User Comments - calkins
calkins
Posted on: Art Museum
April 4, 2008 at 7:41 PMWell said Gesang. I tend to agree with you (except for the falling in love with Ken part :-). Ken is an amazing teacher (otherwise he wouldn't be where he is today, would he?). Of course his Chinese speaking isn't going to sound perfect, when he's sitting next to a native speaker...and on top of that, the native speaker is Jenny Zhu, whose pronunciations and tones are probably better than 95% of the Chinese population. So take it easy on "that guy" Ken, and be thankful and respectful for all that he has provided you with.
Posted on: Please Speak Chinese
April 2, 2008 at 3:19 AMAuntie, this is a really good tip to know! I never thought to do this, but it makes perfect sense to save some face. It'd be nice to be able to converse 50/50 (half English/half Chinese), to give each person a chance to practice. I guess that's not realistic in most situations, but I'm definitely going to try your approach next time.
Posted on: Please Speak Chinese
April 2, 2008 at 12:28 AMSpeaking of speaking in Chinese, I found out today that there are more Chinese in Taiwan who speak English than there are Chinese in Chicago's Chinatown who speak English :) Whenever I'm in Taiwan, everyone tries to speak to me in English, and of course I politely say "请说中文。(Qǐng shuō Zhōngwén.). I had lunch with a friend today in Chinatown. I believe the majority of Chinese there are bilingual in Chinese and English. And I just assumed that all Chinese working in stores would be bilingual, but I learned today that's not the case. After lunch, I went into a bookstore to buy a newspaper. I know I should have tried to speak Chinese to the clerk, but I couldn't remember the name for newspaper, so I asked in English "Do you sell Chinese newspapers?" She just looked at me and didn't say anything, with the "I don't understand" look on her face. All of a sudden "报纸 (bàozhǐ)“ came out of my mouth...well, to be honest, it was more like ”报子 (bàozi)" :) but she understood and immediately pointed to the newspaper stand. We then had a brief conversation in Mandarin (very small talk) and I took off with my newspaper (trad. characters, woohoo). I was first surprised that the clerk didn't know English, then even more surprised that I knew a word (well, kind of knew) that I thought I didn't. I wonder what else is up there in my noggin that I wasn't aware of! I think I'll start hanging out in Chinatown more often...it'll be great practice.
Posted on: Scandal in the Pageant
April 1, 2008 at 2:15 PMJohn, Alice, much thanks! kuriqoo, so that's how you get rid of love handles!
Posted on: April Fool's
April 1, 2008 at 4:12 AMAmber & Connie, for today's QW you should have spiced up Clay's coffee....give him one more reason to slurp! I loved the actor's 啊 in this dialogue...
Posted on: You Must Listen to this Episode - 非...不可 (fēi...bù kě)
April 1, 2008 at 3:01 AMThe QW team always cracks me up....thanks for another great lesson!
Posted on: Scandal in the Pageant
March 31, 2008 at 11:21 PMWhat you DON'T do is post the same thing in every single conversation thread.
Posted on: Scandal in the Pageant
March 31, 2008 at 11:11 PMbuschstadium310, I've used a program similar to RS (actually a newer and better one...FluenzMandarin), and I can say without a doubt that CPod blows that software away, and actually costs less. Bottom line, it's worth every penny. No time to go into all the benefits, but hang around for a while and you'll see firsthand. And btw, you can use CPod for free (lots of users do)...you just won't have access to every feature.
Posted on: Scandal in the Pageant
March 31, 2008 at 11:07 PMAhhhh, guess I should have read the dialogue first: 绯闻 fěiwén scandal
Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Day
April 5, 2008 at 2:24 AMAwwww, a new intro with Clay and Amber...just can't seem to split those two up lately!