Learn about the various pressures Chinese parents often put on their children to succeed, and also about ways Chinese children fight back
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Hi everyone and welcome to chineseclass101.com, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Chinese. Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo: 嗨！大家好，我是Echo. (Hāi! Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: And with us, you will learn to speak Chinese with fun and effective lessons. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: So we are here today with intermediate series, season 1, lesson 16. |
| Echo: Presidential Aspirations. |
| David: Yes, Presidential aspirations. So in this lesson, we are going to learn how to aim high. We’ve got a conversation that takes place at home between a father and a son. |
| Echo: Right and as usual, they are speaking casual Mandarin. |
| David: Right. Now we are going to take you to the dialogue in a sec. Before we do, we want to remind you, one of the best ways to remember new words is to use the flashcard systems we’ve got at chineseclass101.com |
| Echo: 没错。我们的生词卡。(Méi cuò. Wǒmen de shēngcí kǎ.) |
| David: Right. Go to the premium learning center and you can be studying the vocab for this lesson in literally seconds. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Okay, with that, let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 你为什么又撒谎？我真是白养你了。(nǐ wèishénme yòu sāhuǎng? wǒ zhēnshì bái yǎng nǐ le.) |
| 爸爸，对不起... (bàba, duìbuqǐ ...) |
| 三字经都白背了，书都白念了。(Sān zì jīng dōu bái bèi le, shū dōu bái niànle.) |
| 我知道错了...(wǒ zhīdào cuò le ...) |
| 你知不知道林肯在你这岁数有多诚实？啊？(nǐ zhībùzhīdào Línkěn zài nǐ zhè suìshu yǒu duō chéngshí? á?) |
| 不知道...我只知道林肯在您这岁数，都已经当总统了。(bù zhīdào ...wǒ zhǐ zhīdào Línkěn zài nín zhè suìshu, dōu yǐjīng dāng zǒngtǒng le.) |
| David: One more time, a little bit slower. |
| 你为什么又撒谎？我真是白养你了。(nǐ wèishénme yòu sāhuǎng? wǒ zhēnshì bái yǎng nǐ le.) |
| 爸爸，对不起... (bàba, duìbuqǐ ...) |
| 三字经都白背了，书都白念了。 (Sān zì jīng dōu bái bèi le, shū dōu bái niànle.) |
| 我知道错了...(wǒ zhīdào cuò le ...) |
| 你知不知道林肯在你这岁数有多诚实？啊？(nǐ zhībùzhīdào Línkěn zài nǐ zhè suìshu yǒu duō chéngshí? á?) |
| 不知道...我只知道林肯在您这岁数，都已经当总统了。 (bù zhīdào ...wǒ zhǐ zhīdào Línkěn zài nín zhè suìshu, dōu yǐjīng dāng zǒngtǒng le.) |
| David: And now with the English translation. |
| 你为什么又撒谎？我真是白养你了。(nǐ wèishénme yòu sāhuǎng? wǒ zhēnshì bái yǎng nǐ le.) |
| Why are you lying again? I really raised you for nothing. |
| 爸爸，对不起... (bàba, duìbuqǐ ...) |
| Father, I'm sorry. |
| 三字经都白背了，书都白念了。 (Sān zì jīng dōu bái bèi le, shū dōu bái niànle.) |
| It's all been wasted, memorizing the classics and reading all those books. |
| 我知道错了...(wǒ zhīdào cuò le ...) |
| I know I've been wrong. |
| 你知不知道林肯在你这岁数有多诚实？啊？(nǐ zhībùzhīdào Línkěn zài nǐ zhè suìshu yǒu duō chéngshí? á?) |
| Do you know how honest Lincoln was at your age? |
| 不知道...我只知道林肯在您这岁数，都已经当总统了。 (bù zhīdào ...wǒ zhǐ zhīdào Línkěn zài nín zhè suìshu, dōu yǐjīng dāng zǒngtǒng le.) |
| No…I only know that when Lincoln was your age he was already a president. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So Echo, do you get this kind of pressure from parents? |
