It’s Jenny’s birthday tomorrow (as if you didn’t know). I don’t know how old she is (honestly).
A lot of people ask me what shes’ really like. Well, as we all know she’s very smart.You also probably know that she has a real Shanghainese elegance about her, etc.
But I guess you’re probably more interested in hearing things that you don’t already know about her. OK.
First off, she’s really, really patient. I’ve never seen her get moody or short. She’s always the same, agreeable person, regardless of when things go wrong, or when the recordings get dragged out way beyond the schedule. (That, er, happens, sometimes.) I’ve never seen her in a bad mood.
She’s also totally at ease in both English and Chinese. I’ve seen lots of people speaking broken Chinese, trying, painfully to talk to her, and she always responds patiently and without taking recourse to English. She doesn’t have this need to show off her obvious smarts (a need that is all too common). In the same way she gets along with just about everyone and treats them all pretty much the same way - pleasantly.
To be honest, when she started she showed natural talent, but I never thought she would grow into the role the way she has.
I could go on, but I don’t want to embarrass her.
Oh, and there’s one more thing: it appears (though I can’t be certain) that she still hasn’t found Mr Right. Now you know.
From all of us at the factory, happy birthday, Jenny.
Ken Carroll
Jenny, 祝你伤日快了！ Here’s a wish from my daughter. And Ken, I think she gave away her age in one of the earlier lessons. But I ain’t telling.
Oh, heck, I can’t embed a youtube video on the blog. And that should have been 祝你觞日快乐. My bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdZs3xghvKE
Not to put any pressure on her or anything, Happy Birthday and may Jenny find happiness whatever form that takes!
Happy Birthday Jenny. (it is number 26 maybe ?).
Congrats on making Chinesepod the success that it is. It is a real pleasure listening to your podcasts.
Gefeliciteerd met je verjaardag Jenny!!!!
Proficiat
Jenny,
Feliz cumpleaños, Happy Birthday, 生日快乐!
Thank you for working so hard to make each Chinesepod lesson relevant and fun. Studying Chinese via Chinesepod is one of the highlights for me this year.
Best wishes to you and may you be showered with endless (无穷) blessings.
生日快乐 Jenny
../iliana
http://www.bazzanet.com/happybirthday.jpg
Jenny, you’re the voice that inspires me daily, thank you!
Have a great birthday, and many more of them too!
That was a very nice homage, Ken. I hope we get to hear equally nice things about the rest of your staff throughout the year!
And to you, Miss Zhu, may you have the loveliest of birthdays, and a most spectacular year!
Zhu Laoshi
everything ken said x a million
生日快乐.
親愛的 Jenny,
恭喜恭喜!
祝你生日快樂!
Feliz aniversario professora Jenny!!!!
Happy Birthday Jenny from a fan in Boulder, Colorado.
Jenny
Happy birthday and many blessings for the future!
Delta
Jenny,
I think I wished it to you on another blog but in case you missed it - Happy Birthday! and hope to drop by for a coffee when I eventually make it to Shanghai, hopefully while you are still in your twenties - so I still have a few years right?!
Does Jenny actually read the blog? I’ve never seen her post.
Jenny,
祝你生日快乐! Alles Gute zum 22.Geburtstag! (älter kann sie ja gar nicht sein, so fröhlich wie sie immer ist
Jenny
Happy Birthday it must feel incredible to get a “Global Hug”
Please tell your parents thank you for giving us CPoddies such a wonderful present each day to spend time with.
Mike in Jubei
You’re awesome, Jenny
Many happy returns.
Ally, UK
Jenny,
Happy Birthday, hope you’ll have a blast today,
and fantastic year
Julie, NY
Jenny-san, o tanjo-bi omedeto gozaimasu (happy birthday).
I am always fascinated by your talent that makes www.chinesepod.com such a wonderful site as it is. Thanks to your lessons, my comprehension of Mandarin has greatly improved, and is continuously improving.
Happy Birthday Jenny. I’m also impressed by your English and Chinese skills. Also encouraged as a Christian. Enjoy lots of cake for your birthday!!
Jenny,
I hope you enjoy today.
Its pace and place.
The joy of living come what may.
Not past, not next, but your day.
Happy birthday!
我希望你今天过的乐乐快乐
今一步一步，在这里住
生活的乐就是又哭又笑
昨天，明天不管，今天它是你的
祝你生日快乐
(BTW, my Chinese version is not really accurate, it was fun trying though. I give it 70% ok, 30% listen to more Chinesepod.)
