User Comments - calkins
calkins
Posted on: How YOU doin?
October 29, 2008 at 3:44 AMHa ha, sorry about that..first remote post. (can't edit remotely). RJ, those explanations are great...I knew a couple but not all. Thanks.
Posted on: Triumph of the Rat
October 27, 2008 at 5:26 AMRJ, thanks so much for the hanzi for this dialogue. Here's the pinyin and an unofficial translation (native or upper level please make corrections).
This helped me immensely. This level is out of my current range, but using the transcript while replaying the video 5 or 6 times was really helpful.
Emma, I'm guessing you're one of the regular actors behind the scenes. Great job telling this story.
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dàjīa hǎo. wǒ shì Emma. jīntiān yào hé dàjīa shuō de shì shí'èr shēngxiào de gùshi.
zài Zhòngguó yǒu shí'èr shēngxiào: shǔ, niú, hǔ, tù, lóng, shé, mǎ, yáng, hóu, jī, gǒu, zhū.
dànshì nǐ zhīdao wèishénme pái zài dì yī wèi de shì xiǎoxiao de lǎoshǔ ne?
hěn jiǔ hěn jiǔ yǐqián huángdì juédìng xuǎn shí'èr zhǒng pǎo de zuì kuài de dòngwù zuòwéi shí'èr shēngxiào. bàomíng de nàtiān lǎoshǔ qǐ dehěn zǎo. tā zài lùshang pèngdào le niú. lǎoshǔ juéde zì jǐ kuài lèi sǐ le. tā xiǎng le yīge hàozhǔyi, duì niú chànggē.
niú shuō: “hào à.” kěshì děng le yīhuìr, niú méi tīngjiàn.
niú jiù wèn: “nǐ zěnme bù chàng le?”
lǎoshǔ shuō: “wǒ zài chàng ā. nǐ zěnme méi tīngjiàn? ō, wǒde shēngyīn tài xiǎo le. wǒ pá dào nǐde bózi shàng de huà, nǐ jiù tīngjiàn le.”
niú shuō: “hào à.”
jiù zhèyàng niú tīngzhe gēshēng, yuè pǎo yuè kuài yuè pǎo yuè kuài. kuài dào zhōngdiǎn de shíhòu lǎoshǔ tūrán tiàoxìa le tāde bózi, fēikuài de chōng dàole niú de qiánmian.
jiù zhèyàng lǎoshǔ pái zài le shí'èr shēngxiào de dì yī wèi.
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Hi everyone. I am Emma. Today I want to tell everybody the tale of the Chinese Zodiac.
In China, we have the Chinese Zodiac: Rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig. But do you know why the rat is the first animal?
A very very long time ago, the emperor decided to choose the 12 fastest animals to become the Chinese Zodiac.
That day, the rat gets up very early to register. He came across a cow in the road. The rat thought to himself that he will quickly die of exhaustion. He then thought of a great idea, to sing to the cow.
The cow said: “Okay.” But after waiting for a while, the cow didn't hear anything.
The cow said: “Why didn't you sing?”
The rat said: “I am singing. Why haven't you heard? Oh, my voice was too small. I will crawl on you neck, then you can hear my words."
The cow said: “Okay.”
As soon as the cow heard singing, the more he ran and the faster he got. Quickly arriving to the finish line, the rat suddenly jumped down from his neck and very quickly rushed in front of the cow.
And this is why the rat is the first in the Chinese zodiac.
Posted on: Triumph of the Rat
October 27, 2008 at 3:08 AMA couple of vocabulary words that I found very interesting:
飞快 fēikuài "really fast"
When I first heard fēikuài meant really fast, I assumed that the fēi was the same fēi as in 非常 fēicháng "extremely / very". I was surprised that it is 飞 fēi "to fly".
炎黄子孙 yánhuángzǐsūn "the Chinese people"
Literally "flame yellow descendants". I thought that was strange. I checked on MDBG and it translates as:
Descendants of the Fiery Emperor and Yellow Emperor (i.e. Han Chinese people)
Am I totally 中文 deaf tonight, or does 生肖
shēngxiào in the vocab. and expansion sound like xianxiao?
Posted on: Triumph of the Rat
October 27, 2008 at 2:17 AMHere are the vocabulary .txt files for this video lesson, if you want to import them into ZDT or PlecoDict (just right-click the links below and "Save Link As").
ZDT
Pleco (Traditional)
Pleco (Simplified)
I will also include the HanziHelper file, since a number of us use that program:
Posted on: Interview with Cassie
October 26, 2008 at 5:24 AMCassie, I stayed up an extra 10 minutes just to hear your voice...definitely worth it :) Great interview, and your spoken English is just as amazing as your written English.
Thanks for all that you give us!
Posted on: No Walking on the Grass
October 23, 2008 at 2:15 AMCPod, thanks much for the male native voice in the Audio Review. As always, thanks for listening to our suggestions.
Posted on: The Attitude Pattern (yǒu shénme... 有什么...)
October 22, 2008 at 1:58 AMI really enjoyed this sentence pattern...can't wait to use it. This QW made me miss the Amber/Clay banter. Anyone know the latest on CPod's favorite Texan?
Posted on: Lessons to Look Forward to and New Intern
October 21, 2008 at 12:34 AMWelcome Kate...thanks for listening to our suggestions!
Posted on: Military Training
October 18, 2008 at 2:57 PM有趣 ! Is there a difference between 有趣 yǒuqù and 有意思 yǒuyìsi？ Or are they interchangeable?
Here are the vocabulary .txt files for this video lesson, if you want to import them into ZDT or PlecoDict (just right-click the links below and "Save Link As").
ZDT
Pleco (Traditional)
Pleco (Simplified)
ewilc773, I think you're right. It looks like this lesson has been mislabeled with the Vocab Tour lessons.
Posted on: My Foreign teacher
November 1, 2008 at 3:57 AM骄杰加油！
Here are the vocabulary files for this video lesson, if you want to import them into HanziHelper, ZDT or PlecoDict (just right-click the links below and "Save Link As").
HanziHelper (Traditional only)
ZDT
Pleco (Traditional)
Pleco (Simplified)