User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Chinese Dialects (Part 2)

I am a big fan of this BST show but I am disappointed that you did not get a little further from the eastern seaboard, even if just to humour me. You know that Beijing Standard Time extends to Kazakstan...:) 

It would have been nice to hear a few other voices. Perhaps an extended series at some point? 

Posted on: Strong (in the abstract)

道德意识极强

他是道德意识极强的人。

I put this up (straight from the dictionary) in the hope that someone more skilled will correct my dodgy Chinese and you will get a satisfactory answer.

I'm not sure if that catches the sense of 'responsibility'.

Posted on: Chinese Dialects (Part 2)

What a great question! My starting point would be zero - it is almost inconceivable to have people in mainland China who are so removed from their community that they have no understanding of the local dialect. Can anyone come up with a non-zero answer? Outside China I can imagine people of Chinese descent who learn Chinese and have recourse only to 普通话 .. so I think there are people in the Chinese diaspora who only speak 普通话 but on the mainland no. Although the word 'speak' demands some kind of standard - my definition of 'speak' includes people who understand (have listening comprehension) but do not regularly speak the language.

Another question is what % of the population cannot speak 普通话 - there are quite a few in minority areas.

Posted on: How to Say "This"

Well ChinesePod is largely about the spoken language so this steps outside their focus somewhat. But this QW shows that they are prepared to do it. We've asked for help with reading before - hopefully this one will lead to something.

I'm not even sure how to describe these words - one dictionary calls them 'function' words and I hear them referred to as 'linking' words as well. They are usually characters that have multiple interpretations which makes them interesting, if difficult to learn to use.

I am getting to understand in doing some reading lately that there are many such words - maybe hundreds - used in writing but sometimes also spoken. Some are only in the old texts, some continue into modern usage. It's nice that Chinese keeps throwing up these challenges.

Here's one I came across recently in a short story 便 biàn 随便的便。 It usually starts a sentence and just means Then... 然后。。

I would certainly be up for a 'reading' series helping us with such constructions.

Posted on: Making Plans for the Day

You mean they look like they have just sat down to lunch? Or are you reading the sundial created by their shadows. :)

The stance is pretty interesting, not only because I can't master it. You see so many people sitting just like this, mainly alone or in groups of two or three.

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 10: Postnatal Recuperation

Hi Grambers

'imposing what seem to be arbitrary and unscientific conditions on the process (in terms of diet, hair-washing, number of days etc.etc.) seems 'unnecessary', to put it mildly!'

This and your Religion versus Science debate comment below makes me reflect on the whole hair-washing thing that Zhenlijiang has already commented on. Any number of those pseudo-scientific shampoo ads went through my mind. Some advertising commentators recently made the point that shampoo ads are the least honest advertisements of all (and they have some stiff competition.)

A few years ago I had to consult a Western trained skin specialist and his advice was (a) never use soap unless you have just finished changing the oil on your car, (b) there is absolutely no scientific evidence supporting the use of hair shampoos. I have taken the 'no soap' advice to heart - in most circumstances it is only harmful for your skin. I use shampoo occasionally for unscientific reasons.. :)

So, what I am saying is that there is no science at all in your standard Western behaviour that has new mothers washing their hair.

Posted on: What's up?

'Does anyone know a really good way to memorize the words'

1. Don't try to remember too many words in a day - five to seven at a time is a reasonable target.

2. Learn words in a sentence, not words in isolation.

3. Go out and use the words you have learnt in the real world, with a native speaker. (If you don't have native speakers around, then listening over and over on ChinesePod is not a bad substitute.)

4. Expect to learn/forget/re-learn several times before you really learn a word.

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 10: Postnatal Recuperation

'月子 has to be one of the lowest of the low points in China's cultural landscape'

Hi Grambers .. a touch dramatic, 对吧?

It is not the substantive matters that I would take issue with you on, although I see nothing much wrong with not washing your hair for a month, or six months for that matter. Judging an aspect of culture 'low' is fine by me too (hey, we all do it, and in Australia we are expert critics of foreign cultures) but what is your test here? Is anyone seriously hurt by these behaviours?

One could perhaps be critical of the behaviour common in the West of being back on deck at work a week or two after birth, surrounded by nannies, breast pumps, and smart phones, all necessary to keep the economy ticking over.

We have two behaviours at either extreme of one dimension of culture.

Posted on: Buying a Book

I think that the 了一个 'flows'; it is difficult to pick up because you are listening for a separate sound. In this sentence the 了 is obligatory; maybe that is why it doesn't receive much airtime.

Posted on: Pregnancy Series 10: Postnatal Recuperation

the text version is missing the vocabulary list - strange. The lesson PDF is fine.