Dialogue

Vocabulary

Learn New Words FAST with this Lesson’s Vocab Review List

Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Notes

Unlock In-Depth Explanations & Exclusive Takeaways with Printable Lesson Notes

Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.

Or sign up using Facebook
Already a Member?

Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to ChineseClass101.com. I'm David.
Amber: 大家好,我是安伯。(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì ān bó.)
David: And we’re here today with another Upper Beginner Lesson, Season 1, Lesson 21 - An awkward situation in China.
Amber: 有这么一点尴尬。(Yǒu zhème yīdiǎn gāngà.)
David: Right. That’s the Chinese word for “awkward”.
Amber: 尴尬。(Gāngà.)
David: Right, and we’ve got a dialogue that’s about what happens when you put your foot in your mouth.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: How to take it out in Chinese.
Amber: 对。(Duì.)
David: Amber, where does this dialogue take place?
Amber: 在家里有两个朋友。(Zài jiā li yǒu liǎng gè péngyǒu.)
David: Right. So it’s two friends, in their home, they’re looking at photographs.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: And this is in casual Mandarin, as always. Let’s go to the dialogue. Okay, so this is a lesson about a photo.
DIALOGUE
A: 这张照片上是谁?(Zhè zhāng zhàopiàn shàng shì shéi?)
B: 那是我爸爸。(Nà shì wǒ bàba.)
A: 我以为他住三藩市。(Wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù Sānfānshì.)
B: 这是我父母离婚前照的。(Zhè shì wǒ fùmǔ líhūn qián zhào de.)
A: 哦,不好意思。(ò, bùhǎoyìsi .)
B: 没事,当时我还小,已经习惯了。(Méishì, dāngshí wǒ hái xiǎo, yǐjīng xíguàn le.)
A: Who is in this photo?
B: That's my father.
A: I thought he lived in San Francisco.
B: This was shot before my parents divorced.
A: Oh, I'm sorry.
B: It's OK, at that time i was only a little kid, I'm already used to it.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Amber: 老照片。(Lǎo zhàopiàn.)
David: Right. And the only thing we know about it is that it’s not showing San Francisco.
Amber: 对,因为他说 我以为他住三藩市。(Duì, yīnwèi tā shuō wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù sān fān shì.)
David: Yeah, and we’re going to get to that. But first we want to review some of the vocabulary. And a lot of this vocab has to do with photography.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
VOCAB LIST
Amber: 照片。(Zhàopiàn)
David: Photograph.
Amber: 照 片, 照片, 照。(zhào piàn, zhàopiàn, zhào.)
David: To photograph.
Amber: 照, 照, 张。(zhào, zhào, zhāng.)
David: Measure word for photos.
Amber: 张, 张, 三藩市。(zhāng, zhāng, sānfānshì.)
David: San Francisco.
Amber: 三 藩 市, 三藩市, 旧金山。(sān fān shì, sānfānshì, Jiùjīnshān.)
David: San Francisco.
Amber: 旧 金 山, 旧金山, 父母。(Jiù jīn shān, Jiùjīnshān, fùmǔ.)
David: Parents.
Amber: 父 母, 父母, 离婚。(fù mǔ, fùmǔ, líhūn.)
David: To divorce.
Amber: 离 婚, 离婚, 当时。(lí hūn, líhūn, dāngshí.)
David: At that time.
Amber: 当 时, 当时, 习惯。(dāng shí, dāngshí, xíguàn.)
David: To get used to.
Amber: 习 惯, 习惯。(xí guàn, xíguàn.)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
David: Okay, first things first. We have two words for San Francisco in our vocab today. Amber, what is going on?
Amber: 唔,在对话里我们听到 三藩市。(Wú, zài duìhuà li wǒmen tīng dào sān fān shì.)
David: San Francisco.
Amber: 三藩市。(Sān fān shì.)
David: Right, the San Fran city is San Francisco.
Amber: 没错, 唔 …. 另外一个说法是 旧金山。(Méi cuò, wú…. Lìngwài yīgè shuōfǎ shì jiùjīnshān.)
David: And this literally translates as “old gold mountain”.
Amber: 没错, 旧金山。(Méi cuò, jiùjīnshān.)
David: But it’s also San Francisco.
Amber: 对,唔。(Duì, wú.)
David: Right? So we have two words that are fighting.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: They are fighting it out right now to see which people are going to use. The older one is “old gold mountain”.
Amber: 旧金山。(Jiùjīnshān.)
David: And it’s much more common where?
Amber: 在中国的北方。(Zài zhōngguó de běifāng.)
David: Yeah, it’s more common on the Mainland, but also in expat communities outside China.
Amber: 对,在可能在其他的国家。(Duì, zài kěnéng zài qítā de guójiā.)
David: Right.
Amber: 如果你学中文。(Rúguǒ nǐ xué zhōngwén.)
