Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David.
Echo: Hi, 大家好(Dàjiā hǎo), 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo。
David: And it’s lower beginner, season 1, Lesson 14 today.
Echo: Going on a Date in China.
David: Right. So our dialogue is about a date. What kind of date?
Echo: Well it’s…
David: It’s a bad date.
Echo: Well it’s not happened yet.
David: It’s not a bad date. We’ve got two friends, casual Mandarin. They are talking about where they are going to go. Right, let’s get to it.
DIALOGUE
A: 你哪天有时间?(Nǐ nǎtiān yǒu shíjiān ?)
B: 最近都有时间,怎么了?(Zuìjìn dōu yǒu shíjiān, zěnmele ?)
A: 我想约你一起看电影。(Wǒ xiǎng yuē nǐ yìqǐ kàn diànyǐng .)
B: 明天晚上?(Míngtiān wǎnshàng ?)
A: 明天我需要加班。(Míngtiān wǒ xūyào jiābān .)
B: 那后天吧?(Nà hòutiān ba ?)
A: 太好了,我去接你。(Tài hǎo le, wǒ qù jiē nǐ .)
David: Once more, a bit slower.
A: 你哪天有时间?(Nǐ nǎtiān yǒu shíjiān ?)
B: 最近都有时间,怎么了?(Zuìjìn dōu yǒu shíjiān, zěnmele ?)
A: 我想约你一起看电影。(Wǒ xiǎng yuē nǐ yìqǐ kàn diànyǐng .)
B: 明天晚上?(Míngtiān wǎnshàng ?)
A: 明天我需要加班。(Míngtiān wǒ xūyào jiābān .)
B: 那后天吧?(Nà hòutiān ba ?)
A: 太好了,我去接你。(Tài hǎo le, wǒ qù jiē nǐ .)
David: And now with the English translation.
Echo: 你哪天有时间?(Nǐ nǎtiān yǒu shíjiān ?)
David: When will you be free?
Echo: 最近都有时间,怎么了?(Zuìjìn dōu yǒu shíjiān, zěnmele ?)
David: I am pretty free lately, what’s up?
Echo: 我想约你一起看电影。(Wǒ xiǎng yuē nǐ yìqǐ kàn diànyǐng .)
David: I want to go watch a movie with you.
Echo: 明天晚上?(Míngtiān wǎnshàng ?)
David: How about tomorrow evening?
Echo: 明天我需要加班。(Míngtiān wǒ xūyào jiābān .)
David: Tomorrow, I need to work overtime.
Echo: 那后天吧?(Nà hòutiān ba ?)
David: How about the day after tomorrow?
Echo: 太好了,我去接你。(Tài hǎo le, wǒ qù jiē nǐ .)
David: Great. I will come pick you up.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Echo: They are going to watch movies.
David: Yeah they seem pretty happy about it too. So I guess it’s not that awkward. Our vocab today, there is no real theme.
Echo: Yeah it’s pretty much about time and work.
David: Yeah. And dating someone. Work and dating someone.
Echo: That’s right. Let’s get to it. 最近。(zuìjìn.)
VOCAB LIST
David: Recently.
Echo: 最近, 最近, 约。(zuìjìn, zuìjìn, yuē.)
David: To arrange.
Echo: 约, 约, 一起。(yuē, yuē, yìqǐ.)
David: Together.
Echo: 一 起, 一起, 明天。(yìqǐ, yìqǐ, míngtiān.)
David: Tomorrow.
Echo: 明天, 明天, 后天。(míngtiān, míngtiān, hòutiān.)
David: The day after tomorrow.
Echo: 后天, 后天, 需要。(hòutiān, hòutiān, xūyào.)
David: To need.
Echo:需要, 需要, 加班。(xūyào, xūyào, jiābān.)
David: To work overtime.
Echo: 加班, 加班, 接。(jiābān, jiābān, jiē.)
David: To pick up.
Echo: 接, 接。(jiē, jiē.)
David: Now thanks to the miracle of podcast. I mean, you guys don’t hear the parts where Echo and I are arguing over how to define these words.
Echo: Right.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
David: Right. And we actually, we’ve got two words here where you know, how do you treat them, it’s Chinese. Anyway, why don’t we start by taking a look at these two?
Echo: Okay.
