User Comments - trainharderthanothers

Posted on: Plane Ticket Refunds

I'm not clear on why the second sentence of the dialogue has 哪个手机号码　instead of 什么手机号码　．

Posted on: Chinese Dialects (Part 1)

it's nice to know that I'm not the only person who has noticed all the different Han Chinese looks.

Interesting historical view !

Posted on: Chinese Dialects (Part 1)

this was really cool !

There is a couple of things that I have been wondering about for a long time. One of them is the validity that Mandarin Chinese ( or Putonghua ) originated in Beijing.

Somebody from the site correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Mandarin/Putonghua is a relatively new language that was established with consideration to a few regions in China, including Beijing. What this podcast just showed us is that "Beijing Dialect" is definitely not the same as Mandarin/Putonghua, as many people believe, and that it's actually considerably different. Sometimes when I hear a strong Beijing accent, I actually regard it in the same way I regard a strong Anhui accent, or a strong Hunan accent ; I consider it unclear improper pronunciation.

Another thing I want to bring up is the concept behind "HanYu"(汉语）。 What I'm having trouble understanding is the claim that HanYu is the language of the majority Han people in China. Unless somebody can explain to me otherwise, I'm beginning to believe that this is completely made up.

Since I just brought up "Han", I also want to mention that I think "Han Chinese" just means "Chinese people without one distinct ethnicity " , because I've seen lots of Han Chinese people who look very different from one another to the point that they look like they're from different countries . If anyone cares to discuss this, I'll be checking back for replies.

Posted on: Chinese and American Perceptions of Animals

''the Lion King" is a great cartoon, but I was talking about real documentaries about lions, such as "African Cats", "Big Cat Diary" , and many others short documentaries I've watched on TV. It's not uncommon for a lion to leave his entire pride to save himself from invading challengers. When they do this, their cubs get killed by the invading lions, and the lionesses have no choice but to mate with the lions who killed their babies.

Lions also give up fighting very quickly, in hopes of saving themselves and possibly one day take over another pride. This is why I said lions don't have a lot of "heart" , contrary to the English saying "heart of a lion"

Posted on: Chinese and American Perceptions of Animals

( edited my previous comment ) 

I can answer the question about which animal is stronger , the lion or the tiger.

Tigers are much bigger and heavier than lions. On average, a tiger weighs 2.5 times as much as a lion. Male lions are much bigger, stronger, and heavier than lionesses (female) , but even male lions would get destroyed in a fight against a female tigress.

There is (was) a video on youtube that showed a female tiger in a cage with male lions, and the tigress easily beat the male lions into submission.

Tigers use their claws much more when they fight than lions do, and they're able to use both of their front feet simultaneously, looking a bit like human boxers. Their long legs give them a reach advantage ; their fighting style along with their size advantage make them a nightmare match-up for lions. Luckily for lions, tigers aren't native to Africa.

One last thing I want to mention is, in English there is the saying "heart of a lion", but based on the many documentaries about lions that I've watched , I have to say that male lions are generally cowards and don't show much "heart" when the time comes for it.

Posted on: Chinese and American Perceptions of Animals

I can answer the question about which animal is stonger , the lion or the tiger.

Tigers are much bigger and heavier than lions. On average, a tiger weighs 2.5 times as much as a lion. Male lions are much bigger, stonger, and heavier than lionesses (female) , but even male lions would get destroyed in a fight against a female tigress.

There is (was) a video on youtube that showed a female tiger in a cage with male lions, and the tigress easily beat the male lions into submission.

Tigers use their claws much more when they fight than lions do, and they're able to use both of their front feet simultaneously, looking a bit like human boxers. Their long legs give them a reach advantage ; their fighting style along with their size advantage make them a nightmare match-up for lions. Luckily for lions, tigers aren't native to Africa.

One last thing I want to mention is, in English there is the saying "heart of a lion", but based on the many documentaries about lions that I've watched , I have to say that male lions are generally cowards and don't show much "heart" when the time comes for it.