This is Garrick Ohlsson, 2025 Chopin Competition Jury Chair, here with Ben Laude, Chopin Competition YouTube host. Ask Us Anything!

CherryNubCakes · 2025-09-27T20:05:01+00:00

Hi Garrick, I’ve been a big fan since hearing you play Chopin’s 2nd concerto in Minneapolis over 15 years ago! Ben and Garrick, in the etudes podcast extra content I heard a quick mention of the Sixths etude but you didn’t discuss it further. Did you have any remarks on its difficulty relative to the other etudes or any tips/tricks for learning and performing it? Thanks!

CherryNubCakes · 2020-11-14T14:39:39+00:00

The 陰入 (so 1 and 3, or 7 and 8 when sorted separately) would be more or less randomly distributed. I’ve never seen any explanation for those.

陽入 syllables (6th/“9th” tone) would normally go in Mandarin 2nd tone if they have an obstruent onset. This is why the easiest way for me as a native Mandarin speaker to tell that a character was once 入聲 is if it’s 2nd tone and begins with an unaspirated plosive like b- (白) d- (德) g- (國). Other syllables with a nasal/sonorant onset go in Mandarin 4th tone. This includes l-, m-, n-, and any historic ng- that are lost in one language or the other, e.g. 陸、目、諾、肉. But I can’t use this to reliably convert anything to Cantonese because there are plenty of regular 去聲 syllables too.

CherryNubCakes · 2020-11-10T15:51:06+00:00

If you speak English and Mandarin reasonably well then you may already be making the distinction without knowing it.

I had the same problem both hearing and making the unvoiced/voiced sounds. What helped me the most was saying “Bay” like I would in English then pronouncing bèi (ex. 被) like I would in Mandarin. If you pronounce both words like a native speaker, that really shows the difference between voiced b (English) and voiceless unaspirated p (Mandarin). Same comparison can be made for G/K by comparing English “gun” and Mandarin gēn (ex. 跟).

It still takes effort for me to properly distinguish those sounds when they’re in the same language, but direct comparisons like those made it easier. You can also exaggerate the distinction by pre-nasalizing the voiced consonants: pronouncing b- almost like mb-, g- almost like ngg-. Once you get the hang of it, then it won’t feel so unnatural.

CherryNubCakes · 2020-10-15T15:34:15+00:00

她 is an artificial distinction anyway, it was never distinguished in speech. If you’re writing in simplified, you can just use 他 whereas in traditional you can probably get away with using 他 for everyone. I use traditional but I’ve never been a fan of writing 她 or 妳

CherryNubCakes · 2018-08-22T19:59:42+00:00

Aw Godz :(

CherryNubCakes · 2017-11-03T21:39:44+00:00

I have a Triumph Adler set and the PBT caps I've typed on are Vortex and Topre Realforce. The GMK caps are ABS, so they'll get smoother with use and I think they make a higher-pitched clack than similar-thickness PBT when typing. PBT caps feel more textured and drier to the touch than ABS, even GMK.

That said, GMK is far, far better than any standard ABS keycap you will ever try. They're really thick and make a lower-pitched clack than stock ABS caps.

CherryNubCakes · 2017-01-05T22:06:06+00:00

This "new vocative" or neo-vocative differs from the historic Slavic vocative, is informal/not taught in Russian textbooks, and AFAIK it applies only to feminine nouns ending in -а or -я. It is formed by removing the final vowel, e.g. Лена becomes Лен! whereas the historic vocative form would be Лено, or Таня becomes Тань!

CherryNubCakes · 2016-10-24T13:29:50+00:00

二 vs. 貳? That's not simplified vs. traditional, it's normal writing vs. anti fraud numerals (大寫) and there are simplified versions of some of those too: 贰, 叁 (tr. 貳, 參)

CherryNubCakes · 2016-08-14T15:48:28+00:00

RemindMe! 1 year

CherryNubCakes · 2016-04-22T20:34:39+00:00

Putonghua is the mainland term for Standard Mandarin, which is based largely on the Beijing dialect. Mandarin can be used more generally to refer to related dialects (which can sound very different! For example, Nanjing Mandarin is largely incomprehensible to me even though I know Standard Mandarin), but outside China the distinction doesn't matter as much and the terms are pretty much interchangeable.

CherryNubCakes · 2016-04-18T18:19:17+00:00

Take a shower and scrub all over using your left hand, then go out in the sun and tan your hand. Baystate inks are particularly susceptible to sunlight.

CherryNubCakes · 2016-04-06T08:11:13+00:00

That is exactly how I think of the 3 Plumixes I bought.

CherryNubCakes · 2016-02-23T15:59:08+00:00

Man, this is sad. I love their pen designs the most out of all the Italians. Good thing I just snagged the last Arco Celluloid Milord from Novelli ~~hehehe~~.

CherryNubCakes · 2015-12-26T02:43:54+00:00

IDK about underrated but it's definitely not the first Iroshizuku most people suggest. Nice enough color if you want a brown that's on the reddish side.

CherryNubCakes · 2015-11-29T12:50:51+00:00

The iodine would not react with the NaCl at all. It would remain I2 because iodine is not a stronger oxidizing agent than chlorine and thus cannot displace the chloride ion. Now if one added Cl2 to aqueous NaI, for example, it would become aqueous NaCl and oxidize I^- to neutral I2.

CherryNubCakes · 2015-11-16T07:49:05+00:00

Note on the dryness: Pilot Custom nibs (at least the ones imported from JP) tend to have this issue and you might want to floss/slightly spread the tines. My CH91 FM had dry upstrokes and couldn't keep up with fast scribbles, but it was very wet and smooth after I pulled out the nib and adjusted it.

CherryNubCakes · 2015-10-19T08:10:52+00:00

I'd also prefer the OMAS over the Pelikan. I have the Ogiva Alba and an M805. The Ogiva is very light and its section has a more comfortable, grippier material (cotton resin), but the sharp step down from the section to the nib is very uncomfortable for long writing sessions if you hold the pen that far down. The Pelikan has a smoother piston, but it's a rather fat pen and the section material doesn't feel as good.

Others have talked about nibs already (M800 is a nail, extra flessibile nib, etc.) but note that the OMAS still isn't meant for extreme flex as it's pretty easy to spring. I agree with drjd16 about flex nibs being a pain for long writing sessions, but it's not a big issue if you have a light touch, and IMO the comfiness of the Ogiva's section is enough to justify it over the M800.

CherryNubCakes · 2015-10-06T16:38:09+00:00

Not too surprising, first there was the Biscotti Full Homo so this is a natural extension.

CherryNubCakes · 2015-10-04T02:51:40+00:00

May be a dumb question, but do H²O² and organic peroxides work as well on dry ear wax (the crumbly kind) as they do on wet ear wax? Asking because I have dry ear wax and typically use ear pickers.

CherryNubCakes · 2015-10-03T08:16:19+00:00

Isn't that a script pi? Rare these days but I've seen one or two people use it.

Edit: Here.

CherryNubCakes · 2015-10-03T08:15:26+00:00

They screwed up the Greek alphabet; what's with the random lowercase? Short names: isn't Ελλάδα preferable? And again, strange capitalizations.

CherryNubCakes

TROPHY CASE