User Comments - xiaophil

Posted on: The Mysterious Student Record

That's a very interesting comment. If you read this again, I am wondering if you are/were a faculty member or just a fellow student?

Posted on: An Introduction!

CPod,

I can understand the necessity of using the IPA system, but I think you guys should provide a link or two to a decent IPA resource. I think most native English speakers are unfamiliar with this system. I know I am.

Posted on: An Introduction!

Thanks Jason. That's cool.

Posted on: An Introduction!

Yes, this is what happened to me. Very odd.

Another strange thing. This says that I am replying to Jason, but Jason isn't a part of this thread.

Posted on: An Introduction!

Yeah, I'm curious about this too. I am very interested in this series, but if I had a choice between Qingwen and learning dialects, Qingwen would definitely win.

Posted on: An Introduction!

Hi Cpod,

I haven't listened to it yet, so perhaps you addressed what I am about to say in the lesson.  Anyway, I notice there is no pdf.  I can understand the challenge here, as Shanghainese surely cannot be expressed with pinyin.  That said, since we are mostly native English speakers here, couldn't you make an approximation using English pronunciation rules?  I know it would not be anything but exact, especially given the extreme variation of pronunciations in English, but it could make a good starting point.

PS: This series is a good idea.  I can't wait to hear this lesson.

Posted on: The Mysterious Student Record

Changye

I just read them. I say let the boy go to Peking University (assuming this was the only cheating he did), and throw the parents in jail.

Posted on: The Mysterious Student Record

Baba

After arriving in China, one of the cultural lessons I learned is that Chinese people do not want to rock the boat unless a situation become quite intolerable.

I guess that Australia would be much like America. If this situation happened in our countries, usually at least one person would complain, and there would be a legitimate investigation. Afterward, the whistle-blower might be perceived as a hero.

In China, people don't like to jeopardize any relationships. They are afraid that if they complain, the authorities will feel embarrassed that such kind of bad behavior has been exposed in their jurisdiction, or worse yet, the authorities might be involved in the crime, and thus they will silently get revenge. It's not just the authorities they would be worried about. If a person points a finger at one person, who knows what powerful friends that one person has. Chinese people are very prone to forming cliques, and so they don't want to become the enemy of a clique. Actually, I don't know if this all makes sense to you, but in a nutshell, Chinese people in general see relationships as being very complicated and so don't want to risk any unforeseen backlash.

This insight comes from many talks I have had with white collar workers. If anyone here would like to dispute this, please do. I would be interested to hear.

Posted on: Piano Class

dunderklumpen

Thanks for the nice words. I promise you, whatever level you think I am, I still struggle a lot, but it is always nice to get some praise.

What instrument(s) do you play?

By the way, I didn't exactly write above what I wanted to write. (I was in a bit of a hurry then, as now.) Should be:

这个播客是刚好出版的。上周我买了一个吉他，我想用中文复习乐理，这样可以一边练吉他一边学习中文。

By the way, I used to play guitar a lot, but I never did nail down theory.

Posted on: The Mysterious Student Record

suxiaoya

Yes! In fact, I could be wrong, but I don't think Chinese typically talk in terms of "right and wrong." That's NOT to say that morality isn't important here. It definitely is! I'm just saying I think morality is spoken in different terms, and of course is quite valid.