User Comments - boran
boran
Posted on: Barbecuing
June 1, 2008 at 3:09 AMI noticed Jenny spoke a little more Chinese banter than usual in a Elementary lesson. I'm not sure if that was intentional but I like it, keep it up.
Posted on: Chinatomy: Medical Treatments and Marriage Registration
June 1, 2008 at 2:56 AM骄杰， 干杯！ (Jiāojié, gān bēi!) It was nice to hear so much of her on this DA.
Posted on: Barbecuing
May 31, 2008 at 6:21 PMUnfortunately, the BitTorrent links are not active yet. I made a comment about this in the main conversation thread about the new release so hopefully this will get fixed.
Posted on: Is it far?
May 28, 2008 at 6:51 AMAccording to my dictionary, you can also say nǐ zǎo (你早) as a greeting word in the morning. Looks like its the morning equivalent to nǐ hǎo (你好). That is, the actual meaning of the phrase is a little different than the strict English translation.
Posted on: Pearl Tea
May 15, 2008 at 8:46 PMpenben, There was something odd about the commentary audio in this lesson. When it first started, I thought I had accidentally downloaded the 32kbps version. The echo is more noticeable when listening through headphones but I think it improved as the lesson went on - or maybe my ears just adjusted to it.
Posted on: Pearl Tea
May 15, 2008 at 8:41 PMfrances, I do think it is a good idea to mix up the dialog speed and difficulty at each level in order to provide better transitional support between levels like you said. However, how do newbies know that this is a good Elementary lesson for them? Also, I do dip my toe in the Intermediate pool on occasion so it would be nice to know which ones are "easier". Perhaps, a new piece of meta-data for each lesson indicating its difficulty is needed (a difficulty rating from 1 to 3). That way, I can find the "easy" Intermediates quickly through the search screen.
Posted on: Pearl Tea
May 15, 2008 at 12:41 PMThis was a nice "Upper Newbie" lesson, if there was such a thing. That is, it's a nice transitional lesson between the two levels - Newbie and Elementary. It contained some high frequency language including the formation of multiple questions. The dialog speed was at a Newbie pace. Lately, I noticed some Elementary dialogs being spoken much quicker almost at a conversational pace (see "Not My Fault" and "Hungry Traveler-Hunan"). I wonder if the differences in dialog speed among the Elementary lessons is accidental or done by design.
Posted on: Good Morning!
May 13, 2008 at 7:42 PMblade, After the trial period, you'll still be able to listen to the lesson podcasts and participate in the discussion forums for free. If you still want the PDF transcripts or any of the study tools, there are Basic or Premium subscriptions. Look at ChinesePod Subscription Information for more information.
Posted on: Sing and Dance
May 13, 2008 at 10:36 AMlight: huì (会) is actually a verb (a modal verb to be precise) meaning "to know how to" so that's why it is used in answering the question. There's a Qing Wen on huì here. Also be aware that there are other types of words for "can" in Chinese. Mainly, examine the differences between huì (会) "know how to" , kěyǐ (可以) "have permission or possibility", and néng (能) "have a general ability". I think in this dialog you could have also used néng (能) but huì (会) seems to be more preferred.
Posted on: I'm Married
June 1, 2008 at 6:48 PMjeaux and silentnoise,
The "de" is frequently omitted when describing close personal relationships. Example: wǒ māma (my mom), wǒ péngyou (my friend). You can also leave the "de" in as well - wǒde māma. Both are acceptable.