User Comments - chris

Posted on: Scary Clown

Excellent, thanks for the input guys.  Got it now.

Chris

Posted on: Pinyin Sections 3-4

My biggest issue is that in South China, the "zh", "ch" and "sh" sounds don't really get spoken by natives in normal speech.  Whilst we live in Shanghai, my wife is from Fujian and has lots of Fujianese friends here.  I get horribly confused when I'm out with them, not only because my Chinese is still not good enough to follow everything at full conversation speed, but also because I never hear any "zh", "ch" or "sh" sounds!  So I find myself asking was that "three" or "mountain" i just heard.  "Shanghai" is another classic, which comes out more like "sanhai"!

In a similar vein, I often have to go to BJ for business.  When I speak Chinese there I, more often than not, get asked if I live in South China because of my accent when speaking Chinese.  I guess this is also why a lot of non-native English speakers speak English with an American accent, because this is probably the accent they were most exposed to when learning, e.g. movies, TV, etc.

Thanks, Chris

Posted on: Scary Clown

I have the same question as Keith (3 Nov 2007) above, and reproduced below.  Could someone answer it, please?

user11695 says
November 3, 2007

In the expansion "I am most afraid of being home alone" . I thought that place had to come first in the order so I wanted to say 我在家一个人最怕. wo zai jia yi ge ren zui pa. but that is not the order given and I wonder why. Thanks Keith

thanks, Chris

Posted on: Summer at ChinesePod

I hear you zhenlijiang.  In fact, I've currently just managed to clear my Elem backlog up to the Olympics series of lessons and it does feel somewhat strange studying them around a year too late!  Oh well, I'm sure I'll clear the whole backlog eventually....

take care, chris

Posted on: Summer at ChinesePod

Sorry zhenlijiang, I didn't mean to imply you needed my permission to go to the latest lessons before clearing the backlog.  Obviously, that's not necessary ;-)  Perhaps a better way of expressing my view is that I'd feel uncomfortable expressing displeasure at the current CPod policy if I still had not got round to studying all the great material that has been uploaded over the last 4 years or so.

Anyway, no offence intended to anyone in the community by my comments above.  On re-reading, they probably do come across as a little sanctimonious (if that's the right word!)

Chris

Posted on: Summer at ChinesePod

My view is that there is only an argument for formal scheduling if the student has completed EVERY lesson at their desired level in the archives.  I know many of the commenters above are the "old boys/girls" who have been on CPod well before my time (mid2006), so I suspect they have all "marked as studied" every single lesson at their desired levels, hence are waiting eagerly each week for the new releases. 

However, I suspect there are many more students who have a backlog of several hundred lessons to work through which will keep them busy for some time - hence aren't really in a strong position to argue for a formal new release schedule.

As Ken always used to point out, there is no chronological order that needs to be followed within each level (with the exception of certain of the story lines, e.g. the Wang Wei love triangle back in 07, etc).  From my point of view, the only downside to working through the older lessons is that the comments page is not active - however, due to the great community here, if you do post a comment to an older lesson, frequently somebody is kind enough to respond.

Chris

Posted on: June Will Be CPod's Greatest Month Yet!

Anyone else based in China suffering severely slow internet connection today?  Both wifi and fixed line are downloading at less than 1kb per second.....(apologies for being off topic)

Chris

Posted on: Podcast Language 2

Burning the midnight oil tonight Jenny!

Posted on: Podcast Language 2

I've really enjoyed reading the comments on this QingWen - fascinating stuff.  I'm certainly very much an analytical learner and I share the likes of RJ and Bob's views above.  I am very envious of people that pick up languages quickly.  I remember at school feeling this way towards my mates that sailed through french and german - however, I always got my own back with maths and the sciences.

In terms of picking up a language later in life, I actually think there is a far far bigger differentiator than the analytical vs non-analytical, and that is the amount of time people have available to study.  My job quite simply doesn't allow me to spend the time that I think is necessary to get properly fluent (and I'm reminded here of bendidelaowai 's comments above, where it seems she would literally sleep, eat and study chinese each day!).  I often toy with the idea of jacking in the rat-race for 12 months and just enrolling in a university here in Shanghai to properly nail the language.  However, I never seem to have the guts to do so!!

I'm sure, in time, I will achieve fluency - but I just have to accept that it's a longer term goal.

A final comment - I've been lurking around CP since late 2006 and it genuinely astonishes me how quickly some of the new arrivals seem to accelerate through the ranks.  Mentioning no names, there are people that only started posting in newbie lessons a matter of months ago that seem to hang on the Intermediate and UI boards now.  My hat goes off to them!

Chris

Posted on: Moving

post formatting issues - please ignore.  It was just a question about "le"......