User Comments - stevemisch

Posted on: The Clogged Toilet

Two suggestions:

1. Would have been a great opportunity to comment on the 3 different "shi4"s--to be, to try, and thing.  All pronounced same, but different characters.
2. Would have been great opportunity to clarify "ma3tong3" from "cesuo."

Posted on: Do You Know That Girl?

1. Is there a rule regarding when to use possesive "ta" vs. "ta de?"  Seems random.
2. "Wan"-to play also can be pronounced "war" like in your expansion??  Is this the pernicious BJ accent creeping in?
3. Sometimes female friends have sent me message asking if I want to "play," which in the west has a different connotation.  I believe here it's just the translation of "wan," correct?  :-)

Posted on: Do You Know That Girl?

1. I've often sent messages to English speaking Chinese friends like "Would you like to meet tomorrow?" and even though their English is otherwise pretty good, MANY stumble on this and respond, "What is 'MEET?'".  Why?  Have others noticed this?
2. Two ways to say Neige2, one with long "a" (like "Nay ge") and one with short "a"  (like "Nah ge") sound?  I like short....
3. First time I heard someone say "Nay ge" and pointing with a waiter, it sounded like the impolite word for black person....they were saying something like "bring me that one," but it sounded more derogatory to these American ears, in context....

Posted on: Why Are You at Home?

I enjoy this new exercise format--the "SUBMIT ANSWERS" has a stern feeling to it and I feel like I'm bowing and submitting my answers to Master Jenny.  :-)

Small error you may want to fix: In the last expansion sentance, "I get out of class at 5:00 today" the "5:00 O'clock" doesn't show up in pinyin when moused over.  Thanks.

Posted on: Easter and Chocolate Bunnies

In the expansion the pinyin reads "what are THEY" celebrating....but the English says "YOU" Nimen...

Posted on: Help with Housework

Two corrections:

1. "Shun Bian" does not show up in English on the dialogue when the characters are moused over.
2. In the expansion, the translation is "...could you buy some fruit?" but I don't see any words here that would make this a question.  Looks like a request or command.

Come on guys.  Two year old lesson not corrected?  :-)

Steve

Posted on: Language Exchange

I'm told by a native chinese speaker that your tone is wrong on "lian4 xi2."  She said it should be "lian4 xi3" third tone for xi.  "Lian4 xi2" actually means "to connect" with someone.

Secondly, is it just me, or do othe people find reading pinyin with the tone number after the symbol annoying, rather than the tone mark?  It's already hard enough, let's make it as easy as possible.  We have to type this way, but on the website cannot use tone marks?  (Also, have to click on each exercise part twice to make it open)

Posted on: Making Copies

To show my ethnocentricity, I used to see these signs outside print shops with the characters that looked like "ED," but with a Chinese flair.  Being a doctor, I of course thought of "Erectile Dysfunction," the new term for impotence.  Today, Jenny informs me (finally) that this is the chinese character for "yin" which means to print.  Enlightened.  :-)

Posted on: Juiced!

Possible to add accent marks on the actual words in the exercises?  It's annoying to read the syllables with numbers after each one--not intuitive.  And the last thing you want when studying a new language is annoying.

And make accent marks bigger on ALL parts of lessons to burn it into our brains more easily?

Posted on: Just a Flesh Wound

Jenny said measure word for small is "dian" but in expansion they used zhe"ge" for small wound.