User Comments - calkins

Posted on: Cosmetic Surgery and Mooncakes

[ Shamless Plug ]

For more info. (hanzi, audio, example sentences) on moon cakes (月饼 yuèbǐng), go here.

Posted on: Los Angeles

我爱温哥华。 我们可以有关于这个漂亮的城市的一个教训吗？

Is my grammar okay here?

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bababardwan, 不客气!  I think the pinyin IME allows you to do that, but I'm not sure.  I believe Google has a free IME for pinyin.

Posted on: Los Angeles

bababardwan said:

how do you get the accent marks above the letters?

There are a number of ways to do this.  Here are a few that I use:

- ZDT has an annotator...you just paste hanzi into it and it will spit out the pinyin.  Good for long sentences.

- MDBG provides pinyin in its translations.  Good for a few words (since you have to copy and paste each word's pinyin separately).

- Pinyin Conversion Tool.  Type pinyin using tone numbers, then convert it to pinyin with tone marks.

I think there are also some pinyin IME's (Input Method Editor), but I have never used them.

Posted on: Trip to the Vegetable Market

I echo Andrew's comment:

Why are cucumbers "yellow melon"?  "Green" definitely comes to mind before "yellow" when I think of cucumbers.

And what exactly is 冬瓜 dōngguā？  It's translated as "winter melon."  Is it like zuccini or squash?

One of the things I found most amazing about Taiwan was all the incredible vegetables.  Things I had never seen or heard of...and all of them tasted a thousand times better than any of the veggies in the States.  Yum!

Posted on: American Breakfast

Bacon tastes good...pork chops taste good.

Apologies for the foul language.

Posted on: Internet is Down

It is possible...just add trad to the end of the PDF link.  For instance, right-click on Lesson Transcript PDF...copy the link...paste it into a new window...add trad before .pdf:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/chinesepod.com/0940/6f28570189262301af1a77efd809b1a3107b3f20/pdf/chinesepod_C0940trad.pdf

There is also a Firefox plugin that will give you some traditional support on CPod.  When you click on the PDF link, it will automatically open the traditional version.  Also, the Dialogue and Expansion tabs will be in traditional (no support for the Vocabulary tab yet).

I don't remember what the download link is though.  I don't think there is one on the site, but there should be.  Does anyone have the link?

Ha ha, you beat me to it Amber....thanks!

Posted on: Los Angeles

bababardwan, fuwuyuan broken down is "service person":

服务 fúwù － service

员 yuán － person

Could it have been 服务生 fúwùshēng (server)?

Posted on: New Lessons, Video, and Groups

cytj, I think the videos are a really great way to learn vocabulary, and I think the majority of users agree (based on comments from the 2 videos).  

One thing always missing from CPod was a visual connection with learning vocabulary (much like Rosetta and other software use).  The video now provides that very important link.  I don't think the videos need to be long, and they don't need to be packed with vocabulary.  Keeping them short and simple, like the current videos are, will make them that much more effective.

I love these little vocab vids and I'm looking forward to more!

Posted on: Pretty Clothes

mandarinboy, I also really enjoyed your character etymology posts.  What about creating a new group that focuses specifically on this?  That way they don't get lost in the Study Strategy group.  Just a thought.

Posted on: Pretty Clothes

Hi hitokiri.  I always forget that 好 can often be used in the same sense that 很 is used...thanks for the answer and for the reminder!