User Comments - xiaophil

Posted on: Working at the United Nations

Hey Gaopeng

谢谢你的回复，好像你的想法和我得差不多，哈哈。我注意到你说了“五‘门‘语言“。麻烦你一下告诉我‘门’是不是语言最正确的量词？

Posted on: Working at the United Nations

我不能给你答案，但是你的问题让我想起一个我常常琢磨的问题：一般来说，要是一个人说自己会说五种不同的语言什么的，这样的人是什么意思？意思是他能跟其他人用那个语言说生意、外交，科学、等等，还是能说“洗手间在哪里”？

Posted on: Mother's Day

I know this debate is winding down, but just from one guy married to a Chinese woman, saying things like "我不喜欢你" to loved ones is common. What it really means is "I'm not happy with you now". I don't really like this manner of speaking too much either, but I try to keep in mind the true sentiments.

Posted on: Welcome to ChinesePod

nihao to you, nihao

What an obvious name. I like it

Posted on: Learning English in China

Did anyone else reach advance level in a language? If yes, please say so here. Inquiring minds want to know :-)

Posted on: Learning English in China

酷Juliet

Thanks for your words. You basically reinforced a lot of what I already thought. Don't think that is a waste. We need reinforcing when studying a language.

Anyway, I in general share your distaste for Chinese music. One day it dawned on me that I don't pay particular attention to English lyrics too, so I gander I can get away with not emphasizing songs in my studies.

I have a similar problem with TV, though. I don't like "everything is wonderful or being handled skillfully by the government" news. I also can't get into sappy dramas and Oprah-esque talk shows (English or Chinese), and that seems like 90% of Chinese TV. I do force myself to watch at times, but I often lose interest. One way around this is to find a movie I like with Chinese audio. This has worked brilliantly at times.

The one area of pure success for me is reading. I read all the time. There is plenty of crap material out there, but it seems not to difficult to find interesting stuff despite this.

I am very fortunate about another thing. My favorite person, my wife, often speaks Chinese with me.

Jen

Thanks for your input as well. I agree that one has to like the language. I figure that is why many Chinese can't learn English well. They think it is just a tool.

Posted on: Learning English in China

Hi everybody, here are two questions inspired by this lesson:

To all of you who are truly are advanced level in Chinese (or any other language would be helpful), what did you do to get there?  How long did it take for you to get to where you felt you were firmly in the advanced level?

I ask this because I almost never (but not never) find anyone similar to me (i.e. non-ethnic Chinese, especially European language background) out on the streets of Shanghai who has a higher level of Chinese than me.  I'm not saying my level is all that high.  It isn't.  I just don't meet these kind of people.

I would be particularly interested in any CPod staff members who have made it there.  No pressure John :-).

Posted on: Upcoming lessons, lots of Chinese and a "jia you!"

Whoops! Haha. Caught red handed not paying attention.

Posted on: Upcoming lessons, lots of Chinese and a "jia you!"

I just realized that 中文巴 got the group of the week.  Yay! 中文巴加油！

Posted on: What do Foreigners Like?

I hope I'm not repeating something. I just tried reading through all this but just couldn't do it. (Not because it wouldn't be worth it. It's a time issue.)

I hate the 老外 thing for a reason less abstract than what the word implies, i.e. outsider, not one of us and so on (although a valid reason). I hate it because I think it is rude to talk about someone right in front of them without including them in the conversation. I don't know if this bothers anyone else, but it bothers me. I rarely get addressed 老外 to my face. If they did, at least they would be talking to me directly, and I could handle it much better. I can't imagine a Chinese person would feel comfortable if he or she was in America and everyone always said within ear shot, "Hey look, it's a Chinese person, and then did nothing to communicate."