Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David.
Echo: Hi, 大家好, 我是Echo。(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.)
David: And we are here with lower beginner, season 1, Lesson 19.
Echo: Feeling Under the Weather in China.
David: Right. So we have a fast-paced dialogue, casual Mandarin as always about someone who is feeling sick.
Echo: Right and he is talking to his colleague.
David: Yes because even though he is sick, he came to work.
Echo: Yeah.
David: Right to make them sick.
Echo: Well in China, we call that you know, as a very good spirit like you work hard and you come to work even if you are sick.
David: And then you make everyone else sick. Let’s get to the dialogue.
DIALOGUE
A:真不好意思,我有点儿难受。(Zhēn bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ yǒudiǎnr nánshòu.)
B:怎么了,要去医院吗?(Zěnmele, yào qù yīyuàn ma?)
A:没事,就是有点儿头疼。(Méishì, jiùshì yǒudiǎnr tóuténg.)
B:那你先回去休息吧。(Nà nǐ xiān huíqù xiūxi ba.)
A:好,我先走了。(Hǎo, wǒ xiān zǒu le.)
David: Once more, a bit slower.
A:真不好意思,我有点儿难受。(Zhēn bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ yǒudiǎnr nánshòu.)
B:怎么了,要去医院吗?(Zěnmele, yào qù yīyuàn ma?)
A:没事,就是有点儿头疼。(Méishì, jiùshì yǒudiǎnr tóuténg.)
B:那你先回去休息吧。(Nà nǐ xiān huíqù xiūxi ba.)
A:好,我先走了。(Hǎo, wǒ xiān zǒu le.)
David: And now with an English translation.
Echo: 真不好意思,我有点儿难受。(Zhēn bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ yǒudiǎnr nánshòu.)
David: I am really sorry, I am a little bit sick.
Echo:怎么了,要去医院吗?(Zěnmele, yào qù yīyuàn ma?)
David: What’s wrong, do you need to go to the hospital?
Echo: 没事,就是有点儿头疼。(Méishì, jiùshì yǒudiǎnr tóuténg.)
David: It’s no problem, I just have a bit of a headache.
Echo: 那你先回去休息吧。(Nà nǐ xiān huíqù xiūxi ba.)
David: Then please go home to rest.
Echo: 好,我先走了。(Hǎo, wǒ xiān zǒu le.)
David: Okay I will go now.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Echo: 我觉得他的同事和老板很好。(Wǒ juédé tā de tóngshì hé lǎobǎn hěn hǎo.)
David: I think tomorrow when his boss gets a headache; he is not going to be in. He is not going to be the most welcomed employee of the year.
Echo: Well he can – well the boss can go back home and rest himself too.
David: I guess anytime he wants. Yeah anyway, do we have a theme for vocab today?
Echo: Yes it’s pretty much about illness and uncomfortable.
David: Okay. So it’s another depressing podcast.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 有点。(Yǒudiǎn.)
David: To be a little.
Echo: 有点,有点, 难受。(Yǒudiǎn, yǒudiǎn, nánshòu.)
David: Troubled.
Echo:难受, 难受, 医院。(Nánshòu, nánshòu, yīyuàn.)
David: Hospital.
Echo: 医院,医院,就是。(Yīyuàn, yīyuàn, jiùshì.)
David: Just.
Echo: 就是,就是,头疼。(Jiùshì, jiùshì, tóuténg.)
David: Headache.
Echo: 头疼,头疼,先。(Tóuténg, tóuténg, xiān.)
David: First.
Echo: 先,先,回去。(Xiān, xiān, huíqù.)
David: To return.
Echo: 回去,回去,休息。(Huíqù, huíqù, xiūxí.)
David: To rest.
Echo: 休息,休息。(Xiūxí, xiūxí.)
David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. First up.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Echo: 有点。(Yǒudiǎn.)
David: Yes this is what – people always forget this.
Echo: Yeah or always like mix up with another one.
David: Well it’s the verb people mix up because in English, we want to say, I am a little sick. That’s tricky in a way. A lot of people make this mistake.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: It’s the verb to have.
Echo: 有。(Yǒu.)
David: It’s to have a little.
Echo: 没错(Méi cuò), It’s not to be a little.
David: Yes literally…
Echo: Yeah.
David: Right but in English, we say things like I am a bit cold.
Echo:我有点儿冷。(Wǒ yǒudiǎn er lěng.)
David: Or I am a bit hot.
Echo: 我有点儿热。(Wǒ yǒudiǎn er rè.)
David: Right. So we can’t just translate this idea literally.
Echo: 对, 你不能说 是点儿。(Duì, nǐ bùnéng shuō shì diǎn er.)
David: Yes. Can’t say that, don’t say it.
Echo: It’s always 有点儿。(Yǒudiǎn er.)
David: Always, always and we can put adjectives after it.
Echo: Right.
David: To have a little adjective.
Echo: 唔, 他有点儿难受。(Wú, tā yǒudiǎn er nánshòu.)
David: He is feeling a little rough.
Echo: 或者是 他有点儿不舒服。(Huòzhě shì tā yǒudiǎn er bú shūfú.)
David: Yeah and that’s our second word.
Echo: 难受。(Nánshòu.)
David: Troubled.
Echo:难受。(Nánshòu.)
David: Feeling uncomfortable.
Echo: Right this can be both physically and emotionally.
David: Yeah literally it’s 难 (Nán) as in difficult and 受 (Shòu) as in to bear something.
Echo: 没错 (Méi cuò) So hard to bear.
David: Yeah a situation that’s hard to bear, yeah. I hear it used a bit more I think with emotions than physical problems.
Echo: Both okay. I think it’s because you know, people don’t like to express when they are physically 难受.(Nánshòu.)
David: Yeah or maybe it’s that 难受 (Nánshòu) is it’s pretty vague. So people will use it just for you know, you’ve got a bit of a headache and maybe a bit nauseous but you can’t specify what it is.
Echo: And also 难受 (Nánshòu) is like stronger than 不舒服.(Bú shūfú.)
David: Yeah.
Echo: So if you say oh 你很难受 (Nǐ hěn nánshòu) it’s something wrong.
David: Yeah but you don’t necessarily know what because as soon as you know it’s a fever, you are going to say I’ve got a fever.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: So 难受 (Nánshòu) is basically, it’s the universal under the weather phrase in Chinese.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: Okay. Echo, our next word is what?
Echo: 就是。(Jiùshì.)
David: Precisely to be.
Echo: 就是。(Jiùshì.)
David: Right or just.
Echo: 对, 我就是有点儿头疼。(Duì, wǒ jiùshì yǒudiǎn er tóuténg.)
David: Yeah it’s providing emphasis but it’s saying you know it’s in this case, it’s saying it’s not that serious.
Echo: Not a big deal, yeah.
David: Right.
Echo: 我就是有点儿不舒服。(Wǒ jiùshì yǒudiǎn er bú shūfú.)
David: And just a little uncomfortable.
Echo: Or 他就是有点儿感冒。(Tā jiùshì yǒudiǎn er gǎnmào.)
David: Right or if you see a friend who is crying, you might go over and ask why and he could say, oh, I am just a little bothered.
Echo: 唔, 我就是有点儿难受。(Wú, wǒ jiùshì yǒudiǎn er nánshòu.)
David: Yeah. Give him a wet towel. So with that, that’s the end of our vocab list. We’ve got a great grammar point for you today. It’s grammar time. Okay our grammar point today is about a very special adverb.

