User Comments - garry

Posted on: I Want This

What a great community is the CPod community of learners of Chinese language. Thanks everybody, I enjoyed listening to the lesson, and I especially enjoyed everybody's posts. If Clay were here though, he would have deleted them all except mtdubio's and checkingoutchina's, for not being about the context of the lesson. -lol-  Great work everybody. Altough I would note that if this were a French speaker's site for learning Chinese, as an English speaking person, I don't think I would be listening to it.

Posted on: Taking a Shower

Thank you Amber,

I realise now the mistake I made. I assumed that I knew what  在 meant, but I didn't at all. Armed with this new knowledge I will apply it, and also question other things that I have taken for granted.

Posted on: Taking a Shower

Hi Everbody,

I always am confused by translations. In the dialogue the person says, 我在洗澡. It is translated as, I am taking a shower. I would say, I am having a shower. The point I am making is that the Chinese person says, I am in the shower, so why do we change it to something else?

To add to my confusion, the supplementary vocabulary says that 在 means currently. Does this mean that 在 can be substituted for 现在?

Posted on: Sales Call

A very short lesson. I am thinking along the lines of xiaohu, a bit of politeness would have given us a bit more vocabulary. Or you could ask them for their number and say you will call them back later. hmm.

Posted on: War Zone

Hi spongebobmay,

Thank you. You supplied me with a conundrum to solve. I wanted to know what your post was, so I put the words that I did not know in my dictionary. The three characters 日全食 did not co-locate, so I was at a loss to know what it meant. But I was thinking along the lines of the theme of this lesson. When I looked again today it dawned on me, (slight pun intended), it means 'total eclipse of the sun'! I am glad I did not have to ask.

Posted on: Taxi Small Talk

Hi Everybody!

I am very happy, in a taxi, if I can tell the driver where I want to go, and actually get there. Making small talk is a leap, but I will try next time.

Johns,

I think that it is a matter of formality. If you are going to your friend's house, you would say, "I am going to see my friend", but if you were going to your mother's house, you would say, "I am going to visit my mother". Someone will correct me if I am wrong.

他来了 means 'he came', to express 'he is here', you would say, 他这里, or 他这儿。

Posted on: Golf

zhang lihua,

I was reading your comment today and I found that when I moved the cursor over '你喜欢打网球吗？', the pronounciation and meaning came up in a yellow box. Wouldn't it be great if this happened with everybody's comments written in Chinese.

Thanks everyone, though I am not a golf player, I enjoy the dialogue.

Posted on: Sound Check

Hi ChinesePod, very interesting lesson, but I was disappointed that the 葫芦丝 was not included in the line-up. Not a rock and roll instrument, well it could be in some funky fusion of Chinese rock and traditional folk music.

Posted on: 磁悬浮

Seriously great lesson Jenny and Jiaojie,

the advanced lessons that Chinesepod present are perfect the way they are. We have a dialogue to listen to, and it is up to us to figure out the language. What makes the lesson special though is the natural dialogue which occurs between people when they are discussing a topic. Do not change a thing, It is a fabulous Chinese class!

Posted on: 室内装修

Dave,

We are all entitled to our opinions and the freedom that exists for us to express them. But, when the medium of your expression is a very public one, you should think about what you write, and the language that you use. Do you think that you would like to retract that expression, or explain to everyone what you mean by it? I am referring to the adjective describing 'champion'.

Great lesson Jenny and Connie.