User Comments - WillBuckingham

Posted on: Considering an iPad

Except, I think, that Skritter doesn't work as there's no flash on iPads.

Mind you, since I got my iPod touch in a super-cheap deal, I've been finding the ChinesePod app really useful.

Posted on: The Hunan Accent

It's encouraging to know that this problem is not just limited to foreigners struggling with local accents. I watched a news broadcast last summer whilst I was in China about a number of villagers who were resettled in a different part of the country due to some large-scale construction project. The local villagers were interviewed about the new arrivals who came from miles away. "Yeah, sure, they're OK people," they said, "but we can't understand a word that they are saying."

Posted on: Walking the Bird

But surely this is the solution with the headphones, Jen. You just need to 念一遍紧箍咒, the headphones will magically tighten, and all will be well.

Posted on: The Frog Prince in the Well

It's the triumph of hope over experience. And that's almost universal...

Posted on: Giving Instructions to the Ayi

As far as I know, the research suggests - unsurprisingly - that poverty is related to unhappiness. So up to a certain level, more money does indeed mean more happiness. But this level is relatively low - a meeting of basic needs. Above this level, extra money doesn't equate to extra happiness.

There's a book by Richard Layard that goes into this, if I remember rightly.

Posted on: Learning about Levels

Of course, some of those are studied after moving up a level (that is, I still give ele lessons a quick, and sometimes not so quick, once-over) so that changes things a bit. And, of course, some people may study much fewer lessons more intensively, whilst others may study more lessons less intensively. The time period, incidentally, is just under two years.

Anyway, this does all suggest I should think about adding more Upper Intermediate lessons to the mix, to ease myself up a gear.

But as a rule-of-thumb kind of thing, the progress tab is quite handy, I think.

Posted on: Why are You Studying Chinese?

Geek-happiness is the purest form of happiness!

Posted on: Learning about Levels

This is a handy overview. Thanks, folks. Just a thought: my stats for progression are kind of high:

Newbie: 148/50 Lessons 296% of recommended number

Elementary: 308/80 Lessons 385% of recommended number

Intermediate: 157/120 Lessons 130.8% of recommended number

I'm perfectly happy with this, but I was wondering: are the figures that you suggest for progression likely to be different for folks who don't live in China and don't have regular exposure to the language outside of CPod? Since coming to China (short-term, alas) I've noticed that this everyday interaction does a lot to cement language learned.

Posted on: Philosophy: a Useless Major?

Yes, I wondered about the translation; but I'm hopeless when it comes to classical Chinese. The problems hinge around 所 as far as I can see, which has a different usage in classical Chinese. Here's a stab at it.

Without/lacking (無) that which is (所) of use (可用), [there is] a pacifying/stilling (安) of that which causes (所) distress (困苦) - is there not (哉)?

But this is only a guess. Any scholarly types out there want to comment?

The Zhuangzi is filled with material on the virtues of uselessness (and the uselessness of virtue), which as a philosophy graduate is heartening...

Posted on: Philosophy: a Useless Major?

Hmm... what's up with the edit function. The link keeps disappearing. This is it in text format:

http://chinese.dsturgeon.net/text.pl?node=2716&if=en