User Comments - watyamacallit
watyamacallit
Posted on: Days of the week
June 1, 2011 at 9:40 PMI haven't listened to these reviews. However xing and qing are often pronounced like xying and qying. I'm not sure whether this is the sound you were trying to reproduce or whether you heard something else. I believe they are simply regional variations in pronunciation.
Posted on: A Correction of Tones
May 31, 2011 at 9:59 PMWhen you sing two different notes one after the other, can you explain what is happening physically? Anyone can produce notes of different pitch with their voice, even if they can't sing in tune. The trick in learning the Chinese tones is in learning how to glide correctly between two pitches. This comes through listening and practice. I don't think a physical description of the process will help.
Posted on: Studying Chinese
May 31, 2011 at 8:44 AMYou stupid, STUPID language.
Posted on: Mild Swearing
May 13, 2011 at 1:13 PMI was thinking more of Ken's lessons. He really has little to offer at the Intermediate level, and the structure of those lessons is quite poor. This is not meant to be an attack on Ken - apparently he was the only option back then. But it would be nice if those lessons could be redone in the classical Chinese Pod format. As they stand, I just can't force myself to listen to them.
Posted on: Mild Swearing
May 13, 2011 at 9:10 AMAnd those earliest Intermediates.
Posted on: 5000 Years of History
May 13, 2011 at 9:08 AMI trust you read the previous comments which put my comment in context. If so, you would understand that I was saying "there is no Chinese language learning in those posts that stephenfox took issue with". And secondly, that I was not taking issue with that fact.
Posted on: 5000 Years of History
May 10, 2011 at 9:39 PMSurely it takes a second or two to recognize that there is no Chinese learning to be done in these posts. Yet you choose to read them through. The commenting policy (click below) states that cultural conversations are acceptable provided they relate to the lesson content - which they do. I think your post was the first one that broke the commenting policy.
Posted on: 5000 Years of History
May 9, 2011 at 8:48 PM@stephenfox
Regarding your 'other point'. Any conversation can be joined in, or it can be ignored. You seem to be torn between the two options.
Posted on: 5000 Years of History
May 8, 2011 at 8:24 AMI think most people don't realize what history is. It is not what happened in the past. It is a record of past events. If an event wasn't recorded, with at least an approximate chronology, then it is not history, despite the relaxed modern usage of the word.
"To most historians paintings depict history" - not unless they depict an event which might have some significance. Basically hunter-gatherers with no writing system cannot have history, by its proper definition.
China has about 3500 years of history. Even that statement is incorrect - there is 3500 years of history in the region we now call China. But there is 5200 years of history in the area we now call Iraq - no contest really.
Australia has 223 years of history - 241 years if you count a weekend stopover.
BTW, a Google search shows that 50000 years ago is the accepted time when humans first visited Australia. Apparently some people try to extend that time scale, much like the Chinese want to exaggerate their period of history, but no-one suggests 70000 years.
Posted on: I don't smoke
June 9, 2011 at 8:49 PMWhy is 'whatever' rude? I would interpret 'whatever' as 'I would prefer you didn't smoke, but I don't want to kick up a fuss'. In other contexts it just means 'I have nothing to add'. Sure there are better ways of communicating the same thing because it sounds somewhat abrupt, but it is not a reason to take issue/offense.