| Echo: 當总统的压力？沒有。(Dāng zǒngtǒng de yālì? Méiyǒu.) |
| David: Or they ever said, oh, we’ve raised you for nothing. |
| Echo: 没有，因为我是很好的，很乖的。 (Méiyǒu, yīnwèi wǒ shì hěn hǎo de, hěn guāi de.) |
| David: This is a pretty Chinese thing for people to say though. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: You hear a lot of parents, yeah, we raised you for nothing. |
| Echo: 没错，白养你了。 (Méi cuò, bái yǎng nǐle.) |
| David: Yeah. Anyway our vocab section today is a mix of things but we’ve got a lot about holding public office. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: So why don’t we get to the vocab section now. |
| Echo: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
| David: And now, the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 撒谎 (Sāhuǎng) |
| David: To lie. |
| Echo: 撒谎，撒谎。白 (Sāhuǎng, sāhuǎng. Bái) |
| David: In vain. |
| Echo: 白，白。三字经 (Bái, bái. Sānzìjīng) |
| David: Three character classic. |
| Echo: 三字经，三字经。养 (Sānzìjīng, sānzìjīng. Yǎng) |
| David: To raise. |
| Echo: 养，养。岁数 (Yǎng, yǎng. Suìshu) |
| David: Age in years. |
| Echo: 岁数，岁数。背 (Suìshu, suìshu. Bèi) |
| David: To memorize. |
| Echo: 背，背。念 (Bèi, bèi. Niàn) |
| David: To recite. |
| Echo: 念，念。诚实 (Niàn, niàn. Chéngshí) |
| David: Honest. |
| Echo: 诚实，诚实。当 (Chéngshí, chéngshí. Dāng) |
| David: To hold a position. |
| Echo: 当，当。总统 (Dāng, dāng. Zǒngtǒng) |
| David: President. |
| Echo: 总统，总统。 (Zǒngtǒng, zǒngtǒng.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Perfect. Let’s have a closer look at the usage of some of these words and phrases. |
| Echo: 我们的第一个词是:总统 (Wǒmen de dì yī gè cí shì: Zǒngtǒng) |
| David: President. |
| Echo: 总统 (Zǒngtǒng) |
| David: President. As in the US president. |
| Echo: 美国总统。奥巴马是美国的现任总统。(Měiguó zǒngtǒng. Àobāmǎ shì měiguó de xiànrèn zǒngtǒng.) |
| David: The current US president is Obama. |
| Echo: 对，名字是奥巴马 Chinese name.(Duì, míngzì shì àobāmǎ Chinese name.) |
| David: Right. Let’s hear that whole sentence again, Obama is the current US president. |
| Echo: 奥巴马是美国的现任总统。 (Àobāmǎ shì měiguó de xiànrèn zǒngtǒng.) |
| David: It sounds like European sports car in Chinese like Audi, yeah, anyway… |
| Echo: 你小心哦。 (Nǐ xiǎoxīn ó.) |
| David: So that’s president. Not all countries have presidents though. China has a Chairman. |
| Echo: 主席 (Zhǔxí) |
| David: Chairman. |
| Echo: 主席。胡锦涛是中国的现任主席。 (Zhǔxí. Hújǐntāo shì zhōngguó de xiànrèn zhǔxí.) |
| David: Hu Jintao is the current Chairman of China. |
| Echo: 胡锦涛是中国的现任主席。 (Hújǐntāo shì zhōngguó de xiànrèn zhǔxí.) |
| David: So we’ve got president |
| Echo: 总统 (Zǒngtǒng) |
| David: And Chairman |
| Echo: 主席 (Zhǔxí) |
| David: In parliamentary countries, the leader is typically known as the prime minister or premier. |
| Echo: 总理 (Zǒnglǐ) |
| David: That’s premier. |
| Echo: 总理 (Zǒnglǐ) |
| David: Or prime minister. |
| Echo: 总理。英国，加拿大，跟澳大利亚都有总理。 (Zǒnglǐ. Yīngguó, jiānádà, gēn àodàlìyǎ dōu yǒu zǒnglǐ.) |
| David: Britain, Canada and Australia all have prime ministers. |
| Echo: 英国，加拿大，跟澳大利亚都有总理。 (Yīngguó, jiānádà, gēn àodàlìyǎ dōu yǒu zǒnglǐ.) |
| David: Right. So three really useful words. First, president. |
| Echo: 总统 (Zǒngtǒng) |
| David: Chairman. |
| Echo: 主席 (Zhǔxí) |
| David: And then prime minister. |
