User Comments - cagster

Posted on: Pretty Clothes

changye,

Maybe wives in China would help teach their husbands, but here in my CA area of the US, I have met at least 3 people (all trying to learn) whose Chinese wives "refuse" to teach them ... I can't think of anyone who's learning from his/her spouse or gf/bf.  I guess the teaching effort would be 太麻烦 tai4 ma2 fan2.

Posted on: Pretty Clothes

This has me thinking about simple one or two word phrases that I learn slowly.  A previous lesson (Newbie - Wait!) taught me about "bu4 yao4" and how I was mistakenly thinking it meant "not want" instead of a command of "don't" as in "don't do it."

Today at the grocery story, while I was in a checkout line, a lady's kid was running about up to no good, and I believe the lady was telling the child to do something.  The lady at one point was firmly saying "yao4."  I wonder if that meant "do as I say."  Or it could be the child's name :-)

Posted on: Pretty Clothes

I don't recall a past lesson with 还好 hai2 hao3 used as "not bad."  It's new to me.

Someone at my office greeted another coworker with this phrase once.  He said the phrase with a bit of dramatic emphasis, with a big sigh.  That sigh confused me since I assumed he was describing how something was "still good," which was my translation.  I thought how could something be "still good" and yet cause such a big sigh.  I guess he was saying "not bad."  Huh, go figure.

Posted on: I Want This

Thanks changye for the character 8 explanation!

qiren, funny, appropriate, honest, great name, 气人 qi4 ren2, but hey, don't give up ... maybe you can practice less to reduce frustrations so not to lose a fun hobby?

Posted on: I Want This

Were those 旗袍 (qi2pao2) the drummers wore in the opening ceremony? ... 8 flags, and the lucky number 8, and the obsession with 8 in the Olympics, hmm.

8 flags, why not 9 or 10?  I wonder when in history the number 8 started to become lucky.

Posted on: I Want This

Hmm, more mystery.

I searched ChinesePod's glossary to find a lesson that might talk about novelties ... I used the word "novel."

The result was this:

新奇 (xin1qi2)
novel

But the sample sentences all referred to the book type of novel.  None of the sentences used 新奇 (xin1qi2).

Hey, Chinese usually has the more interesting homophones (using pinyin of course), but here we have English meddling with the search ... how novel!  *cymbals*

Hey, maybe a good subject for a lesson.

Posted on: I Want This

qiren's use of French does offer a little mystery, an interesting novelty (新奇 xin1 qi2, correct translation?)

I do like puzzles and mysteries.

qiren, any of these your user name?

气人 qi4 ren2 - to anger / to annoy
乞人 qi3 ren2 - beggar

I wonder what qiren meant by, "There’s an accent that bugs me a little in the audio dialogue."  Irish accents are pretty cool and Jenny speaks as always crisply and clearly.  Oh, maybe the dialog's dialog, but I find both speakers sound natural.

There's one speaker in other episodes that seems a bit off and unnatural, but it might just be my ears or maybe the speaker has an accent from another dialect? ... I'm talking about the speaker who told the Panda joke.

btw: I laughed at the Panda Joke ... um, did take me a bit to figure it out :-)

Posted on: Sales Call

"xian sheng"

My observations ... if a phrase is common, and the context is rich, then speakers tend to get quick with what they are saying and shorten the pronunciations of words.  I do it all the time with English :-)

I like this lesson, ... the "have no time" phrase could be used with street vendors too ... but I'd happily take a call from the lovely lady in the photo.

In the US, a few years back, we put into effect a "National Do Not Call Registry," which in my opinion has worked well.  My friends and I receive less calls.

I wish something like this would work for email.  I think the policy is still at the state level, and places like Florida are a haven for these marketers.  However, since the cost of sending email from out of the states is easy ... doh, rambling.

Talking about spam, even Chinespod may or may not have some employees earning a little money on the "side."  Last year or so, I emailed Chinespod regarding subscription info, etc ... I mistakenly used my work email address that had been mostly "pristine" and unknown outside business circles ... anyway, within a day or hours of emailing Chinesepod, I received an email about 手表 (shou3 biao3) and within a week, my spam filter had become red hot from overheating.

Posted on: Microsoft

Adobe's Beijing office continues to grow.
 
Do people and businesses in China purchase legal copies of software?  Many pre-adults in the US often brag with an overbearing amount of pride about using illegal copies of software ... e.g. downloaded with torrents ... but for "adults" and more so for companies, software license compliance is taken fairly seriously.

Is it a joke (or something seen as foolish) in China to pay for software?

Posted on: ...都 (dōu): The Bryan Adams pattern

When I listen to the car radio, I often practice translating to Chinese, out loud no less ... perhaps to the chagrin of others in passing cars.

Good ideas about using patterns from lyrics: Makes sense, lyrics are usually simple and "catchy," but!!! ... anyone remember this (far from simple) Billy Joel song?  It's almost like a history lesson.