Learn about a phrase which means, "eat something as food"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo:Hi, 大家好，我是Echo. (Hi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: And we are here with intermediate, season 2, Lesson 6. Don’t Be A Leftover Lady in China. |
| Echo: 嗯，今天的话题让人很有压力。(Ń, jīntiān de huàtí ràng rén hěn yǒu yālì.) |
| David: Yeah. Young women have this kind of pressure. |
| Echo: 比如我。(Bǐrú wǒ.) |
| David: We are going to talk about it a bit later in the show though. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: For now, we’ve got a dialogue between a young woman and her parents. |
| Echo: 没错，是一个年轻的女孩，一个剩女和她的父母 (Méi cuò, shì yīgè niánqīng de nǚhái, yīgè shèngnǚ hé tā de fùmǔ) |
| David: Yes and she is getting parental pressure to get married. This is casual Mandarin as always. Let’s get to it. |
| Echo: 我们听一下。(Wǒmen tīng yīxià.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:你都老大不小了，再不结婚就嫁不出去了。 |
| (A: Nǐ dōu lǎodàbùxiǎo le, zàibu jiéhūn jiù jià bù chūqù le.) |
| B:我还没有男朋友呢，再说，我才二十五着什么急。 |
| (B: Wǒ hái méiyǒu nánpéngyǒu ne, zàishuō, wǒ cái èrshíwǔ zháo shénme jí.) |
| A:二十五就是“剩女”了！再往上你就成“剩斗士”了！上回给你介绍的那个公务员怎么不见面了？ |
| (A: Èrshíwǔ jiùshì “shèngnǚ”le! Zài wǎng shàng nǐ jiù chéng “shèng dòushì” le! Shànghuí gěi nǐ jièshào de nàgè gōngwùyuán zěnme bù jiànmiàn le?) |
| B:没感觉。 |
| (B: Méi gǎnjué.) |
| A:什么是感觉？感觉能当饭吃吗？那个小伙儿有房有车，工作稳定...... |
| (A: Shénme shì gǎnjué? Gǎnjué néng dāng fàn chī ma? Nàgè xiǎohuǒer yǒufángyǒuchē, gōngzuò wěndìng......) |
| B:要嫁你嫁吧，反正我看不上。 |
| (B: Yào jià nǐ jià ba, fǎnzhèng wǒ kànbùshàng.) |
| David: Once more, a little bit slower. |
| A:你都老大不小了，再不结婚就嫁不出去了。 |
| (A: Nǐ dōu lǎodàbùxiǎo le, zàibu jiéhūn jiù jià bù chūqù le.) |
| B:我还没有男朋友呢，再说，我才二十五着什么急。 |
| (B: Wǒ hái méiyǒu nánpéngyǒu ne, zàishuō, wǒ cái èrshíwǔ zháo shénme jí.) |
| A:二十五就是“剩女”了！再往上你就成“剩斗士”了！上回给你介绍的那个公务员怎么不见面了？ |
| (A: Èrshíwǔ jiùshì “shèngnǚ”le! Zài wǎng shàng nǐ jiù chéng “shèng dòushì” le! Shànghuí gěi nǐ jièshào de nàgè gōngwùyuán zěnme bù jiànmiàn le?) |
| B:没感觉。 |
| (B: Méi gǎnjué.) |
| A:什么是感觉？感觉能当饭吃吗？那个小伙儿有房有车，工作稳定...... |
| (A: Shénme shì gǎnjué? Gǎnjué néng dāng fàn chī ma? Nàgè xiǎohuǒer yǒufángyǒuchē, gōngzuò wěndìng......) |
| B:要嫁你嫁吧，反正我看不上。 |
| (B: Yào jià nǐ jià ba, fǎnzhèng wǒ kànbùshàng.) |
| David: And now, with English translation. |
| A:你都老大不小了，再不结婚就嫁不出去了。 |
| (A: Nǐ dōu lǎodàbùxiǎo le, zàibu jiéhūn jiù jià bù chūqù le.) |
| A: You are no spring chicken anymore. If you don't get married now, you won't be able to at all. |
| B:我还没有男朋友呢，再说，我才二十五着什么急。 |
| (B: Wǒ hái méiyǒu nánpéngyǒu ne, zàishuō, wǒ cái èrshíwǔ zháo shénme jí.) |
| B: I don't have a boyfriend yet. I'm just twenty-five. What's the hurry? |
| A:二十五就是“剩女”了！再往上你就成“剩斗士”了！上回给你介绍的那个公务员怎么不见面了？ |
| (A: Èrshíwǔ jiùshì “shèngnǚ”le! Zài wǎng shàng nǐ jiù chéng “shèng dòushì” le! Shànghuí gěi nǐ jièshào de nàgè gōngwùyuán zěnme bù jiànmiàn le?) |