| Echo: 总理 (Zǒnglǐ) |
| David: In our example sentences, we kept using a word that means to currently have a job. |
| Echo: 现任。现任总统 (Xiànrèn. Xiànrèn zǒngtǒng) |
| David: Right. The current president. |
| Echo: 现任主席 (Xiànrèn zhǔxí) |
| David: The current chairman. |
| Echo: 现任总理 (Xiànrèn zǒnglǐ) |
| David: The current prime minister. |
| Echo: 中国也有总理，你们猜猜他是谁。(Zhōngguó yěyǒu zǒnglǐ, nǐmen cāi cāi tā shì shéi.) |
| David: I know who he is. |
| Echo: 是我们非常喜欢的，他是我们的宝贝。 (Shì wǒmen fēicháng xǐhuān de, tā shì wǒmen de bǎobèi.) |
| David: Oh he’s got fans online. He is 温家宝。 (Wēnjiābǎo.) |
| Echo: 对，他真的是我们的宝贝。So 温家宝是中国的现任总理。(Duì, tā zhēn de shì wǒmen de bǎobèi.So wēnjiābǎo shì zhōngguó de xiànrèn zǒnglǐ.) |
| David: He is a really grandfatherly figure. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: It’s his image. Anyway, we have a couple more words we want to look at that aren’t political at all. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: First of all, what is this? |
| Echo: 三字经。 (Sānzìjīng.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 三字经。 (Sānzìjīng.) |
| David: What is the 三字经？(Sānzìjīng.) |
| Echo: 你可以把它翻译成 (Nǐ kěyǐ bǎ tā fānyì chéng) three character classic. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 但是呢... (Dànshì ne...) |
| David: It’s a book. |
| Echo: 是一个很宝的书，我们说叫”小书“。(Shì yīgè hěn bǎo de shū, wǒmen shuō jiào” xiǎo shū “.) |
| David: It’s a book for kids. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And it’s special because all of its lines are three characters long. |
| Echo: 对，但是也是古文的，也是有古文的，有点难。(Duì, dànshì yěshì gǔwén de, yěshì yǒu gǔwén de, yǒudiǎn nán.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 我记得我小时候有一本是有插图的，上面是图，下面是句话。(Wǒ jìdé wǒ xiǎoshíhòu yǒuyī běn shì yǒu chātú de, shàngmiàn shì tú, xiàmiàn shì jù huà.) |
| David: Yeah. So you got the illustrated edition. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: I should get that from you. Anyway, that’s why we’ve translated it as the three character classic. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: A lot of these – this 经 (Jīng) character, it means a classic. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: Or a spiritual text of some kind. |
| Echo: 对，因为“经”是从宗教来的，比如说:佛经。 (Duì, yīnwèi “jīng” shì cóng zōngjiào lái de, bǐrú shuō: Fójīng.) |
| David: Yeah. So we’ve actually – there are a bunch of these. You’ve heard of a couple of them. We hope, there is |
| Echo: 易经 (Yì jīng) |
| David: Which is the Yijing. |
| Echo: 道德经 (Dàodé jīng) |
| David: Which is the Daodejing. |
| Echo: 就是老子的。 (Jiùshì lǎozi de.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 三字经 (Sānzìjīng) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: And with that, that’s our vocab section. Let’s get on to the grammar section. It’s grammar time. |
| Echo: 白 (Bái) |
| David: It’s an adverb meaning in vain. |
| Echo: 白 (Bái) |
| David: To do something for nothing. |
| Echo: Hmm. In the dialogue, we heard this 你为什么又撒谎？我真是白养你了。(Nǐ wèishéme yòu sāhuǎng? Wǒ zhēnshi bái yǎng nǐle.) |
| David: Why are you lying again? I really raised you in vain. |
| Echo: 我真是白养你了。 (Wǒ zhēnshi bái yǎng nǐle.) |
