User Comments - kangxia

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kangxia

Posted on: Random and Reckless
July 09, 2012, 10:11 AM

How do you say "miscellaneous", like "miscellaneous matters"?

Posted on: Boxing Day
December 26, 2011, 11:15 AM

Thanks to everybody for the clarifications about Boxing Day.  I was quite surprised listening to the podcast (from the UK) because, although the after-Christmas sales start on Boxing Day, shopping is not what the day is all about.  For most people here, it is an important family holiday.  The comparison with the day after Thanksgiving in the States is not accurate.

Posted on: Weekend Activities
June 13, 2011, 07:05 AM

I have a question about the pronunciation of 出去.  The actor in the dialogue said "chū​qu" (first tone, neutral tone), but in the lesson discussion Jenny said "chū​qù" (first tone, fourth tone).  How is it normally pronounced in real life?

Posted on: Getting Satellite TV
April 19, 2011, 03:44 PM

Satellite dishes don't have to face due south, but since the satellites orbit around the equator, the dishes have to face somewhere between south-east and south-west. The satellites orbit at the same speed as the rotation of the earth, so they are always in the same place in the sky. The dish has to be pointed directly at the satellite. If a satellite is too far east or too far west, the dish won't be able to see it because of the curvature of the earth and therefore won't receive a signal from it.

Posted on: Getting Satellite TV
April 19, 2011, 09:15 AM

John - The reason the satellite dish can only be on one side of a building (or on the roof) is that the dish has to be facing the satellite to get reception.  Most TV satellites are in geostationary orbit above the equator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_television), so if you are in China the dish needs to be facing south.  And you have to make sure there are no trees or buildings in the way.

Posted on: Separable Verbs
August 02, 2010, 08:24 PM

Thanks to John, Simon and everyone else for such a useful lesson and discussion. Simon's alternate way of describing the grammar really improved my understanding of what was presented in the lesson.

Posted on: Separable Verbs
July 31, 2010, 05:01 PM

The example sentence “小王小李结婚” seems to contradict the rule “助词离合词中间。”  Would it also be OK to say “小王小李结了”?

Posted on: Future fun with 会 (hui4), 要 (yao4), and 将 (jiang1)
June 28, 2010, 09:47 AM

Could you also say "世界杯会在南非举行了"?

Posted on: Future fun with 会 (hui4), 要 (yao4), and 将 (jiang1)
June 26, 2010, 10:41 PM

I am a confused about 将.  Connie and John said 将 was pretty much the same as 要, but in the all the example sentences using 将, it seems more like being equivalent to 会.  In other words, you could replace 将 with 会 and the sentences would still make sense, but it doesn't seem to me that you could necessarily replace 将 with 要 in these sentences. For example, could you replace 将 with 要 in "世界杯将在南非举行"?

Posted on: Flying a Kite
March 12, 2010, 09:02 PM

I am confused about the following sequence: "看你高兴的。不过,今天风不大不小 . . ." A rough translation would be: "(I) see you are happy. However, the wind is neither too strong nor too weak . . ." What I don't understand is the use of 不过. The dictionaries I have looked at say 不过 as a conjunction means "but, however, only". But that definition wouldn't make sense in the dialogue, and in fact 不过 is translated in the dialogue as "in fact". This confuses me because "in fact" and "however" don't mean the same thing and can, depending on the context, mean almost exactly the opposite thing. Is it common for 不过 to be used as a conjunction just like "in fact" is used in English?