User Comments - zhong_bide
zhong_bide
Posted on: Hanging Up the Phone
January 22, 2009 at 10:14 AMMaybe I am just imagining it, but I seem to notice a greater occurence of the little expressions like 啊 呢 or 呐 etc in the lessons recently.
I'd like to see some letters, with the typical style of greetings and endings. Perhaps a series - this level or intermediate. (eg a mother corresponding to her son/ daughter studying somewhere else.)
I really appreciated this lesson. Thanks!
Posted on: Guided Plan Gets Better! Plus: Poetry is Pending
January 18, 2009 at 11:40 AMI look forward to the poems too! I just hope there are some easier ones, not too complex for elementary/ immediate C-poddies. I'm sure the poems will compliment the existing offerings.
好主意
Posted on: Seeing Somebody to the Door
January 8, 2009 at 11:13 AMNice cultural tidbits here!
Posted on: Outrageous Power Bill
January 6, 2009 at 10:56 AMHow often would such a bill come - monthly, every 3 months?
One place where I stayed in China did things differently. Electricity was paid in advance. You took a card into the agent and paid an amount of your choice on to the card. Then you inserted the card into your electricity meter, and if it ran out - no more electricity! So you had to keep an eye on it. But a meter reader came to the house to read the gas and water meters.
What do they call an electricity meter? Is it dian4biao3 = 电表 ？ Is there a special name for meter readers (electricity/ gas/ or water?)
Posted on: Outrageous Power Bill
January 6, 2009 at 10:22 AM@chanelle77
"Houses are not isolated (like in Holland)"
Do you mean "insulated"? (Not being picky, just clarifying) :)
Posted on: Early January News
January 4, 2009 at 12:06 PMHere are some Australian Queensland themes for lessons!
- Swim between the flags. Watch out for sharks.
- Cricket (the sport, not the insect)
- Don't swim in the river. Crocodiles live there - and love foreign tourists.
- Cuisine - fish and chips, bangers & mash, roast chook & vegies, prawn cocktails and Moreton Bay bugs, vegemite on toast, How to make pavlova.
- ANZAC day (relevant to Kiwis as well).
- The Storey Bridge climb.
Posted on: Don't push that button
January 3, 2009 at 1:48 PMRe: -uan Thanks Pinkjeans and Changye.
知道了
Posted on: Don't push that button
January 2, 2009 at 2:34 PMRE: na4ge v nei4ge etc
Let us English speakers not forget that we have varieties of pronunciation for many words across the English speaking countries as well as within.
For example I always pronunciation "graph" with a short vowel, as I think the North Americans do, but many of my countrymen pronounce it with a long "a" sound as in "ah".
My point is that we should expect some variety in pronunciations to occur, without necessarily resorting to sorting out a correct or incorrect form.
I am grateful for other pointing ou the differences in pronunciation of the "-uan" words, since this has concerned me also. Recently I was talking to a Taiwanese speaker about ships and said 船 (chuan2) with a short "a" as in apple, similar to the "ywen" others have written about, but she corrected me by pronouncing it with the longer vowel form like chu -ahn. By the way, she was in her 20's. I have a furhter question about these "-uan" words - is there just age differences accounting for pronunciation, or are there regional preferences as well.
Posted on: Gong Xi Fa Cai!
January 26, 2009 at 9:18 AMBTW - Today is a very special day for Chinese Australians! It is both Chinese New year as well as Australia Day - the National Holiday. It doesn't usually coincide, since Australia Day is always the 26th January.