| David: Right. And Chinese parents do say this. It’s actually an awkward translation. It’s in vain. In English, we’d say you know for nothing. Right, I raised you for nothing or you are no good. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: The key point here is that we can put this in front of…. |
| Echo: Almost any verb. |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 比如说在对话里还有其他的句子也用了”白“。 (Bǐrú shuō zài duìhuà li hái yǒu qítā de jùzi yě yòngle” bái “.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 三字经都白背了，书都白念了。(Sānzìjīng dōu bái bèile, shū dōu bái niànle.) |
| David: And our translation there is, it’s all been wasted. Memorizing the classics and reading those books. |
| Echo: 对。白背了。(Duì. Bái bèile.) |
| David: Which is to memorize for nothing. |
| Echo: 白念了。(Bái niànle.) |
| David: To recite or study for nothing. |
| Echo: 对，其实很简单。(Duì, qíshí hěn jiǎndān.) |
| David: Yeah and it’s very powerful because as you said, you can use this with almost any verb. You can say |
| Echo: 白去 (Bái qù) |
| David: To mean to go for nothing. |
| Echo: 白来 (Bái lái) |
| David: To come for no reason. |
| Echo: Yeah and if you can’t convince someone or something, you can say 白说了 (Bái shuōle) |
| David: Right. He spoke in vain. |
| Echo: And don’t forget. For extra emphasis, we can use 都 (Dōu) too |
| David: Right. We will say 都 (Dōu) and then |
| Echo: 白 (Bái), and then verb. Yeah. 中国的总理和美国的总统都白去了，谈判没有成功。(Zhōngguó de zǒnglǐ hé měiguó de zǒngtǒng dōu bái qùle, tánpàn méiyǒu chénggōng.) |
| David: The US president and the Chinese premier both went for nothing because the talks didn’t succeed. |
| Echo: 都白去了 (Dōu bái qùle) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 中国的总理和美国的总统都白去了，谈判没有成功。(Zhōngguó de zǒnglǐ hé měiguó de zǒngtǒng dōu bái qùle, tánpàn méiyǒu chénggōng.) |
| David: That 都 (Dōu) there, in that sentence, there are two people but it’s really emphasis. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: So even if you are subject to the single object or person, you can use this. |
| Echo: Yeah 我都白去了。 (Wǒ dū bái qùle.) |
| David: Yeah. I went in vain. Okay, so that’s our grammar point for today. Before we let you leave, we want to remind you. We’ve got a premium RSS feed as part of chineseclass101.com |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: If you’ve got iTunes, if you use Google Reader, you can use this to automatically get all of the lessons on to your Mp3 player. |
| Echo: Yes, it’s very, very convenient. |
| David: And the PDF transcripts will automatically download to your computer too. It’s a lot easier than going through the site and clicking to manually download the stuff. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: Okay. So give it a shot and if you have any questions |
| Echo: 你们可以随时写信到 contactus@chineseclass101.com 或者在我们网站上给我们留言。(Nǐmen kěyǐ suíshí xiě xìn dào contactus@chineseclass101.Com huòzhě zài wǒmen wǎngzhàn shàng gěi wǒmen liúyán.) |
Outro |
| David: Right. We look forward to hearing from you. From our studios in the heart of Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是Echo。(Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 网上见吧 Bye bye. (Wǎngshàng jiàn ba Bye bye.) |
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