David: Right.
Amber: 对。(Duì.)
David: So, Chinese people who move to the United States will often refer to San Francisco as…
Amber: 旧金山。(Jiùjīnshān.)
David: Right. And this newer option…
Amber: 三藩市。(Sān fān shì.)
David: Is more common in southern China.
Amber: 对,或者香港,广东 尤其 …..。(Duì, huòzhě xiānggǎng, guǎngdōng yóuqí…....)
David: Yeah, and it’s a more contemporary usage.
Amber: 对。(Duì.)
David: So, we’ll see what people are saying in 10-20 years. Right? For now, though, if you live in San Francisco, you could say, “I live in San Francisco”.
Amber: 我住在三藩市。(Wǒ zhù zài sān fān shì.)
David: Or, “I live in San Francisco.”
Amber: 我住在旧金山。(Wǒ zhù zài jiùjīnshān..)
David: Right. And if you want to really confuse people you can say, “I used to live in San Francisco, but now I live in old gold mountain.”
Amber: 哈哈哈 …… 我以前住在三藩市, 现在住在旧金山。(Hāhā hā…… wǒ yǐqián zhù zài sān fān shì, xiànzài zhù zài jiùjīnshān.)
David: Right, you’re going to confuse people with that.
Amber: 对,所以说 …. 吓!(Duì, suǒyǐ shuō…. Xià!)
David: I didn’t think there was a difference. I guess there is.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: Moving on. What we’ve got here that’s sort of difficult is this photography vocabulary.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: We’ve got the word for “photograph”.
Amber: 照片。(Zhàopiàn.)
David: Photograph.
Amber: 照片。(Zhàopiàn.)
David: And we’ve also got a verb meaning “to take a photo”.
Amber: 对,照。(Duì, zhào.)
David: To take a photo.
Amber: 照。(Zhào.)
David: So the noun here is 照片, 片 (Zhàopiàn, piàn) is the slice that you take, really. There are also some other words you’re going to hear. For instance, people will often say “to shoot a photo”.
Amber: 拍照片。(Pāi zhàopiàn.)
David: To shoot a photo.
Amber: 拍照片。(Pāi zhàopiàn.)
David: Right. And when you’re at the tourist attraction in China, people will often ask you if you can take a photo of them.
Amber: 你能给我们拍照片吗?(Nǐ néng gěi wǒmen pāi zhàopiàn ma?)
David: Right. So, in most cases, you actually want to use…
Amber: 拍。(Pāi.)
David: To shoot.
Amber: 对。(Duì.)
David: However, in this dialogue, we use…
Amber: 照。(Zhào.)
David: And the reason for this is that 照 (Zhào) doesn’t generally take an object, so you don’t generally 照 (Zhào) a photograph, but you will 拍 (Pāi) a photograph.
Amber: 对,没错。(Duì, méi cuò.)
David: Right? So, again, if you want someone to take your photo, you should ask them, “Please, take a photo.”
Amber: 请给我拍照片。(Qǐng gěi wǒ pāi zhàopiàn.)
David: Right. Moving on we have a measure word.
Amber: 张。(Zhāng.)
David: Which is a measure word for anything that is flat.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: Right? So we can use this for a table ……
Amber: 一张桌子。(Yī zhāng zhuōzi.)
David: or a sheet of paper.
Amber: 一张纸。(Yī zhāng zhǐ.)
David: Or, in this case, a photograph.
Amber: 一张照片。(Yī zhāng zhàopiàn.)
David: Right. It’s flat, it’s rectangular-ish, so it’s 一张.(Yī zhāng.)
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: Okay, the last word we want to call to your attention is “at that time”.
Amber: 当时。(Dāngshí.)
David: At that time.
Amber: 当时。(Dāngshí.)
David: Use this to start sentences when you’re talking about the past.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: For instance, at that time it was a little awkward.
Amber: 当时有一点尴尬。(Dāngshí yǒu yīdiǎn gāngà.)
David: At that time, it was a bit awkward.
Amber: 当时有一点尴尬。(Dāngshí yǒu yīdiǎn gāngà.)
David: Or maybe, “At that time, I didn’t know.”
Amber: 当时我不知道。(Dāngshí wǒ bù zhīdào.)
David: At that time I didn’t know, but now I do.
Amber: 当时我不知道, 但是现在我知道了。(Dāngshí wǒ bù zhīdào, dànshì xiànzài wǒ zhīdàole.)
David: Right. When you use this, people have to know what time period you’re talking about.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: Right? So it’s not just in the past.
Amber: 以前。(Yǐqián.)
David: It’s referring to a time in the past that you’ve already mentioned.
Amber: 没错, 就是要说具体的时间, 再说当时。(Méi cuò, jiùshì yào shuō jùtǐ de shíjiān, zàishuō dāngshí.)
David: Right. And, with that, let’s move on to our grammar section.

