Our Chinese lesson for today dredges up memories of that time we bought a copy of The Matrix Reloaded from a DVD vendor on the streets of Beijing. "This is absolutely the real thing," he swore up and down, "it came straight from Shenzhen yesterday...." And so we bought it and soon found ourselves watching a handicam-rip of Johnny Mnemonic with a near-incomprehensible Chinese dub. The scene with the talking dolphin was particularly humiliating for all involved.And while there is unlikely to be another movie as bad as Johnny Mnemonic in the near future, China is in Harry Potter mode again and expectations are high for the final film. Operating under the principle that anything goes in this country, in this podcast we talk a bit about the piracy industry in China, review some Chinese DVD-related vocabulary and share a quick language tip on coded signals you really need to back away from the merchandise.
trevelyan
said on December 30, 2010
Ok... time for a mea culpa. You guys know we always put an emphasis on standard mandarin in our podcasts and dialogues. That said, if you listen carefully to this podcast, you may pick up on a word that both Brendan and Gail pronounce with a distinctive Shandong accent....We'll spill the beans tomorrow. In the meantime, bonus points and respect for anyone who can identify our mystery word....
laubis
said on December 30, 2010
碟? well,I guess here it is an 儿化音ized 碟儿
trevelyan
said on December 31, 2010
@laubis -- yes, exactly! :)
Brendan
said on December 31, 2010
Shandong accent, your granny. I've never spent any time there, and none of my teachers were from there. My accent is 100% authentic gringo.
kramhughes
said on February 9, 2018
例如: 「蘋果公司走在高科技前沿的。」