User Comments - matt_c

Posted on: The Broken Chair

@everyone thanks so much for all your input and feedback. I must say Pete's doing a great job with the translations. There are so many different considerations when approaching translation, but with his own extensive knowledge of Mandarin and English, the help of our expert team (Connie, Jiaojie etc) and of course our esteemed Poddies - he'll continue going hard producing quality work.

Debate in this area (all areas) is most welcome as we are all able to learn more from one another. However...

PLEASE consider our newbie and elementary learners - when posting in newbie and elementary discussions please include English translations of any Chinese used in your posts. Thanks.

@valentinenii  @ shenbian   So glad we are able to help you :-) Feel free to get in touch any time if you have any questions.

Posted on: Terrorized at the Airport

Awesome!!! Loving that you guys are happy with this. Thanks to Jiaojie, Zhangfeng, Connie and Linhui for the great voice acting, and to Joy and David for their efforts in the editing suite.

I always get in trouble for having lighters in my bag at the airport - I can bring two in my pocket from Australia, but once in China I can't take them anywhere. That reminds me of my exit from Beijing two days after the Olympics had finished and I had a Zippo in my suitcase...

Posted on: 敬老院之争

我外婆和奶奶都是自己住的，不愿意和我们住在一起。因为她们的独立感很强，我要是对她们太孝顺的话，她们反而会有情绪。

Posted on: Happiness Candy

@light487@Bababardwan  --D-- is otherwise known as Sunix (he's the handsome fellow on the left in this lesson picture), he is truly a legend. You'll be hearing him more often over January and February. My all time favorite line of his was --I like Liu De Hua's songs-- from the karaoke lesson (the first dialogue with Sunix that I had the pleasure of directing). He has also dropped in a few times to take part in the discussions.

Posted on: Happiness Candy

@jackfrombelgium I think when fingers slip on the keyboard the brain is still reading how the words should be spelt rather than how they were actually misspelled. Have you ever read that email floating around with all the misspelled words that reads perfectly fine to everyone despite every single word being misspelled? Weird. I guess with Chinese characters it is also easy to make mistakes when there are two characters that appear similar to the untrained eye. I believe I used to get     找 & 我 / 干 & 千 mixed up quite regularly (only with reading but not when writing them). Carelessness could also be a factor ;-)

Posted on: Happiness Candy

@light487  If you check out the Resources there's a whole 16 section pronunciation guide. I believe section 12 refers to the un/hun pronunciation. John has worked hard on this - pls give him any feedback or suggestions you may have.

Posted on: Buying Jade

Although jade is a beautiful stone, there are many other types of  奇石 one can appreciate. My parents-in-law are from 灵璧, where 灵璧石 hail from - thus we have quite a large collection of various types of quality 灵璧石. But like the smooth talking shop assistant in the dialogue said, everyone has different tastes when it comes to aesthetic appreciation.

@Jenny Has your friend ever considered breaking the bangle? Has it stretched with her growth? Or has it melded with her and now she has special jade powers? lol

Posted on: Will you Marry Me?

@josht 77 That you in Suzhou Josh? Howz it goin mate? 你别哭！

Posted on: Will you Marry Me?

@xuchen I like the idea of further exploring 愿意 yuànyi.

I personally like the 齐秦 (qíqín) version of 月亮代表我的心 (yuèliàngdàibiǎowǒdexīn)(this the the version we used in the lesson).

If you check our John's link in the intro you can experience many of the different version available? I'm interested to know who likes what.

btw. I can't sing at all but this song was the first Chinese song I learnt.

I hear Pearltowerpete has quite a large KTV repertoire though... ;)

Posted on: Seeing Somebody to the Door

@orkelm Appearing to know a lot about China and Chinese customs by your affectation of Chinese manners and other polite idiosynchrasies will certainly evoke endless compliments on your in depth understanding of China customs - regardless of whether you are an expert and 'Gongfu Cha' (tea ceremony) or just saying 'bu yong le' when someone sees you out.