btw, Shanghai is S.F.’s sister city for what it’s worth…

Does this sound right? Given that my Chinese raises smiles for many other reasons, I could be way off.

Hello from the Bay Area -

Then you will be familiar with this song by Journey:

When the lights go down in the city
And the sun shines on the bay
I want to be there in my city
Ooh, ooh

(My problem is that as I study Chinese more, the amount of input that I can study increases, I’ve pretty much caught up with all of the UI and I lessons on the English site. And there is this big pool of input waiting on zh site, but its hard to validate that I understand it correctly or get help with set phrases that aren’t in the dictionary, etc.)

BTW my impression is that Jenny’s accent is more 标准 than a lot of Beijingers’. This also seems to be true of the Mandarin sound tracks for movies made in 香港, but that’s a different topic. Jenny ennunciates very clearly and is a real treat to listen to. I’ve never met anyone with her teaching ability in person.

I am wondering a bit about “Authentic Spanish fresh from our studios in Shanghai”. It seems like Mexico City or Barcelona would be more credible. Are you thinking of a branch office somewhere?

Actually Chinesepod has really changed my life, don’t leave home without it, as they say. I am doing something I dismissed as almost impossible. Slowly, after four months, phrases and vocabulary are beginning to feel more natural.

Bob

Eek - I was mortified to read what I wrote was insulting. Of course, I was exaggerating (in reality I was told there was a detectible southern accent). My partner’s parents are Shanghainese, so naturally we both enjoy listening to you guys.

I’ve never seen General Tso’s Chicken in Australia - I was also under the impression this was a North American thing.

Fascinating article. I had never heard of it until Aric mentioned it. I think the author may be wrong that it is known around the world - it seems to be really on in North America that it is known??? So, where am I going to get some here in China?

Ken Carroll

Found an article on “General Tso’s Chicken you might wanna read. I recall a discussion in one of the CPOD lessons where (I think) Aric brought it up — and neither you nor any of the native Chinese had ever heard of this wildly popular dish. That struck me as odd, but I ultimately concluded that it was simply a western dish — maybe from some Asian immigrant community — that most of us just assumed was authentic Chinese cuisine.

Turns out — it IS authentic, but it only dates back to the 1950’s. Read the link for it’s fascinating story. As an added bonus, there is a recipe at the end of the article.

I can asure you that Jenny’s accent is not the equivalent of a heavy southern drawl. (That’s quite an insult, actually, but I won’t take it to heart!) She does not speak with a Beijing accent, as your friend from Beijing does, but she is is an educated, standard speaker of the language. In other words she speak the way that 98% of the educated population of China speaks.

Ken Carroll