| A: Twenty-five is already a leftover woman. And you will be even more leftover if you get much older. Why don't you see this civil servant I introduced to you to last time? |
| B:没感觉。 |
| (B: Méi gǎnjué.) |
| B: I don't have any feeling for him. |
| A:什么是感觉？感觉能当饭吃吗？那个小伙儿有房有车，工作稳定...... |
| (A: Shénme shì gǎnjué? Gǎnjué néng dāng fàn chī ma? Nàgè xiǎohuǒer yǒufángyǒuchē, gōngzuò wěndìng......) |
| A: What are feelings? Can they feed you? That young man has an apartment and a car and also a stable job. |
| B:要嫁你嫁吧，反正我看不上。 |
| (B: Yào jià nǐ jià ba, fǎnzhèng wǒ kànbùshàng.) |
| B: Go marry him yourself if you want. Anyway, I don't like him. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So this is a – its real phenomenon in China where women at the age of 25 are told by society that they are old. |
| Echo: 然后现在有一些相亲节目22岁的小女孩已经说自己是剩女。(Ránhòu xiànzài yǒu yīxiē xiāngqīn jiémù 22 suì de xiǎo nǚhái yǐjīng shuō zìjǐ shì shèngnǚ.) |
| David: Yeah anyway, we are going to go over this and a couple of other words in our vocab section today. |
| Echo: 好的 (Hǎo de) |
| David: Let’s get to it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 老大不小 (lǎodàbùxiǎo) |
| David: Grown up. |
| Echo: 剩女 (shèngnǚ) |
| David: Leftover woman. |
| Echo: 圣斗士 (Shèng dòushì) |
| David: Leftover woman. |
| Echo: 公务员 (gōngwùyuán) |
| David: Civil servant. |
| Echo: 感觉 (gǎnjué) |
| David: Feeling. |
| Echo: 小伙儿 (Xiǎohuǒ er) |
| David: Young man. |
| Echo: 稳定 (wěndìng) |
| David: Stable. |
| Echo: 反正 (fǎnzhèng) |
| David: Anyway. |
| Echo: 看不上 (kàn bù shàng) |
| David: Not too fancy. |
| Echo: 看不上 (kàn bù shàng) |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of this vocab. Our most important word is of course |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Echo: 剩女 (Shèngnǚ) |
| David: Leftover woman. |
| Echo: 剩女 (Shèngnǚ) |
| David: Echo, what’s a leftover woman? |
| Echo: 哎呦，这个很难说，这个在中国就是到了适龄结婚年龄的年轻女孩还没有结婚的。(Āi yōu, zhège hěn nánshuō, zhège zài zhōngguó jiùshì dàole shìlíng jiéhūn niánlíng de niánqīng nǚhái hái méiyǒu jiéhūn de.) |
| David: It’s an unmarried young woman. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And what’s crazy is, it used to be used to refer to people who are in their thirties. |
| Echo: 对，就是可能“老姑娘”这种的。(Duì, jiùshì kěnéng “lǎogūniáng” zhè zhǒng de.) |
| David: Yeah by western standards, that’s not old and these days, it’s just creeping further and further down. |
| Echo: 越来越年轻。(Yuè lái yuè niánqīng.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 有些刚20出头的，刚20超过20这样子的女孩。(Yǒuxiē gāng 20 chūtóu de, gāng 20 chāoguò 20 zhèyàng zi de nǚhái.) |
| David: Yeah 22, 23, people will refer to themselves as leftover women. |
| Echo: 对，我觉得最恐怖的就是她们说“我是剩女，我要着急相亲什么的”，自己说自己是剩女。(Duì, wǒ juédé zuì kǒngbù de jiùshì tāmen shuō “wǒ shì shèngnǚ, wǒ yào zhāojí xiāngqīn shénme de”, zìjǐ shuō zìjǐ shì shèngnǚ.) |
