User Comments - chipmunkgeek
chipmunkgeek
Posted on: Hanoi
September 07, 2008, 04:50 AM@babadardwan
Wow. That is cool. But it was totally unintended. I didn't feel like typing the characters with my pinyin input, and so all I did was copy-paste them from the Dialogue page of this lesson. I guess, in doing so, it copied over some of the code behind the characters which does the linking to the dictionary. You'll notice that I cheated when copying 在 because I just "stole" it from 现在, which is why the tooltip that shows up over 在 is really the tooltip for 现在。
ChinesePod... any chance you are working on being able to tag any and all Chinese characters entered into comments with the similar character tagging that you do for your vocab? I imagine that would be a phenomenally difficult task. Very useful, but very difficult.
Posted on: Prescription Drugs and Overseas Chinese
September 07, 2008, 12:19 AMEchoing some of SiYao's thoughts...
I'm an ABC who wishes (now) that I had taken Chinese school as a child instead of played soccer. In retrospect, I missed out. But at least now... I have ChinesePod.
When in China, I do feel the pressure from local Chinese that, since I am Chinese, I should be able to speak the language. I don't believe they are as gracious towards me if I can't speak the language than they would be with someone who didn't look Chinese. The expectation of me is there, and I almost felt like some that I had met were ashamed of me, whether they intended to or not. I think that overseas born Chinese who cannot speak Chinese (very well) have some uphill battles to face if they are to live in China.
On Jenny's comment about western overseas Chinese seeming "glamorous" when they come to China, it left me wondering more about how OBCs might be viewed. I feel like I have met many Chinese who talk about wanting to come to America. Would it seem odd for an OBC to want to go back to China after his/her parents left China so long ago to pursue the "American dream"? While there might be some sense that western OBCs are glamorous, might there also be some sense that western OBCs are snobbish or even foolish for wanting to come back? Just some questions I wrestle with in regard to others' perceptions.
Not sure that I can speak for western OBCs who are not ABCs, but I can certainly echo SiYao in saying that the Asian American identity right now is a very difficult one that many are wrestling with. There's a constant tension we face between assimilitating into the culture in which we were raised while holding onto a heritage which, frankly, many of us know very little about. Language, it seems, is one of the best and most practical ways for us to hold onto that heritage. At the very least, it opens the doors for other ways that we can be reintroduced to our roots.
Posted on: Hanoi
September 07, 2008, 12:02 AMI had a grammatical question about something I heard in this lesson. When John/Jenny were talking about:
现在是去酒店的路上
Why is 是 used instead of 在? I noticed that in Jenny's follow-up examples, she used 是 for most of them, but then 在 for the last one. Are they interchangeable when used in this particular grammatical construction? I've come to understand 是 as having to do more with unchanging descriptions (i.e. who I am) while 在 is used more to describe states which could change (i.e. where I am).
Thanks for any help you can provide. ChinesePod... as always, you rock.
Posted on: At the Hair Salon
September 05, 2008, 04:13 AMGood job with the new video. I am glad to see ChinesePod venturing out with these new methods for keeping Chinese learning fun and relevant.
The only time I have ever been to a hair salon that wasn't SuperCuts, it actually happened to be in Shanghai with my wife. What a coincidence.
What are the vocabulary terms for things like...
- getting color highlights
- wanting gel/mousse
- getting a layered haircut
Umm, my wife would like to know. Yes, that's it.
Thanks!
Posted on: Traffic
September 03, 2008, 02:38 PMkohiroito -
The Vocab Tour video is not available via the public feed through iTunes. So, I believe that only paid subscribers to ChinesePod can receive the video via their private customized feed. If you are not a paying subscriber to ChinesePod... I highly recommend it. Well worth it!
Posted on: Traffic
September 02, 2008, 09:23 PMrichyfrost -
I encountered the same problem earlier today when I tried to sync my iPod with the new video. What worked for me was changing the video format that my feed sends me. Instead of using the MP4 format for windows, I have changed the feed to send me the M4V format for my iPod. You can do this by going to your personal feed settings.
It worked for me. Hope it helps for you too.
Posted on: Traffic
September 02, 2008, 01:24 AMI really enjoy the new video style for vocab learning. Great job!
In college, I drove a brown mini-van, and all my friends called it "the bread box." It's amusing for me now to learn that that is what one-fifth of the world also would have called it... 面包车. I love it.
Posted on: Los Angeles
September 10, 2008, 04:29 AMI spent more than half of my life in Los Angeles... and did not personally know very many people in the entertainment business. But, I agree with oakleysteve... if you spend enough time in the right places, you're bound to see celebrities. Never in Hollywood though, but in some of the neighboring cities... and often in Starbucks. And once, we even saw the now-Governor 施瓦辛格 playing golf.
Starbucks, Peets, Monterey Park, and the beaches... all good things that I miss. But... one other thing that I miss which I'm sure you can't get in 中国...