Lesson focus

M2: It’s grammar time!
David: In our grammar section today, we want to review three verbs for thinking.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: These three verbs are…
Amber: 以为,认为,想。(Yǐwéi, rènwéi, xiǎng.)
David: Okay. And we’re cheating because we actually want to speak mostly about the first, but all three of these verbs mean “to think”.
Amber: 对,没错。(Duì, méi cuò.)
David: Let’s hear them again.
Amber: 以为,认为,想。(Yǐwéi, rènwéi, xiǎng.)
David: Now, the easiest of these is…
Amber: 想。(Xiǎng.)
David: Means “to wish” or “to desire”.
Amber: 对,没错。(Duì, méi cuò.)
David: Right? Also “to miss”, but usually “to think”. For instance…
Amber: 让我想一下。(Ràng wǒ xiǎng yīxià.)
David: Let me think a bit.
Amber: 对, 让我想一下。(Duì, ràng wǒ xiǎng yīxià.)
David: “Let me think about it.” What about our next one?
Amber: 认为,比如说 我认为我们应该这样做。(Rènwéi, bǐrú shuō wǒ rènwéi wǒmen yīnggāi zhèyàng zuò.)
David: I think we should do it this way.
Amber: 我认为我们应该这样做。(Wǒ rènwéi wǒmen yīnggāi zhèyàng zuò.)
David: Now, we can swap 认为 out for 想 in that sentence.
Amber: 没错, 你也可以说 我想我们应该这样做。(Méi cuò, nǐ yě kěyǐ shuō wǒ xiǎng wǒmen yīnggāi zhèyàng zuò.)
David: Right. Or how about “I think we’ve met”?
Amber: 我想我们见过。(Wǒ xiǎng wǒmen jiànguò.)
David: Or…
Amber: 我认为我们见过。(Wǒ rènwéi wǒmen jiànguò.)
David: Right. So those two are mostly interchangeable.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: Right? It’s just about your degree of certainty, whereas 想 (Xiǎng) is maybe a bit less certain.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: Right? But what we see in our dialogue today is totally different.
Amber: 不太一样。(Bù tài yīyàng.)
David: Not just 不太一样 (Bù tài yīyàng) , it’s very much different.
Amber: 对,对,对。(Duì, duì, duì.)
David: Let’s see where this surfaces in the dialogue.
Amber: 我以为他住三藩市。(Wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù sān fān shì.)
David: I thought he lived in San Francisco.
Amber: 我以为他住三藩市。(Wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù sān fān shì.)
David: Now, notice here that we’re automatically kind of talking about the past tense because the meaning of the verb is not “think”, it’s “to think mistakenly”.
Amber: 对。(Duì.)
David: So, “I mistakenly thought he lived in San Francisco.”