| David: Yeah the ages keep changing. |
| Echo: 对，如果你这个再升级一点，你就是“圣斗士”。(Duì, rúguǒ nǐ zhège zài shēngjí yīdiǎn, nǐ jiùshì “shèng dòushì”.) |
| David: Yeah. That’s the new term for people who are older and these days that’s someone in their thirties, their mid-30s onwards. |
| Echo: 应该是27岁。(Yīnggāi shì 27 suì.) |
| David: Anyway two words, we have leftover girl |
| Echo: 剩女 (Shèngnǚ) |
| David: And leftover woman. |
| Echo: 圣斗士 (Shèng dòushì) |
| David: Moving on, we have this wonderful conjunction. Anyway |
| Echo: 反正 (Fǎnzhèng) |
| David: Anyway |
| Echo: 反正 (Fǎnzhèng) |
| David: And it’s more like in any event or even no matter what you say. |
| Echo: 什么时候如果你和别人辩论的时候你都可以说“反正我是对的。” (Fǎnzhèng shénme shíhòu rúguǒ nǐ hé biérén biànlùn de shíhòu nǐ dōu kěyǐ shuō “fǎnzhèng wǒ shì duì de.”) |
| David: Yeah. The usage here is, someone is making an argument or they are disagreeing with you and you don’t care. You know, whatever you say, we are still going to do it this way. |
| Echo: 嗯，反正我们得这么做。(Ń, fǎnzhèng wǒmen dé zhème zuò.) |
| David: Yeah. Whatever you say, I still don’t believe it. |
| Echo: 反正我不相信。(Fǎnzhèng wǒ bù xiāngxìn.) |
| David: Yeah so when you say this, you are not disrespecting the other person. |
| Echo: 可能听起来有一点 dismissive. (Kěnéng tīng qǐlái yǒu yīdiǎn dismissive.) |
| David: It’s a bit dismissive but you are acknowledging that they are making a case and you are saying but it still doesn’t matter to me. Whatever happens, we are still going to do it this way. |
| Echo: 对 (Duì) |
| David: In the dialogue, it was in this line. |
| Echo: 要嫁你嫁吧，反正我看不上。( Yào jià nǐ jià ba, fǎnzhèng wǒ kànbùshàng.) |
| David: Go marry him yourself if you want, anyway I don’t like it. Right, no matter what you say, you are not going to convince me. |
| Echo: 对 (Duì) |
| David: I am done, |
| Echo: 反正我不喜欢这个公务员。(Fǎnzhèng wǒ bù xǐhuān zhège gōngwùyuán.) |
| David: Yeah. So you hear this a lot in arguments. Right, you will get contending 反正 |
| Echo: 对，如果你在跟别人辩论的时候最好可以说一些理由，然后再说“反正”。(Duì, rúguǒ nǐ zài gēn biérén biànlùn de shíhòu zuì hǎo kěyǐ shuō yīxiē lǐyóu, ránhòu zàishuō “fǎnzhèng”.) |
| David: Yeah. Another really useful word here is the verb phrase not too fancy. |
| Echo: 看不上 (Kàn bù shàng) |
| David: Which really means you just don’t have feelings for someone. You are not attracted to them. |
| Echo: 看不上 (Kàn bù shàng) |
| David: Yeah. So the woman in this dialogue doesn’t have any feelings for the young Seoul servant. |
| Echo: 嗯，对，这个对话里的剩女看不上这个公务员。(Ń, duì, zhège duìhuà li de shèngnǚ kān bù shàng zhège gōngwùyuán.) |
| David: So Echo, is this dismissive? |
| Echo: 其实也不是，她只是说我不喜欢什么东西，你可以说人，也可以说东西，比如说“我看不上这件衣服，太鲜艳了。” (Qíshí yě bùshì, tā zhǐshì shuō wǒ bù xǐhuān shénme dōngxī, nǐ kěyǐ shuō rén, yě kěyǐ shuō dōngxī, bǐrú shuō “wǒ kàn bù shàng zhè jiàn yīfú, tài xiānyànle.”) |
