User Comments - si1teng2

Posted on: Heading out to Buy Some Rice

...and also some colloquial speech: I've noticed that entire phrases are sometimes squooshed into a single syllable: 就是说 might be reduced to something that sounds like 'zhuo' to me! Maybe include it and comment on it, so we're aware of what's going on?

Posted on: Heading out to Buy Some Rice

I agree with Pengyi above: there are countless Chinese accents that you come across all the time, that sound nothing like the 'standard' per-fect-ly ar-tic-u-la-ted accents we learners are so dependent on. Once we leave the comfort zone of ChinesePod, our listening fluency drops miserably! (In the past, the only person I could understand was Jenny Zhu! Now the only people I can understand are Jenny, Fiona, and Constance! I'm exaggerating a little, but it's not far from the truth.)

If I could make a suggestion: recent linguistic research has shown that the earlier a learner is exposed to a variety of non-standard accents the quicker their real-life hearing fluency improves. (I read it on a linguistics site a while ago, I'll forward it to you if I can locate it again.) I notice that you do have a greater variety of accents and speech styles than in the past: I'd like to applaud this, and encourage more of the same (as much as possible). Have some regular actors with 'mild' regional accents (from different regions). 

On another note: I'm convinced there was one non-native speaker in the dialogues for a few months. She sounded to me like an American who spoke fluent Mandarin, but something about her accent didn't sound quite 'native' to me. I always found it difficult following her, as I was distracted by this quality of her speech. Was I mistaken? Gwil says that all actors have been native Chinese. (I guess we do have to learn to understand non-native speakers too: if we share no other language in common. But I think our energies are better focused on learning from native speakers.)

Posted on: "Traffic Light Monkey" Mascot

Thanks, Gwil!

Posted on: "Traffic Light Monkey" Mascot

Thanks, Gwil! But I think there are still some discrepancies (unless I'm hearing things!). At the beginning it sounds like they say 春晚 and not 春节. There's also an issue with the punctuation of the line with 人家. And at the end there's an extra line missing (when they speak together).

Thanks for correcting these issues. I find the mismatches completely mess up my ability to read fluently with the dialogue. My eyes simply stop where the text differs and refuse to move forward! Or if I do move forward, my eyes simply pass over the words, but no longer reading with comprehension. 

Posted on: "Traffic Light Monkey" Mascot

The lesson pdfs (both) are different from the dialogue that takes place in the lesson. (They look like an earlier version that didn't get updated.)

Posted on: Self-Introduction Letter

Well, there was less levity than in many (especially lower level) lessons, and you could hear that Fi and Constance didn't smile while speaking (except on a few occasions), but I didn't get any negative impression from this. Just less humorous material in the lesson. But definitely no anger, upset, or scolding! 放松吧！别着急!

But Fi, I'm still waiting for those ASMR lessons you promised on 愚翁节. I'll stack them next to the bags of soil I bought last year.  

Posted on: Test Lesson

Posted on: 鲸鱼不是鱼

哇！关于认知语言学的课。 太棒了！怎么能定义名字和别的语言单位的意义？有确定的条件吗？应该跟中央原型比较吗？确定的意义到底可能得到吗？特别有意思的问题！

Posted on: Whatever, I Don't Care

哇！谁都没意见！

Posted on: Both Dirty and Small!

“Cockroach restaurant” ....er ....yumyum? Reminds me of a tiny Vietnamese restaurant I used to go to in Hawai'i: 又便宜又好吃 (yòu piányi yòu hǎochī) . But one time the 奶奶 (nǎinai) who had been sitting behind the till suddenly got down on her hands and knees, crawled under a table, and slammed a roach on the floor with her hand. Quite an event to witness! ...But I still kept going back, because the restaurant was 那么好吃 (nàme hǎochī)!