Amber: 没错, 我以为他住三藩市。(Méi cuò, wǒ yǐwéi tā zhù sān fān shì.)
David: Right. So the fact that we’re using this verb means we know that this isn’t the case.
Amber: 对,我其实现在已经知道错了。(Duì, wǒ qíshí xiànzài yǐjīng zhīdào cuòle.)
David: Yes, I know I'm wrong, so we can't swap this out for…
Amber: 认为。(Rènwéi.)
David: Or…
Amber: 想。。(Xiǎng..)
David: Because the meaning would be different.
Amber: 没错, 因为 “认为” 和 “想” 没有 “错” 的意思。(Méi cuò, yīnwèi “rènwéi” hé “xiǎng” méiyǒu “cuò” de yìsi.)
David: Right. So you’d mean, “I think he’s in San Francisco” …...
Amber: 对对对。(Duì duì duì.)
David: or “I'm pretty certain he’s in San Francisco.” Here it means “I don’t know why I was wrong. I thought he was in San Francisco.”
Amber: 对,我再给你一些例子, 比如说我以为你住北京。(Duì, wǒ zài gěi nǐ yīxiē lìzi, bǐrú shuō wǒ yǐwéi nǐ zhù běijīng.)
David: I thought you lived in Beijing.
Amber: 我以为你住北京。(Wǒ yǐwéi nǐ zhù běijīng.)
David: Right. And you may hear that as part of a longer sentence - "I thought you lived in Beijing but you actually live in Shanghai.”
Amber: 我以为你住北京, 但是你其实住在上海。(Wǒ yǐwéi nǐ zhù běijīng, dànshì nǐ qíshí zhù zài shànghǎi.)
David: Right. How about “I thought the boss had left”?
Amber: 我以为老板下班了。(Wǒ yǐwéi lǎobǎn xiàbānle.)
David: I thought the boss had left.
Amber: 我以为老板下班了。(Wǒ yǐwéi lǎobǎn xiàbānle.)
David: Right, but he hasn’t.
Amber: 没错, 他还在办公室。(Méi cuò, tā hái zài bàngōngshì.)
David: He’s in his office, looking at me.
Amber: 对,没错。(Duì, méi cuò.)
David: Right? So, this is a bit of a review point but it’s really important. And when you hear Chinese people using 以为 (Yǐwéi), there’s a subtlety to what they’re saying that’s missed if you just think of it as “to think of”.
Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: It’s “to think of mistakenly”.
Amber: 唔,我现在知道我错了,所以才用 “以为”。(Wú, wǒ xiànzài zhīdào wǒ cuòle, suǒyǐ cái yòng “yǐwéi”.)
David: Yeah. So, again, there are these three verbs for thinking about things.
Amber: 想, 认为, 以为。(Xiǎng, rènwéi, yǐwéi.)
David: The first two are interchangeable, but the last one is quite different.
Amber: 唔 ..唔。(Wú.. Wú.)

Outro

David: And, with that said, that’s the end of our lesson for today. So, thank you for listening. Form Beijing, I'm David.
Amber: 我是安伯。(Wǒ shì ān bó.)
David: And we’ll see you on the site.
Amber: 网上见。(Wǎngshàng jiàn.) Bye-bye.

Comments

Hide