We were surprised when 9527 came out with this, especially since she's studying to be a programmer. But given the maze of Chinese Internet businesses with strange three-character names, it's not all surprising that - sooner or later - someone had to make this mistake. Just be glad this foot-in-mouth moment happened to a native speaker and not you....If you're a total beginner to Chinese, you'll find this lesson a bit on the hard side compared to most of our Absolute Beginner materials. So if you're new to Popup Chinese and easily intimidated, try starting with an easier lesson like this one. If you feel courageous though, remember that we have line-by-line recordings of all of the lines in this dialogue on our lesson text page, so you can listen to them one-by-one and practice until you get perfect. And for feedback on your spoken Chinese? We've enabled our Speaking Practice hotline for this lesson. Grab your PIN from the text page and give us a call for some individual Chinese learning love. We're looking forward to hearing from you.
jim.veseley
said on June 15, 2010
Are the names of most Chinese websites three letters long? X + X + Wang?
Echo
said on June 15, 2010
@jim,
Not have to be three letters, but we usually put wang3 at the end since it means website in Chinese.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Ian
said on June 18, 2010
大家好,
I have used 上网 or 网上 meaning more to be online, is that used often to refer to the internet? also is a website not called 网站?
A little bit of logical thinking I had at the end of the podcast was, if one was stranded in Sian and can't find a 网吧, how can we email Echo to find one for us, hehehee ;o)
祝你们
伊恩
Echo
said on June 19, 2010
@ians,
Ian 你好！最近怎么样？
网,因特网 or 互联网 is internet. 网站 is website.
如果找不到网吧，大家可以给我打电话 :D
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
lakers4sho
said on May 2, 2013
In general conversations, are most people more likely to use the full "是...的" construction, as in "你的手表是在哪兒買的?" or do they usually drop the 是? 你的手表在哪兒買的?Also, does the "是...的" imply that the event happened in the past? Would you use this construction to ask "Where *do* you buy this watch?" as opposed to "Where *did* you buy this watch"?Just a couple of nuances that I wanted to ask. Thanks a lot!
Echo
said on May 2, 2013
@lakers4sho,People tend to drop 是 if it's a question, like 你的手表在哪儿买的？你们在哪个饭馆儿吃的？你什么时候去的？It doesn't always imply the past. Sometimes it just tells a situation or a state. Like 这个不是我的。那个是他拿过来的。--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
lakers4sho
said on May 5, 2013
Thanks Echo!Another question,What is the difference between:聽不懂and沒聽懂in terms of implication?
Echo
said on May 6, 2013
@lakers4sho,聽不懂 is can't understand. For instance, you can say 我聽不懂西班牙語 I can not understand Spanish. 沒聽懂 is didn't understand. Like 我沒聽懂你說甚麼 I don't/didn't understand what you just said.--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
dwainecawthon
said on May 20, 2014
Hello guys! I recently purchased a premium membership and am really enjoying studying all of these excellent lessons. I want to thank you for this fantastic service. I would like to offer an alternative translation of this lesson's dialog to the one that you have in the transcript. A: Where did you buy your watch?B: On the Net.A: What net?B: The Internet.A: Oh, never heard of it.:)
martes
said on February 25, 2016
Wher is the difference between tingbudong and Mei tingdong as well as tingbujia and Mei tingjian?Thank you!
trevelyan
said on March 3, 2016
@martes,The differences are more subtle than I think anyone needs to worry about at this stage. Technically, 听不懂 is a general statement about intellectual comprehension ("I don't understand") while 没听懂 refers explicitly to a specific past utterance ("I didn't understand"). Use the former to tell people you don't speak their language. Use the latter if you need them to repeat that one sentence.The distinction between 懂 and 见 is more subtle. 懂 is about comprehension where 见 is about perception. So 听不懂 implies that you heard the words perfectly clearly but didn't understand what they meant. 听不见 suggests you didn't hear clearly, and implies that if they spoke more loudly you would not have issues understanding them (i.e. if you are on a telephone call in a noisy place 听不见 is better than 听不懂).
martes
said on March 3, 2016
Thank you very much for your explanation.