| David: Yeah I don’t really like these clubs. |
| Echo: 对，或者是说“他做的工作我看不上”。(Duì, huòzhě shì shuō “tā zuò de gōngzuò wǒ kàn bù shàng”.) |
| David: Yeah I don’t like the word that he or she does. Okay and of course, last but not least, we have civil servant. |
| Echo: 公务员 (Gōngwùyuán) |
| David: Fairly self evident. |
| Echo: 现在在这个相亲场合上是最抢手的。(Xiànzài zài zhège xiāngqīn chǎnghé shàng shì zuì qiǎngshǒu de.) |
| David: Yes because they can make a ton of money under the table. |
| Echo: 对，还有分房子。(Duì, hái yǒu fèn fángzi.) |
| David: Yes and free housing. So that’s our vocab for today. We’ve got a great grammar point we want to get to. So why don’t we move ahead to that now. |
| Echo: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: It’s grammar time. Okay Echo, what are we covering today? |
| Echo: 今天我们的这个语法点是在这个句子里:感觉能当饭吃吗？(Jīntiān wǒmen de zhège yǔfǎ diǎn shì zài zhège jùzi lǐ: Gǎnjué néng dāng fàn chī ma?) |
| David: Can you eat your feelings? |
| Echo: 对，我们的语法点是:当饭吃。以前我们都学过“当老师”。(Duì, wǒmen de yǔfǎ diǎn shì: Dāng fàn chī. Yǐqián wǒmen dōu xuéguò “dāng lǎoshī”.) |
| David: Right. To be a teacher. |
| Echo: 对，或者是“他长大了要当科学家”。(Duì, huòzhě shì “tā zhǎng dàle yào dāng kēxuéjiā”.) |
| David: Right. It’s kind of to be, it’s kind of to play the role of and that’s what we are seeing in this pattern. |
| Echo: 对，以前都是“当”然后一个名词。(Duì, yǐqián dōu shì “dāng” ránhòu yīgè míngcí.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 对吧，当老师。(Duì ba, dāng lǎoshī.) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: 当科学家。(Dāng kēxuéjiā.) |
| David: To be in a position or a job. |
| Echo: 对，但在这个结构里我们看是“当饭吃”。(Duì, dàn zài zhège jiégòu lǐ wǒmen kàn shì “dāng fàn chī”.) |
| David: Right. We’ve got 当 (Dāng) and then we have the noun and then we have the verb that is done with that. |
| Echo: 没错，就是这个动词是对这个名词能发出动作的。(Méi cuò, jiùshì zhège dòngcí shì duì zhège míngcí néng fāchū dòngzuò de.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 吃饭，当饭吃。(Chīfàn, dāng fàn chī.) |
| David: Right. So we are reversing normally these two character verb noun combos. |
| Echo: 没错，然后来强调。(Méi cuò, ránhòu lái qiángdiào.) |
| David: Right. For instance, we’ve got some examples for you. |
| Echo: 他拿可乐当水喝，这样很不健康。(Tā ná kělè dāng shuǐ hē, zhèyàng hěn bùjiànkāng.) |
| David: Right. Let’s hear the first bit again. |
| Echo: 他拿可乐当水喝 (Tā ná kělè dāng shuǐ hē) |
| David: He drinks coke like its water. Right so the two-character compound here is the 喝水 (Hē shuǐ) |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Right. Really common, we are reversing it. He takes or treats coke like its water. |
| Echo: 拿可乐当水喝。(Ná kělè dāng shuǐ hē.) |
| David: Another one. |
| Echo: 你们把公务员当宝贝看，我不在乎。(Nǐmen bǎ gōngwùyuán dāng bǎobèi kàn, wǒ bùzàihū.) |
| David: Yeah you treat the civil servant like it’s a treasure but I don’t care. |
