User Comments - pretzellogic

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

chris and bodawei, somehow, I think you've explained why i'm never going to get this lesson. Basically, John and Jenny just say to their respective spouses, "I love our new apartment, but what about the wireless internet?" "Oh, just call Sunix. He'll install one for us. He's wired up half of Chinesepod".

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

baba, it's definitely a challenge if you can't read the Chinese. You can guess which pages are telling you what and what. It's just hard to make guesses about everything.

Posted on: Matchmaking in the Park

I realize you are joking. With no/very few retirement homes in China, my understanding is that frequently, grandchildren function as the retirement plan for the grandparents. This tends to be more true with people in the village than in the cities. Grandparents know they will need someone to take care of them in their old age. This also tended to be why boys were preferred over girls; the girls get married and live with the husband's family, and there's likely no one to take care of them in that case.

Posted on: Plane Ticket Prices

Huh. I didn't even know you could ask for gluten-free meals.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

In that case, it's even more interesting. Subscribers created the content in the "Transcripts with Tal" group. But I take it that somewhere in the site license, we've probably signed away any and all rights to such content. Cpod could, in theory, do whatever they wanted to with the group, including removing access to it if they wanted.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

Actually, I would want a sentence at elementary level that drips with advanced level Chinese. Something like, "Being a common person, I have limited influence over American foreign policy. I am sure the Chinese and American leaders continue to progress harmoniously on areas where they agree, and work constructively on areas of mutual interest. Now, where can I buy soy sauce?".

Posted on: Plane Ticket Prices

"Did you know that the cheapest seats are reserved for Chinese citizens?"

No, I didn't know that, but i'm not surprised. There are always people with connections. On the other hand, market dynamics being what they are, i'm not surprised that foreigners have figured out how to get around such hurdles. Ctrip would seem to be one way. Marrying a Chinese citizen would be another. Having a friend at China Eastern would be another. And so on.

I haven't flown into other cities in China besides Beijing in ages. I guess Air China, China Eastern, China Shenzhen all still give you food on flights.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

yeah, I hear you. What I noticed is that John/Jenny tend to use the same little words over and over again in every lesson they conduct.

Posted on: Focus and Specialization

I also needed dialogue at elementary and intermediate level around stuff like "the President of Country X just died" or "six party talks have not restarted yet, but China is hopeful they will restart soon" or "why are you yelling at me about American politics toward China? I'm a common person too." (here, I already knew how to say laobaixing). Or "I make it a point to avoid geopolitical discussions. I'm just out buying soy sauce".

Posted on: Plane Ticket Prices

well, I didn't listen to the lesson; I only looked at the comments and the basic lesson description.

Years ago, my wife would call China Eastern for the cheapest fares. There used to be a discussion around "if you wait until the 25th of the month, the cheap fares come out". I wonder if that's still true. But maybe Ctrip is the way to go now.