User Comments - everett

Posted on: Please speak slowly

As others have pointed out there are some bugs in the lesson, and since it's for newbies and concerns a really key phrase, doesn't it deserve to be fixed up? The pdf omits transcribing two characters into pinyin: 你可以说 _得慢_一点吗? nˇı kˇeyˇı shu ̄o y ̄ıdi ˇan ma? The "key vocabulary" is actually a repeat of the supplementary vocabulary in the vocab window and in the pdf. The actual key vocabulary, such as for the character 慢, is missing. In the dialogue window the little yellow box explains 说得慢 as "shuo1 to speak slowly" – omitting the pinyin for "de man4". Thanks a lot for running a great site. I'm sure you're all really busy but if someone can find time to look at this it'd be great. Pod on, dudes!

Posted on: Borrowing Money

Quick note: in the dialogue window, the little yellow box defines 两万 as "two" instead of what I guess should be 20 000?

Posted on: Stopped at the Gate

One reason they might ask you the name of the person you're visiting could just be to see if you answer quickly and confidently. Even if they can't know everyone's name, they might read your reaction to see whether you really do seem to know someone there, or if you just hesitate, roll your eyes, hem and haw and finally make up something vague. Kind of like how airport security might ask some strange questions just to see if you get nervous. Of course maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Posted on: The Boy That Cried Wolf

rjberki and irek, many thanks for posting your transcriptions!

Posted on: The Boy That Cried Wolf

Where can I click to rate the lesson a six? Great lesson, video, expansion... the whole way it's put together, everything. Thanks CP!

Posted on: Introducing a Friend

Thanks for the help cassielin, and thanks everyone for all the interesting examples. The sentence has been changed in the expansion, so now the first word is 我. Now it's clear and easy to understand, so thanks CP as well!

Posted on: A Very Special Day

Congratulations CP. I agree with all the positive remarks so far :-)

I'd like to especially add how much I appreciate the excellent voice-actors and the sound engineer(s). The way the latter blend the sound effects with the dialogues is very effective. I've been noticing this over and over again recently: how they work in well-chosen little details to accentuate a certain moment. That, together with the great voice acting, lends the dialogues an ambience that makes learning them both easier and more fun.

And of course the lesson hosts themselves set a standard others strive to live up to.

Keep em coming!

Posted on: Introducing a Friend

Hi pchenery,

You wrote:

"To me, the literal translation is straight forward:

"You give yourselves a little introduction"

I'm not sure why this is unclear ?"

What's unclear to me is the switch from singular 你ni3 to plural 你们 ni3men. The two words seem to have different referents. I just can't put it all together. Of course I probably have just seen too few examples of using 介绍 jie4shao4.

Could this be a situation like this: a group of people have arrived somewhere, and someone there tells one member of the group to introduce the whole group?

Thanks to everyone else for the feedback as well.

Posted on: Introducing a Friend

I really like the way CP brings the situations alive in the lessons like this. A quick question:

Could someone help me understand this sentence from the expansion?

你给你们介绍一下。

ni3 gei3 ni3men jie4shao4 yi1xia4

(Please, introduce yourselves.)

I'm thrown by the pronomial subject and indirect object. I just can't fit it all together. It sounds like you (sing.) introduce to you (plural). What am I missing? Thanks for any help.

Posted on: Farm Animals

Muchas gracias, Amber, for the grammar pattern!