User Comments - mark
mark
Posted on: What is a Chengyu?
June 21, 2012 at 2:11 AMThe point actually came up in regard to a similar phenomena that happens between classical and modern Arabic. Tingyun, your command of Chungyu is better than mine. So, I will only add that the same phenomena exists with English and French, from when French was the Lingua Franca. I'm sure true Frenchmen would be appalled by how we use some of the expressions passed on to us. Anyway, when I heard this analogy, it struck me as another area where English, at least has vestiges of a linguistic phenomena that struck me as strange, when I first encountered it in Chinese. I agree that it is much more prevalent in Chinese.
Posted on: What is a Chengyu?
June 20, 2012 at 3:33 AMI recently happened on an explanation of cheng yu that makes a lot of sense to me. It is like how we use Latin in English; there are some Latin expressions that have carried on to this day. Most of us couldn't speak Latin to save our lives, but we still use these expressions. Cheng yu are the same thing, but the languages involved are ancient and modern Chinese.
Posted on: Preparing for the HSK
June 16, 2012 at 6:27 PMIn the new system 800 characters would be slightly less than level 4 requires and slightly more than level 3 requires.
Here is the level 4 vocabulary list:
http://huamake.com/newHSK4cnt.htm
The same site has some statistics about how many characters are added at each level. Level 3 has a vocabulary list of 600 words, level 4 1200, but some of the characters are reused between different words.
There are some sample tests around. My experience was that listening and reading comprehension was most important.
Posted on: The Tea Scam
June 16, 2012 at 2:47 AMMaybe, you look fierce and not very approachable, or always stay in a herd of tourists like yourself. Predators are confused by herds.
Posted on: Where Are the Seat Belts?
June 14, 2012 at 4:25 AMI remember a co-worker who made a big fuss about seatbelts, and leaving plenty of time to go to the airport. I think he earned some "special treatment". He got his ride to the airport a couple hours earlier than I did, but arrived at the airport later than I did and almost missed his flight. I think this was the revenge of the administrative assistants.
Posted on: Introduction to Pinyin
June 12, 2012 at 3:07 AMThere were some lessons for tones. Each tone got its own show. I think if you search for things like "the first tone" you might find them. http://chinesepod.com/lessons/the-first-tone
Posted on: 好男儿
June 12, 2012 at 2:24 AMThe link to the media for this Media lesson is busted.
It also seems that it has gotten harder to get to the archive than it used to be: dashboard -> library -> course -> media -> [3] -> "lesson I haven't studied before, and maybe is still usable".
The link between "library" and "course" seems to have appeared this week. I better hurry up on catching up on the old media lessons, before you hide them completely.
Posted on: Words with 可(ke)
June 9, 2012 at 5:42 AMI learned a new word, 可疑。 Maybe, if I had been paying better attention to past lessons, I would have noticed it before. 我很可怜。 Anyway, thanks.
Posted on: The Tea Scam
June 6, 2012 at 6:27 AMThe scammers I ran into understood my Chinese without any problem. So, switching to a foreign language didn't help me.
Generally, my experience with Chinese people is that if I have a personal connection with someone, they treat me very well and watch out for me. If it is just someone I run into on the street, I am a rich foreigner who might be parted from some excess cash. Whenever I manage to keep this distinction in mind, I have always been able to avoid trouble.
Even being fleeced seems to have some rules. Once you agree to a price with your opponent, that's the price you will get. A product or service without an agreed price is dicey, but if you don't partake without first discussing price, I doubt anyone would demand payment. At least, that has been my experience.
Posted on: 太阳系只剩8大行星
June 22, 2012 at 2:47 AMWas Bazza ever really into Astronomy? Whatever happened to the guy? The comments here are probably just more mixed up comments, but I'm still curious. It seems after he went to Shanghai and Jenny interviewed him, he lost interest. I kind of miss his comments, though.
As to the lesson, the new definition of planet makes sense to me, even if it didn't to Jenny and Connie. It has kind of a mathematical beauty. I hadn't paid attention to exactly why Pluto had been explelled from the planetary family before, and learned it here, first.