User Comments - xiaophil

Posted on: Signs in China and Mistranslation

Then you would have been really annoyed by the Expo. They couldn't be bothered to use the adjective form of the countries' names. Poland Pavilion, England Pavilion, Japan Pavilion, etc. Perhaps this was done to make the names easier to understand for non-English speakers. I'm kind of used to this kind of usage now, but it used to really grate on me.

Posted on: Hard Drive Storage

I noticed that the instructions for a camera I have were completely different for mainland China and Taiwan, and I'm not talking about just the simplified/traditional character difference. It looked like a completely different person wrote them.

Posted on: Mild Swearing

Actually, I think the old lessons are charming as well and wouldn't want them taken away. Besides nostalgia, another reason to keep them is because some of the old comments are gems. I would suggest redoing the old lessons in whatever way you guys seem necessary and then put them in on top of the new lesson feed. You could link the two lessons together with a witty disclaimer about how the old lessons are charming and quaint but not up to snuff by today's quality standards.

Posted on: The Complement 不下

My Chinese wife says 都可以.

Posted on: The Complement 不下

My Chinese wife says 都可以.

Posted on: Mild Swearing

Yes. I hope John can laugh at himself, because I wouldn't want him to feel bad, but there is one lesson where he reads the English translation of the dialog and he says it in his best impression of a female voice. It was a valid experiment, but I can't help but notice he never did it again.

Posted on: 5000 Years of History

True that is. I agree.

Posted on: 5000 Years of History

I don't think their high-speed trains is a good example as these trains rely heavily on foreign technology. Are electric scooters their invention? Soy-milk machines... hmmm... I suppose an innovation of sorts, but one that I don't think is important. Granted, I think Chinese soy milk tastes bad. That said, I don't mean to belittle China. I'm sure there are innovations happening, but that isn't what modern China owes their success to. That's what I mean, and my overall point is that innovation isn't a deciding factor in labeling a culture good or bad.

Posted on: 5000 Years of History

I don't think your assessment of American Indians is fair. Just because a culture doesn't have large physical artifacts and ancient textbooks doesn't mean its culture is inferior. Culture is more complicated than that.

Furthermore, it seems a little harsh to be down on a culture because of "a need for endless public assistance and law enforcement programs" when said culture has in the past been demonized, slaughtered and forcibly removed from its land, and in the present face discrimination. I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't be responsible for their own welfare and actions, but given their history, I don't think it is surprising they face challenges.

Additionally, while China is a great and interesting place, and I am sure innovations will come with their growing prosperity and influence, it is important to note that they have contributed close to zip in the the form of innovations in a very long time, possibly not since gunpowder.

Posted on: Living in Nanjing

Hi Ingrid,

Not that it matters, because it doesn't, but he said 'like saying 哪里哪里 to compliments', not 'like saying 哪里哪里 in order to compliment'. So what I am saying is that you misread. His meaning is the same as receive a compliment.

And since you have excellent Chinese, do you hear other 华人 say 哪里哪里? What usually happens with those of us who learn Mandarin as a second language is that one of the first phrases we study is 哪里哪里. This is in almost all the textbooks from at least mainland China and perhaps others. But later on, we notice we never hear this expression, and then someone more learned in the ways of Mandarin says it is an uncommon expression. What do you think?