User Comments - johnrash
johnrash
Posted on: Mosquitos and Olympics
June 13, 2008 at 6:47 PMDid I miss something in the lesson? Where did the blood type discussion begin? I thought blood type was a big deal in Japanese culture. Chinese also talk about this?
Posted on: Mosquitos and Olympics
June 13, 2008 at 10:54 AMI've never seen the raquet-shaped bug zapper, but here in the Southeastern US bug zapping lanterners were a staple of my childhood. You can imagine the summer nights out in the back yard hearing the zapper hanging on the porch---- snap! zzzzzz!! pop!! The insect deaths were non-stop. 
Posted on: Chinatomy: Chinese Gods and 'Shanghai Diaries'
June 10, 2008 at 4:37 PMAh.. Aric.. Too bad we all don't have the power to manipulate elections and public opinion via a network of media outlets.
Posted on: I Can/Can't Afford it (...得起 & ...不起）
June 10, 2008 at 1:47 PMStanduke
China has a long history of concubines ("mistresses") which is hopefully all in the past. You might check out the book Wild Swans by Jung Chang for a good read concerning this history of women in modern China.
Posted on: I Can/Can't Afford it (...得起 & ...不起）
June 10, 2008 at 1:44 PM我很开心还可以学得起Chinesepod.
Posted on: Hiking
June 10, 2008 at 1:41 PMI've heard stories of friends in Beijing taking hiking trips in the desert with their friends and workmates. Seeing as the desert is full of dunes and not 山 is there another term used for this kind of adventure? 爬山 seems to be specific to inclined outings... although I could also hike around a lake or forest without involving 山. Expansion?
Posted on: Hiking
June 9, 2008 at 8:44 PMMircea Moldovan,
Is there any particular reason why you didn't just ask for more official or standard translations rather than assault the more practical and useful (in terms of day to day conversation) language on this site? Chinesepod has always proclaimed to teach a very modern and everyday vocabulary, while leaving the stuffy and antiquated Chinese for the text books and classrooms.
As a user of this site for nearly two years, and barely knowing the meaning of 你好 when I started, I have found the language here to be commonly used, understood, and never questioned by native speakers. I prefer having actual conversations with people who speak Chinese, rather than living with my nose in books. Perhaps this is the differnce in lifestyle that we choose, as I have my reasons for learning this language, and you have your own. However, please don't infer that this site is somehow below par because of the translations not fitting your official standards. Since beginning to learn Chinese I have travelled to China a few times, finding that the language I have learned here to be more than enough to survive, make friends, and occasionally impress native speakers with what they consider to be "real Chinese". These are but small personal victories in language acquistion, which could have only been possible with the use of this site.
Your remarks were offensive to me, and quite unecessary. Thanks for quoting the dictionary. I'll refer to you in the future, if I have trouble understanding my own copy.
Posted on: Preparing to give an Interview
June 9, 2008 at 3:58 PM在中国打高尔夫流行吗？听这个对话前没听说中国高尔夫的事情。刚找到这个课程：高尔夫课程 可是那个对话有点儿困难的。
Posted on: Airplane Arrival
June 9, 2008 at 3:57 PMFlying domestically from USA to China, or back in the other direction you will hear announcements in both Chinese and English. The same should be said for domestic flights inside China. John is right, it's a little boring, but good to have a method of understaind if the English translation is REALLY what they're saying in Chinese. I think it depends on the flight attendant, as I've found some attendants have only studied a set list of announcements in Chinese/English and may not be able to make every announcement bi-lingual. If you pay attention sometimes the announcements will only come across in the mother toungue of that particular attendant.
Posted on: I Can/Can't Afford it (...得起 & ...不起）
June 13, 2008 at 7:01 PMGlad to see there are other people reading books concerning Chinese history / culture. Here are a few others I recently picked up:
Chris. This one starts in 1981 and is from the perspective of an American student living in China:
Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China
Laws Harsh as Tigers: Chinese Immigration and the Shaping of Modern Immigration Law