User Comments - wolson
wolson
Posted on: The Surname Code
September 25, 2009, 05:44 PM在 中国， 我学我说“奥森， 奥秘的奥，森林的森！“
Posted on: Pre-Valentine's News
February 09, 2009, 04:51 PMI am very happy that China is revisiting plagerism.
About 15 years ago, I had my first Chinese Ph.D. student who I thought was doing excellent work. However, when I read her thesis it was too polished compared to the papers she had written before this time. Furthermore, the style and content of what I was reading seem familiar to me. It turned out that she had copied word for word 5 chapters of a book without a reference.
Because of her plagerism, she left the university without a degree. I am not certain she understood the significance of what she had done.
Since then, I made sure that my Chinese students understand what is allowed and what is not. The standards and attitudes on plagerism in China are not what they are in the Western world. This is an area which they can make great improvements.
Posted on: Gong Xi Fa Cai!
January 26, 2009, 08:01 AM新年快乐 (Xin1 nian2 kuai4le4) Happy New Year!
This is a very timely and useful lesson. You have added to the supplementary vocabulary the following phrases:
年年有余 (nian2 nian2 you3 yu2) wish you a bountiful year
岁岁平安 (sui4 sui4 ping2an1) wishing you years of well being and safety
and
万事如意 (wan4shi4 ru2yi4) wishing you happiness
我祝大家万事如意，岁岁平安 ，和万事如意。
Posted on: The Final Show
January 13, 2009, 05:22 PMNo no, say it ain't so!
I have very much enjoyed this series. I also enjoyed being on your program and meeting you in person. You have taught me so much.
Good luck in your future endeavers: I expect big things of you.
Posted on: Around the Office
October 08, 2008, 01:12 PMWow! Your new digs are great! Probably don't miss the old ones, right? Even the lady that lives in the elevator?
Posted on: Lesson Preview, New Team Member
September 22, 2008, 03:37 PMDoes Klingon have tones?
I would rather be a Vulcan and be able to reduce things to 1's and 0's. Tristable entites and higher levels are confusing. In fact Chinese is confusing because of its alogical pentaphones.
Anyway, 欢迎，Pete.
Posted on: New Lessons, Video, and Groups
September 08, 2008, 04:43 PMVery good vehicle for communication and keeping the user community informated. Thank you.
Posted on: Traffic
September 02, 2008, 04:08 PMJohn,
Very nicely done!
This technique could be used in almost any common setting:
a meal
in a restaurant
on a farm
in a room
in a classroom
in a post office
in a movie
in a hospital
in any store or market (vegatable, meat, clothes, book, computer, etc.)
any sport or game
on a map
Many, many more applications of the technique are possible. And it is effective in teaching vocabulary.
Posted on: The More Than One Child Policy and Taking Trains
August 13, 2008, 06:57 PMRefe: Purchasing power:
raychenon says
1 day ago
Interesting lesson on one child policy. Great information when I will travel.
It was a pleasure to meet you and the rest of the team at your office.
A suggestion for next "Dear Amber", how about the Chinese purchasing power. During my stay, I see products like laptop,cell phones, Haagen-Dazs, western brand clothing which are the same price as one would get in Europe. On the other hand, brand like McDonalds,KFC and Coca-cola are on the parity of Chinese wages. What do really local people consume ? Who live on the western lifestyle ?
China is very interesting place right now: there is a segment of the Chinese society that is extremely rich. For example, next to our Shanghai office is the Ferrari dealership and the Bentley dealership. They would even let me sit in the cars. :-P Buicks in Shanghai sell for twice the price they do in Detroit.
A McDonalds hamburger is, however, a fraction of the price that it is sold for in the US. And that is the same for KFC; while the McDonalds tastes exactly the same as it does in the US, KFC doesn't. I have seen Starbucks, Haagen Daz and a number of other chains in China but since I do frequent them either in China or the US, I can not give you a comparison.
There is another part of China that is extremely poor. To see this part of China, you need to get out of the cities into the farmlands. They still use donkey carts and a lot (and I mean a lot) of human labor to farm their lands. You will see some small tractors but most is still human labor.
Quite frankly, this dichotomy is a problem that China will have to address in future years. They will need the farms; but if the farmers can not produce the wealth that they can get in the cities, there will be a migration toward the cities. How China handles this problem will be interesting... In many ways, China is a grand experiment in developing a modern society. The distribution of wealth issues are not easy anywhere in the world and can produce great social discord.
A Dear Amber on this subject would be very interesting and edgy! Because Praxis is located in Shanghai, they may not be able to fully address the issues that could arise. But there are some issues that could be addressed. For example, with a perponderance of new wealth going to younger Chinese businessmen, how are tradiational attitudes about money management being perceived?
Posted on: Picking Up a Friend at the Airport
November 03, 2009, 02:18 AM课太好了！
现在，我在南京。 昨天，我用这个课。今天我到杭州。再用这个课。很有用。
谢谢。