User Comments - tage

Posted on: Back to Basics: Making People Plural with 们 (men)

Can you say 哥们儿们， 你们好

Posted on: 我的创业梦想

not inappropiate - but useless. no reason given :-)

Posted on: Getting to Know CPod Teacher Helen (and exciting content news)!

It might be a good idea to have a lesson/lecture in English (since this is of interest to all levels) on the topic of language and dialects in the Chinese context. There seems to be quite a lot of confusion - for good reasons. The definition of languages versus dialects draw on an interesting mixture of historical, political and linguistic considerations.

I think it will be very useful to listen to the coming lessons on dialects, especially if the influence on local speakers of putonghua/standard Chinese is highlighted.

Recently there was a very interesting and funny media lesson in Shanghainese (The silly xuanfu girl). Sometimes she was speaking standard Chinese with Shanghai accent and at other times speaking Shanghai dialect sentences with more or less putonghua pronunciation.

For a very good introduction to the topic of standard Chinese and dialects I can recommend an old book from 1968 by Paul Kratochvil called The Chinese Language Today. I think it is out of print, but it is worth looking for.

Posted on: What have you done in 2009?

Changye

A good suggestion for Chanelle - but it might be easier for her to use her native Dutch - it will work just as well ;-)

Posted on: Teacher services, vouchers, and a great start to learning Chinese!

I joined the guided plan through promotion and I'm going to stay with it. It is extremely useful and it is very motivating to have a short conversation in Chinese every week, when you are living far away. It would be great if it was possible to upgrade in stages towards the executive level. Two conversations a week would be ideal in my study and working situation

Posted on: The North Has Central Heating

mudphud

The "u" in qu is a different vowel from "u" in chu. When you isolate it you have to write "ü" to show the difference, so you will find it in the pronunciation chart under "ü with j q x".

Posted on: Hang Up and Ride!

Lots of people i Denmark use earphones while riding bikes - and we ride bikes a lot, much more than people do in Beijing or Shanghai nowadays. It is not illegal, but you are not allowed to use your cellphone by hand when riding your bike - still people do it. The confession: I ride my bike everyday (no car), and most of the time I listen to ChinesePod with earphones, weaving in and out of the traffic in Copenhagen - I keep it low and have no problem with hearing the traffic. But of course - don't do it ;-)

Posted on: The Guanxi Myth

Thanks to both of you for a very informative lesson. I agree with John, that 'guanxi' is not special for China, you find it in any society, but I've found that Chinese people in general are a little better than Westerners at remembering reciprocity.

Posted on: To Tip or Not to Tip

In the tourist industry you tip drivers and guides - usually thats all the salary they get (but then of course they get other "benefits").

As for taxidrivers and others, I prefer to follow local customs. In many places in the World you see (Western) foreigners getting preferential treatment because they usually tip more. Its no fun for the local family with tired children to be ignored when the driver spots a foreigner further down the road.

I have not noticed this kind of episode in China, but it is probably already happening.

Posted on: Clean Energy in China with Dennis Bracy

@bodawei

When you had spent some time living in China in the seventies the experience of "opening up" in the eighties could be quite overwhelming and always fascinating.

By the way, the trendy people mentioned had created a very special Sichuan style - outside influence could have been Russian. The people dancing were just ordinary citizens - the musical influence Western, but I think filtered through the dance hall tradition of preliberation China and Hong Kong, and with strong Chinese flavor.

I don't know about now, but not long ago there was a flourishing dance hall culture in many Chinese cities - places where foreigners were not especially welcome.

The reaction in your band scenario just shows how fast things change. In the mid seventies I managed to gather a crowd of several hundred very friendly people by just standing on a street in Tianjin - today hardly anybody cares. Fortunately.