David: Echo, what’s #1?
Echo: 第一个是约。(Dì yī gè shì yuē.)
David: Now how do we translate this to arrange, to book?
Echo: 我觉得是(Wǒ juédé shì) to arrange 但也有不同的意思。(Dàn yěyǒu bùtóng de yìsi.)
David: Yeah.
Echo: 约。(Yuē.)
David: Now normally you 约(Yuē) something.
Echo: 唔,比如说约会。(Wú, bǐrú shuō yuēhuì.)
David: Right to arrange a meeting.
Echo: Or 约时间。(Yuē shíjiān.)
David: Yeah or to set a time right?
Echo: Uhoo…
David: But it also means, it means to date.
Echo: 对, 比如说 你约谁?(Duì, bǐrú shuō nǐ yuē shéi?)
David: Yeah to 约(Yuē) someone is to arrange a date with someone.
Echo: 没错(Méi cuò), 也可能(Yě kěnéng) arrange a meeting with someone 不一定都是(Bù yīdìng dū shì) romantic.
David: Yeah in our dialogue, let’s take a look at the third line.
Echo: 我想约你一起看电影。(Wǒ xiǎng yuē nǐ yīqǐ kàn diànyǐng.)
David: Right. So really that’s kind of like I want to book you, I want to book you to go see this movie.
Echo: Yeah.
David: All right I am scheduling this. Writing you down in this book.
Echo: Yeah or it also sounds like a date.
David: Yeah it’s definitely a date. Don’t let me translate it unromantically but yeah it’s a really flexible word.
Echo: 唔(Wú), 約会(Yuē huì), 约时间(Yuē shíjiān), 约你看电影。(Yuē nǐ kàn diànyǐng.)
David: The second word we had trouble with
Echo: 接。(Jiē.)
David: Now Echo wanted to pick up.
Echo: Yeah.
David: Because that’s what it is in this dialogue.
Echo: The dialogue 我去接你。(Wǒ qù jiē nǐ.)
David: I will go and pick you up.
Echo: 我去接你。(Wǒ qù jiē nǐ.)
David: Really it means to continue or to receive. 接(Jiē) here it’s like you know, I am going to receive you and go with you or we are going to kind of continue going together.
Echo: 对, 没错。(Duì, méi cuò.)
David: So…
Echo:比如说我给你一个东西,你接着。(Bǐrú shuō wǒ gěi nǐ yīgè dōngxī, nǐ jiēzhe.)
David: Yeah. I am giving you something, take it.
Echo: 对, 接着, 别丢了(Duì, jiēzhe, bié diūle)
David: Yeah don’t drop it. Right, so it’s – you know, there is a sense of something that’s happening continuously. If you stop doing something, you can keep doing it.
Echo: 接着做。(Jiēzhe zuò.)
David: Right.
Echo:如果你停下来了,你可以接着做。(Rúguǒ nǐ tíng xiàláile, nǐ kěyǐ jiēzhe zuò.)
David: Yeah if you stop, you can keep doing something and it’s doing something from where you left off.
Echo: 没错, 接着做。(Méi cuò, jiēzhe zuò.)
David: Right…So it’s to pick someone up in this sense but the word itself means to kind of receive or to keep going.
Echo: 接。(Jiē.)
David: Right. So good luck translating that. Echo, are there any other words here that you think are tricky?
Echo: 一起。(Yīqǐ.)
David: Together.
Echo: 对, 因为中文的 一起 是用在动词的前面。(Duì, yīn wéi zhōngwén de yīqǐ shì yòng zài dòngcí de qiánmiàn.)
David: In English, we put words like together after the verb. In Chinese, it goes before.
Echo: 比如说 我们一起去吃饭。(Bǐrú shuō wǒmen yīqǐ qù chīfàn.)
David: Let’s go eat together.
Echo: 他们一起加班。(Tāmen yīqǐ jiābān.)
David: They worked overtime together. Yeah so that’s a tricky little point. We are going to move on now though to the grammar section.
Echo: 好!(Hǎo!)

