User Comments - strillop
strillop
Posted on: Lesson Preview, New Team Member
September 21, 2008 at 8:35 AMI love all of the new innovation at Chinese pod, but my favorite channel deserves more praise - the Media channel. Taking Chinese from diverse sources and making it easily absorbed is pure gold. I know it's an advanced channel, and may not be the best first candidate for video treatment, but the fact that the most critical snippets of video would be from non-cpod sources would seem to make the production less difficult.
Posted on: Language Power Struggle
August 28, 2008 at 7:01 AMThe strategy that I've employed is to insist from the start that if Chinese people want to practice English with me, they should speak half in English and half in Chinese, and I in turn speak to them in a balanced blend of English and Chinese. This gives us both plenty of opportunity to both practice and hear our target language, both of which are important. This half English half Chinese banter builds friendship better than if both people are jockeying to speak in their target language .
Posted on: Chinglish in Reverse and University Culture
August 16, 2008 at 9:32 PMOne word that is sorely missing in English is “玩,” which must be replaced by awkward and round-about phrases like "hang-out." I often heard English speakers in China misusing the word "play," especially when speaking slowly in English to Chinese people. Here's an example, "So, are you going downtown to play with your classmates tonight?" Maybe this type of usage shouldn't irritate me so much, but it does...
Posted on: Jazz and China from a Different Perspective
August 2, 2008 at 2:49 AMChinese braille... fascinating stuff. I've been asked about that subject by my American friends and family more than once, so now I'll have an answer.
I've found these translations of braille at www.yellowbridge.com:
点字diǎnzì
用盲字印yòngmángzìyìn
盲人用点字法mángrén yòng diǎnzì fǎ
Which would be the most common term to use in conversation?
Posted on: Tool Delivery
July 31, 2008 at 4:00 AMYou guys have some serious creative freedom! Awesome... Anyone know how to say creative freedom in Mandarin?
Posted on: A Month in Recovery and Being Civilized
July 28, 2008 at 9:48 PMjamestheron, thanks for the tips. And to clarify, except for looking at glasses of water, my fiancee views almost all zuo yuezi traditions as having a firm basis in Chinese and Western medicine, especially since physicians in China prescribe Chinese medicical remedies (including yuezi).
Marriage prep classes sound good. But my fiancee hasn't arrived in the States yet and doesn't speak English...
Posted on: A Month in Recovery and Being Civilized
July 28, 2008 at 5:29 AMAwesome lesson and vids! Afterwards I had a very good conversation with my fiancee about zuo'ing yuezi. Looks like when we cross that road we'll be following a pretty traditional route, though she doesn't feel the need for a yue4sao3(月嫂）. She sees the prohibition against looking at glasses of water as superstitious(迷信)。For what can only be described as selfish reasons, hopefully I can convince her that washing her hair is okay as well :) Pinkjeans, your comment concerning 坐月子Malaysian style could be really helpful in that regard!
Posted on: Badminton
July 28, 2008 at 12:24 AM在加州这边高中的羽毛球对不少，好像是因为华人越南人比较多。我有个越南的同事，她高中的时候是排球队员，朋友都说她的羽毛球的技术很不错。
Here in Northen California, a lot of high schools have serious badminton teams, maybe because of the large Chinese and Vietnamese populations, I'm not sure. I have a Vietnamese coworker who supposedly was a fearsome badminton player in high school.
Posted on: Fat Camp
July 27, 2008 at 3:59 AMWe do in need have fat camps in the the US. And Disney made a movie about it call "Heavyweights:"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110006/
Posted on: Shikumen vs. Hutongs and Chinese vs. Western School
October 19, 2008 at 4:19 AMShi2ku4men2
石库门
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shikumen
Hu2 tong4
胡同
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong