User Comments - jheitz

Posted on: Chinese Idol 2

So, does 吹牛 (chui1niu2) mean to play the cow?

Posted on: The Door

I think the stepping feet is just fine. Sometimes, when you're on the inside, you tend to focus too much on irrelevant details. The exact sound of entering a door is one of them.

I think the idea of immersion or TPR can provide clues for subtle distinctions between similar words or phrases (lexical somethings:) and reinforcement of freshly learnt material. However, it's no way to learn brand new material. Like, I couldn't learn Chinese from scratch by watching Chinese TV. It's how I might learn the usage of the word "like" I used in the previous sentence.

Posted on: Where is the Supermarket?

On level appropriateness, I remember in the beginning, I did newbies, then started on ele's quite quickly. I did newbies and ele's for a long time without even looking at intermediates. Now, I don't bother with the newbies anymore, because there's hardly ever a new word. New words on eles are getting rare too, but I'm stuck getting to intermediate proper. Intermediate seems a much bigger jump than ele was. Low-intermediates are few and far between. I would like to hear a slow rendition of the dialog in addition to the normal speed (fast) one. It's very difficult to hear and keep up with a dialog that I don't understand all of. I mean, if I could follow it all at top speed, I'd be at the next level, right? Give me a chance to think while listening and keep up.

Posted on: Why Are You at Home?

I also use the iPod almost exclusively. I miss the English/Pinyin/Hanzi of the dialog you had in older lessons in the lyrics on the track. I can't follow along anymore. No, I can't read all the hanzi. That's why I'm here to learn.

Posted on: Amusement Park

Please put the pinyin and english translations into the lyrics on the track of the dialog like you have done for previous lessons. I like to follow along when listening on my iPhone.

Posted on: Measure Word Fundamentals: 个，只，条，张

Is ping really the measure word for bottle or just the measure word for an amount of liquid in a bottle? How do you say "10 green bottles sitting on a wall"?

Posted on: Pinyin Sections 3-4

The difference between "C" and "Z" that I can hear is the "C" has a puff of air before the following vowel, whereas the "Z" leads directly into the following vowel. Same with "J"-"Q", "ZH"-"CH". Is the puff of air the distinguishing feature?

Posted on: Podcast Language 2

In the vocab section, a measure word with each noun would be great.

I like a learning style that repeats words in different types of sentences and across lessons. I have noticed that Cpod does a little of this: introduce a word in one podcast and use it again in a subsequent one. I understand you have to balance repetition with new material. I would like to push the balance towards more repetition.

Also, I find that in Chinese, more meaning comes from the way individual words (characters) are combined than in other languages. I frequently have "aha" moments when I hear a character that I had learnt months or even years ago being used in a different context and I wish I had heard it a lot sooner. The similarities and patterns make learning much easier for me. I know Ken is big on patterns and I'd like to encourage more of it.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 11: Wang in the Doghouse

The review mp3 (fix) has no vocab. Can you fix it please.

Posted on: Rise and Shine!

Regarding shang, English also has a few strange words. For example, the word up ends up in some very different phrases: shut up, throw up, pucker up, wrap up, close-up, beat up, shape up, speak up. Time's up.