Lesson focus

David: So bear with us. It’s grammar time. Echo, this is an exciting and sometimes confusing grammar point.
Echo: 没错, 这是一个(Méi cuò, zhè shì yīgè) old friend. We all know this word.
David: It’s one of the simple words in Chinese resurfacing to cause problems because it means something different. Echo, what are we talking about?
Echo: 那。(Nà.)
David: That
Echo: Yeah but not here.
David: No, no, not in this lesson.
Echo: Yeah.
David: In this lesson, we see it in which line in the dialogue?
Echo:那后天吧?(Nà hòutiān ba?)
David: So what about the day after tomorrow?
Echo: 那后天吧?(Nà hòutiān ba?) it means then here.
David: Yes, it’s saying in this case. It’s tricky because if you hear the tone wrong, if you think it’s a question.
Echo: 啊, 那....(A, nà....)
David: You are going to misunderstand it. You know they are not saying which date…
Echo: Yeah.
David: They are saying, well in that case.
Echo: 那(Nà)
David: How about the day after tomorrow?
Echo: 那后天吧?(Nà hòutiān ba?)
David: Right. This is really colloquial. A lot of textbooks never teach this.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: But it’s one of these words that everyone uses bringing sentences together.
Echo: 那我们听几个句子, 比如说一个人现在不方便, 你可以说 那我下次再来。(Nà wǒmen tīng jǐ gè jùzi, bǐrú shuō yīgè rén xiànzài bù fāngbiàn, nǐ kěyǐ shuō nà wǒ xià cì zàilái.)
David: Right. You are not free today so…
Echo: 那我下次再来。(Nà wǒ xià cì zàilái.)
David: In that case, I will come again next time. Yeah, how about another example? You know, you want to go to a movie and your friend says, hey I am free. I don’t have anything to do.
Echo: Okay 那你和我一起去吧!(Nà nǐ hé wǒ yīqǐ qù ba!)
David: In that case, why don’t we go together?
Echo: 那你和我一起去吧!(Nà nǐ hé wǒ yīqǐ qù ba!)
David: So you’ve got to have the context. Otherwise this 那(Nà) doesn’t make any sense.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: Right. Another example, you are hungry, they are hungry, everyone is hungry.
Echo: 那我们先吃饭吧!(Nà wǒmen xiān chīfàn ba!)
David: Then let’s eat.
Echo: 然后再工作。(Ránhòu zài gōngzuò.)
David: Yes…
Echo: 然后接着工作。(Ránhòu jiēzhe gōngzuò.)
David: And then we will keep doing it. One more example using our friend 接(Jiē)
Echo: 那我去接你吧!(Nà wǒ qù jiē nǐ ba!)
David: Yeah you don’t know how to go or you don’t have a car.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: So…
Echo: 那我去接你吧!(Nà wǒ qù jiē nǐ ba!)
David: In that case, I am going to go and pick you up. Okay again this is really easy but so many people don’t know it.
Echo: Usually it’s used at the start of a sentence.
David: Right and just remember, it doesn’t mean that. It means then or in that case or so.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)

Outro

David: Okay. With that, we are done our lesson for today but before we go, I want to remind you guys about the PDF transcripts.
Echo: 如果你们有什么问题, 那就去看一下我们的PDF。(Rúguǒ nǐmen yǒu shé me wèntí, nà jiù qù kàn yīxià wǒmen de PDF.)
David: Right. We’ve got the grammar written down, we’ve got the vocab written down and a copy of the transcripts. So you can see exactly what you are listening to.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: It’s a really, really good way of making the stuff stick. With that though, we are done. From Beijing, I am David.
Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì) Echo。
David: Thank you for listening and we will see you on the site.
Echo: 那我们网上见吧!(Nà wǒmen wǎngshàng jiàn ba!)

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