User Comments - chris

Posted on: Presentation on Trends

Hi, I am a bit confused by the grammar in Expansion Sentence 3b:

教学模式迫切需要从以教师为中心转变为以学生为中心

"The education model needs to change from teacher-centred to student-centred"

I have highlighted in red and blue the bits I would like to clarify.  I think the blue parts are simply the structures for "XXX-centred".

In terms of the red parts - is this a standard chinese grammar pattern?  从以。。什么什么。。转变为以？

Usually when I see 从 there is a 到 following it later in the sentence.  The absence of a 到 above confused me.

Would be grateful if somebody could help explain this expansion sentence to me.  Thanks, Chris.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

Zhen, I missed your post above about cpod letting us publish our efforts. This is an excellent point - I was always working under the assumption that only paying subscribers could access the Transcripts for Tal group! If that's not the case, then I second my appreciation of Cpod allowing us to indulge our transcription habit in public.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

hey baba, happy new year mate - hasn't it literally just struck midnight in your neck of the woods?!

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

John's comments about Shanghai resonated with me.  It really is very very easy to survive in Shanghai with no Chinese at all.  With the exception of taxi drivers and wait-staff at the more local restaurants, it seems to me that the locals' English speaking capabilities are developing far faster than the foreigners' ability to speak Chinese.  In fact, I am increasingly encountering taxi drivers keen to practice their english with me (particularly during the expo period around 18 months ago).

Coupled with this is the fact that the number of foreigners seems to have ballooned significantly in the city, even in the relatively short time that I've been living here.  It's human nature to want to hang out with familiar people, so I can well understand the ease of distraction from learning Chinese.

I think the other factor is also the workplace.  The vast majority of the staff in our Shanghai office are locals.  However, they all speak basically fluent english and despite my improvements in Chinese, when it comes to business and the need to get things done quickly it is simply too efficient to converse in english.  I fully appreciate this is a wasted opportunity for me.  So the sooner I can get my chinese to a level acceptable for a fast-paced business environment, the better!

Posted on: Plane Ticket Prices

Yeah, I think it works if a chinese person is buying your ticket on your behalf (despite your name being on your ticket). My wife recently bought us tickets through ctrip and my price was the same as hers (both cheap compared to the quotes I got from non-chinese carriers).

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

I don't know what most of those terms mean, and I'm a native english speaker :)

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

I'll happily accept any royalties ;-)

Posted on: Matchmaking in the Park

I was reading somewhere recently (sorry, I forget the source) that the government has recently significantly relaxed the rules around foreign investment into the retirement home sector and there is now a flood of foreign firms wanting to get into the market. The forecast demography would certainly support the business model.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

I suspect some users may have missed the News & Features episode earlier this week that explained what was going to happen this week (maybe they are not subscribed to that feed). Might be worth cpod adding a link to it in the Intro for each of this week's lessons.

Posted on: A Tour of Xi'an

Hi Perrytex967, Jenny says:

"听起来好像非常的auspicious", meaning "it sounds very auspicious". The auspiciousness to which Jenny refers is Xian's former name of Chang An which literally means "long peace".

Hope that helps clarify.