| Echo: 没错。 你们把公务员当宝贝看，我不在乎。(Méi cuò. Nǐmen bǎ gōngwùyuán dāng bǎobèi kàn, wǒ bùzàihū.) |
| David: Right and the interesting thing here is, this isn’t actually a set phrase but you can use it with any noun and any verb where it’s going to make sense right. Another example too. |
| Echo: 那个是玩具，不能当真钱用。(Nàgè shì wánjù, bùnéng dàngzhēn qián yòng.) |
| David: You can’t treat that toy like it’s really money. So this is like monopoly money. |
| Echo: 大富翁的钱。那个是玩具，不能当真钱用。(Dà fùwēng de qián. Nàgè shì wánjù, bùnéng dàngzhēn qián yòng.) |
| David: Yeah. Something interesting here is a lot of the time, we are going to see this with 拿 (Ná) or 把。(Bǎ.) |
| Echo: 拿或者是把。(Ná huòzhě shì bǎ.) |
| David: Right. It’s to take something and the emphasis is on 拿 (Ná) or 把 (Bǎ) you know, you are really taking something and treating in the certain way. |
| Echo:没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: But you don’t need to. |
| Echo: 对，不一定，比如说我们刚才最后一个例子:不能当真钱用。(Duì, bù yīdìng, bǐrú shuō wǒmen gāngcái zuìhòu yīgè lìzi: Bùnéng dàngzhēn qián yòng.) |
| David: Yeah can’t treat it as real money. Okay so to review, our pattern here is |
| Echo: 当 名词 动词。(Dāng míngcí dòngcí.) |
| David: Yeah often the 名词 (Míngcí) and the 动词 (Dòngcí) are going to be related. It’s often going to be a reversal of one of these common – common verb/noun patterns. |
| Echo: 对，这是一定的。(Duì, zhè shì yīdìng de.) |
| David: Right but it doesn’t need to be as in our example. |
| Echo: 当宝贝看。(Dāng bǎobèi kàn.) |
| David: Yeah. And last but not least, we are often, often going to see this with |
| Echo: 把，或者是拿 (Bǎ, huòzhě shì ná) |
Outro |
| David: Right. Before we go, let’s hear those three examples one more time. |
| Echo: 他拿可乐当水喝，这样很不健康。你们把公务员当宝贝看，我不在乎。那个是玩具，不能当真钱用。(Tā ná kělè dāng shuǐ hē, zhèyàng hěn bùjiànkāng. Nǐmen bǎ gōngwùyuán dāng bǎobèi kàn, wǒ bùzàihū. Nàgè shì wánjù, bùnéng dàngzhēn qián yòng.) |
| David: Right. Really useful pattern. Practice, try to use it. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And with that, we are at the end of our show for today. Echo, anything you wanted to remind people? |
| Echo: 如果你们有任何问题，你们都知道给我们发邮件到 (Rúguǒ nǐmen yǒu rènhé wèntí, nǐmen dōu zhīdào gěi wǒmen fā yóujiàn dào) contactus@chineseclass101.com |
| David: Or leave a comment on the site. |
| Echo: 没错，我会回答你们的。(Méi cuò, wǒ huì huídá nǐmen de.) |
| David: Echo, you are giving people Chinese names left, right and center. |
| Echo: 当然了。(Dāngránle.) |
| David: Right. You guys already have names but if you have more difficult questions, you can give Echo a break from giving people names. |
| Echo: 随时都可以。(Suíshí dōu kěyǐ.) |
| David: Anyway, from Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: Thanks for listening. |
| Echo: 网上见 Bye bye. (Wǎngshàng jiàn Bye bye.) |
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