User Comments - sebire
sebire
Posted on: Hot Pot
June 9, 2009 at 6:04 PMI've always called that Steam Boat. Ours has a chimney in it, and you put the charcoal in the centre.
Posted on: Why are You Studying Chinese?
June 2, 2009 at 10:12 PMInland, I know 让一下 means "get out of the way", and 让 can mean both let/allow/permit and make/cause.
Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 1: A Fated Meeting
June 2, 2009 at 9:14 PMGosh, this lesson is hard. Old school intermediate!
Posted on: Why are You Studying Chinese?
June 2, 2009 at 12:37 PMAm I the only person that started learning Chinese because I was bored?
Posted on: Podcast Language 2
June 1, 2009 at 9:23 PMMikeinewshot - defintely agree. If you do the hard work for yourself, I find it sticks a lot better. I mean, even doing those few sentences above. I don't think it even takes too long - if the whole lesson takes too long, focus on a minute or two, and you're bound to learn something.
RJ, do you have anyone to speak to? I don't. As for the listening, definitely try not to look at the dialogues at first. Force yourself to work out what is going on from the banter. I sometimes have to replay the same sentence several times over. The reason I got into this habit was because I used to listen on the train to work, and didn't have the dialogue, and had nothing else to amuse myself with. So if you're gonna get all serious about improving your listening, I suggest start taking lots of public transport...
Posted on: Podcast Language 2
June 1, 2009 at 6:19 PMRJ, I think if you don't read the dialogue first, you'll find the banter easier than the dialogue! That's the way I do it, because I find reading easier than listening, so in order to push myself I'll listen first, read later. Then I discover that the dialogue is easy enough that I should have understood the dialogue, which annoys me sufficiently to keep trying until I finally can listen to an intermediate dialogue, understand everything, and then I win :)
Posted on: Podcast Language 2
May 31, 2009 at 7:14 PMRJ, there is no secret, I am convinced it often is easier than the dialogue. Take this first bit from the "Gone Fishing" lesson which I've just put together (if anyone spots any mistakes, please let me know):
Where are they going to go fishing?
啊, 他们去河边钓鱼， 去河边钓鱼。
So they're going to the "river-side" to go fishing.
对啊
In English, we just say "we're going to the river".
哦
So can't we just say 去河？
不可以。 完全(?)不可以
Yeah, it's funny in Chinese, you have to say "the river *side*"
一定要加‘边’。 那除了河，还有很多的地方，我们要说：什么‘边’
So for example, if we want to say "go to the ocean"?
去海边
So "the seaside" in Chinese. What other examples do we have?
还有‘去路边’
Ah, so if you want to go over to the street, you're going to the side of the street.
我觉得中文比较logical, because you are going to the side!
I think a good proportion of the above is fairly simple, compared to the dialogue, which has the everyday words: "hook", "bait" and "fishing pole" (I actually thought this was one of the easier dialogues), whereas in the chat above, I think a lot of it would have been covered at Elly level.
Not sure about that 完全 word though - I'm guessing it means something like "you totally can't do that (dude)", though I could be completely (totally) wrong.
I think the reason I can follow the chat is that Jenny speaks a little more slowly, repeats words, and I can follow the context of the chat because of the English, whereas if you lose the thread of the dialogue halfway, I find it really difficult to pick up again.
Obviously RJ, we all differ in what we're good at. I've always been good at listening and reading when I've done languages, and been absolutely rubbish at speaking and writing, so CPod plays to my strengths.
Posted on: Podcast Language 2
May 31, 2009 at 3:36 PMWell, I'm definitely an analytical thinker, but I think there is something there for us - it just requires work on our part. The lesson has a fairly set structure - Jenny either pretty much reads an extract from the lesson, and perhaps makes a comment, and then John more often than not almost directly translates it.
Bobt, my approach at the beginning was the complete opposite to yours - the dialogues are much harder than the chat, I usually find. If you carry on with the elly lessons (I'd focus on the harder ones, like the Diary series), you'll get enough vocab under your belt to pick up the chat. I don't consistently translate the chat, indeed, that is very far from the truth - it's something I ought to do, but it requires a lot of effort! However, you will find that if you work through enough elly material, you'll be able to follow the thread of the chat, and fill in the gaps from John's translations after a while, and a bit of dictionary work.
Posted on: The Final Show
June 11, 2009 at 6:57 PMI'm with the "it's none of our business" crowd. Come on guys, it's a shame to force Amber to have to explain herself after all the nice messages above, when she really doesn't have to, just because you lot were gossiping.