Cheers,
Lantian - cpoddie for sure.
Happy Birthday Jenny. I’m still amazed at how you take part in every podcast lesson and still never miss a beat. 佩服佩服 It’s hard to imagine Chinesepod without Jenny (is it even possible?).
祝你生日快乐
Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum Geburtstag, Jenny! Alles Gute!
生日快乐
(Although it was hard, I waited until today, because in Germany birthday wishes only work if spoken after the birthday!)
I wish you & the team a perfect birthday party!
Eat as many cake as you can handle & drink as much coffee [helps gulping down more sweet stuff]
Is there any language for 生日快乐 in the world that’s not on the blog? 谢谢大家! This is the birthday I can brag about to my grand children.
Hi Jenny,
I already wished you happy birthday in Dutch (I live in the Netherlands), but for your grand children, I can also do it in my native language:
Joyeux Anniversaire Jenny et mes voeux les plus sinceres.
Hip, Hip, Hip…..
祝你觞日快乐 Jenny!! As I said back on the comments section, Happy Birthday! And just like Henning and Georg I also wish you “Alles Gute Zum Geburtstag!” (All good for the birthday!) in our native German language. And also in my other native language (Greek) I wish you “Χρόνια πολλά!” which means “Many Years!”. Happy Birthday again and all happiness for today and your future!
By the way, what is Jenny’s chinese name again in characters? I was always curious to see the characters.
sinni kualoq
Jenny,
There wasn’t one in Russian but there you go:
С днём рожденья!
Bestest wishes and many happy returns! Being one of the lucky few to have actually met you in person, I can only confirm that all what Ken’s said is true, if not slightly understated…
Serge, now safely back in London
Here is one in HTML.
A Happy Birthday to Jenny
Happy Birthday!
Aww it stripped out the code. LOL
Hey Jenny,
Best birthday wishes to you, an international treasure.
You brighten every morning here in NYC - rain or shine.
Just know that the world is shouting out:
祝你生日快乐
zhù nǐ shēngri kuàilè
Happy B-day Jenny.
I am an American but I was born in Indonesia so this is how to say Happy B-day in Indonesian.
Selamat Ulang Tahun Jenny!!!
Cheers,
Feliz cumpleaños (Happy birthday).
Happy birthday, Jen!
I wish you a very happy birthday and may all the best things in life that you wish for will come true.
Thanks very much for all your lessons.
cheers,
Gday Jenny,
Happy birthday from Melbourne.
If you come down this way I buy you the best roast duck leg in australia!!! That’s how my family celebrate birthday.
Otherwise Ken should get you one from Shanghai.
I totally agree with Ken’s comment on you just by listening to you.
dezhi liang
Jenny-
Happy Birthday
Mandarin has made such a difference in my life, so your tremendous help in speaking better is a godsend.
Ron
Paul, I believe Jenny’s Chinese name is 朱朱琦.
Bazza,
I think Jenny has a single character Chinese name, so it’s just 朱琦.
Having just joined this community as a newbie I would like to wish you a happy birthday in maori Hari huri tau ki a koe (happy birthday to you) Your lessons are fantastic and looking forward to visiting China in Jan 07.
Arohanui
NZ
Our birthdates are close…a day apart…but I think we could reverse the digits in our ages!!
Every best wish for the future - I’m sure it will be full of happiness & fulfilment.
Thanks for making this a special year for me too as a C-podder-I look forward to your crystal-clear voice & fantastic lessons every day.
It’s very easy to agree with Ken’s sentiments about your patience & good humour. It shines through!
Art Kho, I thought 朱 was her family name and 朱琦 her given name.
Wow, you guys speak a bewildering array of languages!
If any of you are interested in being a part of the ChinesePod blog community and collaborating with us to write a blog in your native tongue, we would be very interested in talking to you!
Send us an email at chinesepod@gmail.com and I can give you some more info.
Thanks!
Colleen
Happy birthday, Jenny! It’s always a pleasure to hear you in the podcasts. You are so kind and helpful! Blessings to you on your birthday
Xiexie,
Mary
Bazza(or indeed Jenny)
What’s the pinyin for 琦? It doesn’t seem to come up on zhongwen.com
Huasen
华森
Huasen,
The pinyin for 琦 is qí, see http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/c.....p;cddytm=0
Bazza,
I think Jenny’s Chinese name is similar to 7′6″ basketball player Yao Ming. One character for surname and one for the name. It’s not uncommon among the Chinese to have a single character name.
