User Comments - bodawei

Posted on: Making Plans for the Day

This 那帮我安排明天早上九点开会 made me think of a sculpture I saw on Sunday - hopefully the photo will show what I mean.

Wang Shugang is one of a number of Chinese artists featured in Sculpture by the Sea, Sydney.

Posted on: Chinese Dialects (Part 1)

I like this podcast very much. One rarely hears standard Chinese with an absolutely standard accent, even on ChinesePod .. and I am a big fan of the natural speech you hear here. 

but it seems to me that many Chinese are very considerate indeed when speaking to foreigners or Chinese people from another region! If they lapse into dialect then communication in many cases is likely to fail. 

With more and more Chinese people becoming mobile, putonghua becomes more and more important. 

Posted on: Hospitality Series 5: Searching for Shopping

The Matching exercise has 买 matching with 'can'; should be 'buy'. 

Posted on: Hospitality Series 5: Searching for Shopping

'I shouted "xiaojie" in the restaurant.'

Hi romanoaj31

It may be the shouting rather than the 'xiaojie' that caused the scandalised look. For a foreigner you should adjust the volume so that you can be heard - the licence to shout is only given to those who drive black cars.

Really xiaojie is fine in a restaurant although a number of other terms are okay as well. Context is everything - no-one is likely to imagine that you are shouting 'prostitute' when catching the attention of wait staff to bring you some kuaizi or more tea.

Posted on: Favorite Sports

Hi baba

My sad Sydney 3G Internet isn't fast enough today to run the video. Starting to miss China. I'll have to imagine a human canonball sailing through a hoop.

Posted on: Favorite Sports

Hi baba

What do you think the backboard adds to the equation? I would think that it makes it easier for the basketballer. And then if they are taller on average than netballers, another advantage (unless there is a countervailing disadvantage in longer arms and legs - I understand that everything else equal this slows reactions.) Also, netballers have the no stepping rule which again must make it more difficult to get balance before shooting. I would think that shooting a netball is more difficult for these several reasons. There are a few going the other way - the defence is allowed to be more robust, and the laws of the game allow you closer to the other player, although technically they are both defined as 'non-contact' sports.

Posted on: Favorite Sports

As I say, it is not like you to be wrong with the facts .. I should have left it at that! :)

That 'international' site I looked at is wrong - another warning to be careful what you read on the Internet. The ball is definitely smaller as you say, and so if the ring was the same size I guess it would be too easy to shoot goals. It is often said by players that the height of the ring is the same; I don't think that there is any argument there. But I was relying on that site for the comment about the diameter of the ring.

To come clean completely, and unsurprisingly, there was no question on the umpiring exam about comparing netball and basketball ..

All this variation in the size of the basketball ring - I must have been playing with the smaller size when I was young because I had trouble getting it through.

Another size variation, in Rugby League I believe the clubs can choose the distance between the try line and the dead ball line, within limits of 6m to 11m. Hoping to surprise the opposing teams. And I just read that corner posts have no height limit - they can be as high as you like!

And in Wikipaedia you can rate the information in various categories (trustworthy, objective, complete, well-written) and then you can tick a box if you feel that you are 'highly knowledgeable about this topic'.

Maybe we need that function at ChinesePod; I might be less likely to throw in my two cents.

Posted on: Favorite Sports

Hey baba, it's not like you to get the details wrong. I think you will find that a netball ring is exactly the same size as a basketball ring, and the ring is also the same height. I got 99% in my netball umpiring exam and the one I got wrong was about something else. But I also checked my recollection on the site for international rules. :)

Posted on: Chinese and American Perceptions of Animals

Hi Greg

Speaking as a campaigner for minority rights on these pages (ie. fighting the almost un-winnable battle against the US perspective on everything) I want to thank you for your quick response to this suggestion. Good on you mate.

Posted on: How to Say "This"

I've been meaning to come here and thank you also for a good job, and echo tomgame's request for more of the same. 

I am learning the less straightforward uses of 之，本，乃，以，所，何，于，而, 等等。And that is just for reading the 三字经! 

btw, are there any ChinesePod lessons that cover anything at all from the 三字经?