Lesson focus

Echo: 先。(Xiān.)
David: First.
Echo: 先。(Xiān.)
David: Now let’s step back to our dialogue and look at the line where we hear this.
Echo: 我先走了。(Wǒ xiān zǒule.)
David: We translated this as okay, I will go now.
Echo: 我先走了。 (Wǒ xiān zǒule.)
David: Because that’s how Chinese people use it most of the time.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: Right. It literally means it’s first but it’s more polite to say that than I am going now, right now.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: Right because it implies while you are going to, I am just you know, 5 seconds, 10 seconds early.
Echo: 哈哈, 我先走了。(Hāhā, wǒ xiān zǒule.)
David: Right. So we put this in front of verbs. For instance
Echo: 你先去, 然后我也去。(Nǐ xiān qù, ránhòu wǒ yě qù.)
David: You go first and then I will go too.
Echo: 你先去, 然后我也去。(Nǐ xiān qù, ránhòu wǒ yě qù.)
David: So maybe you are with a friend and you are looking for two different cabs. Right, one cab pulls up and you say to them like you take this cab, I will take the next one. Another example.
Echo: 他先吃, 你再吃。(Tā xiān chī, nǐ zài chī.)
David: That’s he is going to eat now and then...
Echo: You can eat.
David: You can eat.
Echo: Yeah.
David: Maybe someone is serving food.
Echo:他先吃, 你再吃。(Tā xiān chī, nǐ zài chī.)
David: There is only enough space at the table for one person.
Echo: 对, 或者是让老人先看病。(Duì, huòzhě shì ràng lǎorén xiān kànbìng.)
David: Right. Let the elderly people see the doctor first.
Echo: 让老人先看病。(Ràng lǎorén xiān kànbìng.)
David: Yeah. So this can be the same subject. So people doing activities can be the same person.
Echo: 对。(Duì.)
David: Or they can be different people.
Echo: 都可以。(Dōu kěyǐ.)
David: Right. In previous examples, we’ve mostly been dealing with different people you know. You go first and then I will go or I will go first and then you do this. You can also use this when the subject doesn’t change. When you are describing two things that you are going to do.
Echo: 没错, 比如说我先休息一下 再工作。(Méi cuò, bǐrú shuō wǒ xiān xiūxí yīxià zài gōngzuò.)
David: I am going to rest a bit first and then work.
Echo: 我先休息一下 再工作。(Wǒ xiān xiūxí yīxià zài gōngzuò.)
David: I am going to rest and then work. Okay so remember, the adverb
Echo: 先。(Xiān.)
David: It literally means first but Chinese people will use it colloquially in the same sense as now but people will use it colloquially in the sense of now.
Echo: 先。(Xiān.)

Outro

David: Perfect. And with that, that’s our show. Before we go, we want to remind you, how many seconds it takes to sign up at chineseclass101?
Echo: 唔....只有七秒。(Wú.... Zhǐyǒu qī miǎo.)
David: Yes not 6, not 8 but maybe 6 if your internet is fast. Normally it’s 7 seconds, national average.
Echo: 对, 你们先把邮箱给我们, 然后我们给你。(Duì, nǐmen xiān bǎ yóuxiāng gěi wǒmen, ránhòu wǒmen gěi nǐ.)
David: Your password. Okay and if you have any problems, write us. Our email address is contactus@chineseclass101.com
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: For now, that’s our show. Thank you for listening and we hope to hear from you. From Beijing, I am David.
Echo: 我是Echo, 网上见吧! (Wǒ shì Echo, wǎngshàng jiàn ba!)
David: See you later.

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