮去,
徒劳无功,想把每朵浪花记清,
想要说声爱你,却被吹散在风里.
茫然回头,你在那里.
如果大海能够,唤回曾经的爱.
就让我用一生等待.
如果深情往事,你已不再留恋.
就让它随风飘远.
如果大海能够,带走我的哀愁.
就象带走每条河流.
所有受过的伤,所有流过的泪.
我的爱……
请全部带走.
茫然走在海边,看那潮来潮去,
徒劳无功,想把每朵浪花记清,
想要说声爱你,却被吹散在风里.
茫然回头,你在那里.
如果大海能够,唤回曾经的爱.
就让我用一生等待.
如果深情往事,你已不再留恋.
就让它随风飘远.
如果大海能够,带走我的哀愁.
就象带走每条河流.
所有受过的伤,所有流过的泪.
我的爱……
请全部带走.
如果大海能够,唤回曾经的爱.
就让我用一生等待.
如果深情往事,你已不再留恋.
就让它随风飘远.
如果大海能够,带走我的哀愁.
就象带走每条河流.
所有受过的伤,所有流过的泪.
我的爱……
请全部带走.

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 8: About to Give Birth

Sounds interesting john! 加油！

So... err... Klingons?

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 8: About to Give Birth

对呀，tvan, 我也是。所以你的孩子多大？我以为你自己没有那么老！(开玩笑了！)

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 8: About to Give Birth

I love Sci-Fi topics! And the Jizhou series was great, (well, the ending was disappointing. One of the risks of 'out there' fiction is that trying to wrap it up in a satisfying ending is bound to be an anti-climax perhaps. Just look at how the Lost series just goes on forever - lol.)

I guess to be totally honest I'm like most guys in that when I see a lesson about pregnancy, baby shopping, etc, I'll probably think it's bound to be dull, but as with so many CPod lessons the language you can learn in such lessons is varied and interesting, and applicable to many, many situations.

PS. And anyway John said this story started with a climax, but I don't remember a lesson where that happened! So I think Cpod will now have to put that right and teach us the right vocab for that situation too! ;-)

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 8: About to Give Birth

哼，不会吧！ All human life is here! Children, the process of having them and family life are pretty central in Chinese culture. And as Jenny said in a recent lesson in this series: 其实里面有很多的语言呢，不一定是你怀孕在需要用的，我觉得在其它的情况底下也很有用。

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 8: About to Give Birth

@john - a little spice is nice bro!

@pete - not if she chooses a 'water birth' (hmm... is there a Chinese expression for that I wonder?), but I guess she's not got much time to arrange that now!

yeah, I was always puzzled by that story about Julius Caesar. Could they really have done a 剖腹产 in Roman times? (I guess they could, but unlikely the lady would survive.)

Incidentally I heard a rumor that 剖腹产 is done rather too often in Chinese hospitals because it's more profitable than letting ladies give birth naturally. My wife gave birth this way recently, (but in her case it was definitely necessary.)

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 8: About to Give Birth

John: So this story is reaching a climax... a special kind of story begins and ends with a climax, uh?

Jenny: 你觉得 beginning 也是一个 climax 吗？

Both of them:  哈哈哈!

John: No comment!

Posted on: Job Interview

They seem to be very close in meaning. In my opinion. they could be used interchangably.

谦虚是一种美德。(Modesty is a virtue).

他知识丰富，但总是保持谦逊的态度。(He has great knowledge, but always has a modest attitude.)

Posted on: Love Tangle 1: A Suspicious Text Message

There's a very popular Chinese song called 你的眼神！Actually it was the first Chinese song I learned, taught to me by my wife so we could sing a duet at the wedding party! Boy was I drunk that night, and not by choice!

The retroflex 儿 of (I think specifically the northern dialect) is not I think altogether an easy thing for foreign learners to get their head around. Some discussion here and here, but perhaps comment and explanation from our more knowledgeable poddies would be useful on this point.