User Comments - calkins

Posted on: Keys, Wallet, Phone

Yet another 了 question to add to my ever-growing list, from the following expansion sentences:

我先走了。
wǒ xiān zǒu le.
I'll leave first.

他们都走了。
tāmen dōu zǒu le.
They all left.

In the first sentence, I would have thought it meant "I left first."

Is the future tense based solely on context?  I assume so, but I still don't understand the function of 了 here.  It's not an action in progress.

Any help would be appreciated...thanks.

Posted on: Gong Xi Fa Cai!

grettir, I also noticed that.  The title in the audio downloads is also the same.  Maybe a bit of Cantonese foreshadowing????

祝大家恭喜发财！
zhù dàjiā gōngxǐ fācái

Posted on: Hanging Up the Phone

Hi bababardwan, I'll answer for RJ because I'm sure he's fast asleep now!

The numbers 9 and 4 (九 jiǔ and 四 sì) sound very similar to 就是 jiùshì, which means "exactly."

So when you're agreeing with someone in an instant message or email, you can type 94 to mean "exactly" or "you're right."

There was a great thread with a bunch of Chinese number meanings, but it was over a year ago and is probably buried now.

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

Making up words is fun.  This isn't a real English word, but it's fun to say googly-boogily.  Say it three or four times....fun, right?!

It's not so easy to make up Chinese words.  Let's see...

哦为是
ó wèi shì

It means "oh is that so because of yes"

My apologies to the good people on cpod...I shouldn't have had that third coffee this evening :)

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

morganlafey, much thanks for correcting my English grammar.  As I said, even native English speakers make grammatical and spelling errors :-)

___________

Not sure why this post is all bold...I've edited it twice and it's not bolded...is "bolded" grammatically correct?!

Posted on: Hanging Up the Phone

I love listening to Chinese people talk on the phone!  It usually goes like this:

- Lots of Chinese that I don't understand.

- Then....

"好好好，好好好好好，好好好，okay bah bye."

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

You're welcome!  And no worries, most of us English speakers make grammatical and spelling errors when typing online.

Regarding the difference between "comment" and "feedback," it's a small one.  A comment could be feedback, but it can be much more broad than feedback.  A comment could be a statement you make about anything in general.  Like a comment about how great you think my 中文 is :)

Feedback is usually information that someone provides in response to a question, or it could be completely unsolicited (like much of our feedback to Cpod is).  Many of the comments in this thread include feedback to Pete and Cpod about what was liked, what could be improved, etc.  That's feedback, and you were thinking correctly when using it.

You could have said "This new show has gotten a lot of feedback in only two days!"

But you wouldn't put a number in front of feedback, and you don't need an "s" to make feedback plural.  You could say:

"He gave me some feedback."
"They gave a lot of excellent feedback."
"We appreciate all of your feedback."
"Please give me some feedback on my Chinese."

Sorry this is so long-winded, and sorry to all for getting off topic.  Cassie, feel free to send me an email if you have any additional questions.  I'm no expert, but I'll do my best to help.

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

Hi Cassie,

I would like to take a minute to correct a couple areas of your English above...only because you have helped all of us so much with our Chinese.

"This new show has gotten more than 100 comments in only two days!"

"I wish I could have had such a good community before, to help my English/American literature learning."

Hope I don't sound like the grammar police, but like I said, just want to help you, to say thanks in a small way.  Your English has improved so much in the last year!

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

"...studying all the vocabulary that appears in these poems just as you do regular lesson vocabulary could be quite confusing for you."

John, you hit on a key reason why I love "extras" like Poems with Pete.

It's relaxing, in the sense that there's no pressure to learn vocabulary or grammar, as we would in a regular lesson.  At the same time, we are still learning about 中文 and Chinese history and culture.  It's a nice break...just sit back, listen, and enjoy.

I think that's why we all loved Dear Amber so much (aside from the magnanimous hostess)...these programs give us little slices of China, without feeling the pressure of "studying."

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

Nicely done Pete!  This was a lot of fun.  I also really enjoyed listening to Jiaojie's rendition of the poem...I think she read it at a perfect speed (for a poem), and I really appreciated how clear and precise her tones were.

Great job!