We’ll just have to get Aric to ask Jenny about her Chinese name on the Saturday Show. Jenny did talk about her Chinese name with Connie in one of the advanced lessons. I just can’t remember which lesson that was.
This is what Jenny said on the 高级17 Chinese Cinema lesson comments.
————-
Just one (good) reason why many Chinese and this one in particular have English names. My Chinese name is 朱琦/zhu1qi2, which is quite pleasant to the ears when pronounced accurately. But unfortunately I was subjected to a lot of ‘zoo key’ from good-hearted foreigners. My parents would faint if they hear that and know the comic meaning of those 2 English words.
Comment by jenny zhu — June 7, 2006 @ 2:24 pm
—————
Although that still doesn’t clear things up for certain.
Happy Birthday Jen Zhu! God Bless You.
Bazza,
Mystery solved! It’s 朱琦. According to Jenny: “…我的姓名只有两个字“…” (http://zh.chinesepod.com/podcast/2006/07/26/高级5-姓名的起源/, around the 2:42 mark). She also said her parents had called her 朱美玉。
Interesting. I have a friend whose name is Zhu Qi but he is a man. Different character for Qi.
Ok Art Kho, I’ll believe you.
I can get my ‘我爱朱琦’ tattoo done now then LOL.
Well Bazza,
I just heard the Saturday Show, aka, the Jenny show this week. Aric wants to meet with you when he is in England. Perhaps he can video you getting your ‘我爱朱琦’ tattoo!
Hmmm, perhaps you should tell Ken to change the Chinesepod logo to your ‘我爱朱琦’ tattoo. 
Thanks for that Bazza, and for the link to the online dictionary, much better than the online dictionary. I’ll buy you a 啤酒 on Gerrard Street any time you care to name :–)
Cheers
华森
Hmmm that was supposed to read much better than the ones I know about.
华森
Huasen, I think you meant to thank Art Kho there.
So I did, thanks Art Kho.
华森
Jenny - Happy Happy Birthday to you! I would like to nominate you as China’s #1 Ambassador to the World for 2006!!! Because of you and ChinesePod, I took my first trip ever to China last month. I have naturally fallen in love with Shanghai and plan to move to China in 2007 - All because of Jenny!! This time last year I would not have dreamed of living in China and now it is my daily obsession and goal. Jenny and ChinesePod (and Ken!) have opened my eyes to the wonders of China. To think of countless others who have been affected as I have is astounding. Congratulations and keep up the great work!
Thank you for all that you do and Happy Birthday Jenny!
Happy belated birthday, Jenny. I listen to Chinesepod everyday day on our living room stereo, so you and Ken have become my friends! - in a virtual way. My parents were Shanghainese, and so I finally made a step to acquire some language skills with your podcasts. So far so good. Your energy and zest on the podcasts has made me very motivated to learn Mandarin even though I have a long way to go… Since I constantly heard Mandarin and Shanghainese growing up, I have been able to make good progress. My regret is that I didn’t want to learn Chinese at a young age.
I, too, visited China/Shanghai for the first time and was simply amazed at discovering my ancestral roots. (My mother was pregnant with me when she left Shanghai for New York City.) With a cousin, I visited the street in Jiading, where my grandfather built a family house - long destroyed in the Sino Japanese War. Recently, I met several cousins in Beijing and Shanghai who understood some of my ChinesePod-acquired Mandarin! Since my visit was so short, I am hoping, of course, to return to China. As a Chinese-American, re-discovering oneself in China is a profound life altering event.
Thank you for your work on ChinesePod.
Bob Hsiang
San Francisco, CA
Suk Sun Wan Kert!! KunKru Jenny:)
= Happy Birthday Teacher Jenny
( since I’m from Thailand..that’s happy birthday in Thai;) )
Thank you for making such a great Mandarin learning centre
Bob,
As someone who has been away from my own roots for many years, I think yours is a great story. I’m really glad if we can contribute in some small way to make this happen.
Ken Carroll
Hi,
生日快樂 from Philadelphia and all that. Its a little late. 真對不起. I was wondering Jenny, if you read this, how old are you? I didn’t see it mentioned. Keep up the good work.
Brendan
Brendan,
If you are interested: Aric mentioned her age in the Saturday Show last week.
Thanks for sharing
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links: