Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David.
Echo: Hi, 大家好, 我是 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì) Echo.
David: And we are here today with upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson 9.
Echo: The Chinese Gold Rush.
David: Right. So with us, you are going to learn to speak Chinese with fun and effective lessons and cultural insights you won’t find in the textbook.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
David: Echo, what do we have today?
Echo: 今天我们这个对话是发生在北京一家很有名的珠宝店里。 (Jīntiān wǒmen zhège duìhuà shì fāshēng zài běijīng yījiā hěn yǒumíng de zhūbǎo diàn lǐ.)
David: Okay. So it’s in a gold and jewelry market in Beijing and it’s between two bystanders
Echo: 唔,没错。 (Wú, méi cuò.)
David: Who are watching the chaos!
Echo: 大家在买..... 买黄金。 (Wú, méi cuò.)
David: Yes. So we’ve got a dialogue for you. We are going to listen to it a couple of times without and then within an English translation.
Echo: Right.
David: Let’s go. This was mid-2010 I think. Actually 2008 to 2010. With the financial crisis abroad, there was a huge, huge flood of money into gold.
DIALOGUE
A: 这么多人在买黄金,也太夸张了吧。 (Zhème duō rén zài mǎi huángjīn, yě tài kuāzhāng le ba.)
B: 这还叫多?周末再来瞅瞅。 (Zhè hái jiào duō? Zhōumò zàilái chǒuchǒu.)
A: 怎么跟买大白菜似的。 (Zěnme gēn mǎi dàbáicài shìde.)
B: 这两年黄金升值太快,而且还越炒越高。谁都怕错过发财机会。 (Zhèliǎngnián huángjīn shēngzhí tài kuài, érqiě hái yuè chǎo yuè gao. Shéi dōu pàcuòguò fācái jīhuì.)
A: 那我也没见过这场面呀,跟白给不要钱似的。 (Nà wǒ yě méi jiànguo zhè chǎngmiàn yā, gēn báigěi bù yào qián Shìde.)
B: 谁让咱老百姓的生活水平提高了呢,咱不缺钱! (Shéi ràng zán lǎobǎixìng de shēnghuó shuǐpíng tígāo le ne, zán bù quē qián!)
A: 这么说你也送我点儿什么吧。 (Zhème shuō nǐ yě sòng wǒ diǎnr shénme ba.)
B: 呃,这...可是还有一小部分像我这样没有富裕起来的群众呢。 (E, zhè ...kěshì hái yǒu yìxiǎobùfen xiàng wǒ zhèyàng méiyǒu fùyù qǐlai de qúnzhòng ne.)
A: So many people are buying gold. This is way too much.
B: This is too much? Come back to have a look on the weekend.
A: It looks like people buying cabbage.
B: These last few years the value of gold has gone up quickly and it's getting higher all the time. No-one wants to miss this opportunity to make a fortune.
A: Yet I haven't seen anything like this. It looks like they are being given out for free.
B: Thanks to the fact the standard of living of the ordinary people has increased, we're not short of money.
A: If that's the case then why don't you buy me something?
B: Well... there are still a couple of people like me who haven't gotten rich yet.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: This was mid-2010, I think. Actually 2008 to 2010, with the financial crisis abroad, there was a huge flood of money into gold.
Echo: 没错, 现在好像买黄金的人少了一点儿。 (Méi cuò, xiànzài hǎoxiàng mǎi huángjīn de rén shǎole yīdiǎn er.)
David: Yeah it’s like the property bubble. It’s deflated a bit since.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: But yeah it’s still relatively popular. So our dialogue is all about gold and jewelry and value.
Echo: 唉!我非常喜欢今天的这个课。 (Āi! Wǒ fēicháng xǐhuān jīntiān de zhège kè.)
David: So we are going to get right to the vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 好的。黄金。 (Hǎo de. huángjīn.)
David: Gold.
Echo: 黄 金, 黄金, 升值。 (huáng jīn, huángjīn, shēngzhí.)
David: To increase in value.
Echo: 升 值, 升值, 场面。 (shēng zhí, shēngzhí, chǎngmiàn.)
David: Situation.
Echo: 场 面, 场面, 白给。 (chǎng miàn, chǎngmiàn, bái gěi.)
David: To give for free.
Echo: 白 给, 白给, 生活水平。 (bái gěi, bái gěi, shēnghuóshuǐpíng.)
David: Living standard.
Echo: 生 活 水 平, 生活水平, 富裕。 (shēng huó shuǐ píng, shēnghuóshuǐpíng, fùyù.)
David: To get rich.
Echo: 富 裕, 富裕, 老百姓。 (fù yù, fùyù, lǎobǎixìng.)
David: Ordinary people.
Echo: 老 百 姓, 老百姓, 瞅瞅。 (lǎo bǎi xìng, lǎobǎixìng, chǒu chǒu.)
David: To look at.
Echo: 瞅 瞅, 瞅瞅, 发财。 (chǒu chǒu, chǒu chǒu, fācái.)
David: To make a fortune.
Echo: 发 财, 发财。 (fā cái, fācái.)
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. Our first word is
Echo: 黄金。 (Huángjīn.)
David: Gold.
Echo: 黄金。 (Huángjīn.)
David: Or literally it’s yellow gold.
Echo: 对,原来还有白金。 (Duì, yuánlái hái yǒu báijīn.)
David: Yes that’s platinum and as of 2010, you could honestly say
Echo: 最近大家都在抢着买黄金。 (Zuìjìn dàjiā dōu zài qiǎngzhe mǎi huángjīn.)
David: Especially in Shanghai. Recently, everyone has rushed to buy gold.
Echo: 最近大家都在抢着买黄金。 (Zuìjìn dàjiā dōu zài qiǎngzhe mǎi huángjīn.)
David: And the reason gold was so popular was
Echo: 升值。 (Shēngzhí.)
David: To increase in value.
Echo: 升值。 (Shēngzhí.)
David: To increase in value.
Echo: 黄金升值太快了! (Huángjīn shēngzhí tài kuàile!)
David: It increased too quickly.
Echo: 唔,所以大家都去抢着买。 (Wú, suǒyǐ dàjiā dōu qù qiǎngzhe mǎi.)
David: Yeah. There was something in the dialogue that caught me which was this verb to give away for free.
Echo: 白给。 (Bái gěi.)
David: To give away for free.
Echo: 白给。 (Bái gěi.)
David: In the dialogue, we heard it in this sentence.
Echo: 跟白给不要钱似的。 (Gēn bái gěi bùyào qián shì de.)
David: Right.
Echo: 跟白给不要钱似的。 (Gēn bái gěi bùyào qián shì de.)
David: Okay. So no one is giving away gold. That’s the wrong reading of the sentence.
Echo: 唔,对,就好像是 …. (Wú, duì, jiù hǎoxiàng shì….)
David: It’s as if.
Echo: 对,因为有太多人买, 所以就好像卖的人是把这个黄金白白的送给你一样。 (Duì, yīnwèi yǒu tài duō rén mǎi, suǒyǐ jiù hǎoxiàng mài de rén shì bǎ zhège huángjīn báibái de sòng gěi nǐ yīyàng.)
David: Yeah. So they are not saying that anyone is giving stuff away for free. They are saying, there are so many people buying, it’s like they were giving it away for free.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
David: Okay. So that is
Echo: 白给。 (Bái gěi.)
David: Let’s look at this word, to get rich.
Echo: 富裕。 (Fùyù.)
David: To get rich.
Echo: 富裕。 (Fùyù.)
David: Is this any different than 发财 (Fācái).
Echo: 富裕是 一般是表示一个比较长期的经济的状态,比如说他的家很富裕。 (Fùyù shì yībān shì biǎoshì yīgè bǐjiào chángqí de jīngjì de zhuàngtài, bǐrú shuō tā de jiā hěn fùyù.)
David: Okay.
Echo: 但是发财呢, 意思好像就是说 你从没有钱 ….. (Dànshì fācái ne, yìsi hǎoxiàng jiùshì shuō nǐ cóng méiyǒu qián…..)
David: It’s the process.
Echo: 变成有钱了。 (Biàn chéng yǒu qiánle.)
David: Okay.
Echo: 对,属于 一个动态的过程。 (Duì, shǔyú yīgè dòngtài de guòchéng.)
David: Okay. So if you are describing the state of being rich, you want to use
Echo: 富裕。 (Fùyù.)
David: And if you are describing the process of getting rich.
Echo: 发财。 (Fācái.)
David: Right. For instance,
Echo: 老百姓的生活越来越富裕了。 (Lǎobǎixìng de shēnghuó yuè lái yuè fùyùle.)
David: The lives of ordinary Chinese people are wealthier and wealthier.
Echo: 老百姓的生活越来越富裕了。 (Lǎobǎixìng de shēnghuó yuè lái yuè fùyùle.)
David: And we couldn’t use 发财 (Fācái) there.
Echo: No.
David: Because you can’t 越来越发财 (Yuè lái yuè fācái).
Echo: 不成, 你只能说我的邻居昨天买彩票中了大奖, 突然发财了。 (Bùchéng, nǐ zhǐ néng shuō wǒ de línjū zuótiān mǎi cǎipiào zhōngle dàjiǎng, túrán fācáile.)
David: Yeah. So you can 突然发财 (Túrán fācái) but you can’t 越来越发财 (Yuè lái yuè fācái).
Echo: 对,你也不能突然富裕。 (Duì, nǐ yě bùnéng túrán fùyù.)
David: And with that, that’s our vocab section. Our grammar section is actually about a word but it’s a particularly tricky one.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)

Lesson focus

David: So we’ve got a section for it. Let’s get to that. It’s grammar time. Okay Echo, what are we focusing on today?
Echo: 今天我们要看的是这个词,谁让。 (Jīntiān wǒmen yào kàn de shì zhège cí, shéi ràng.)
David: Huh!
Echo: 谁让。 (Shéi ràng.)
David: Right. We ran into it in this sentence in our dialogue.
Echo: 谁让咱老百姓的生活水平提高了呢,咱不缺钱! (Shéi ràng zán lǎobǎixìng de shēnghuó shuǐpíng tígāole ne, zán bù quē qián!)
David: Right. And it’s tempting to translate this as who made.
Echo: Right.
David: And that’s wrong. It’s really tricky.
Echo: 对,因为不是有人在问你 到底是谁让你的生活水平提高了。 (Duì, yīn wéi bùshì yǒurén zài wèn nǐ dàodǐ shì shéi ràng nǐ de shēnghuó shuǐpíng tígāole.)
David: Yeah. No one cares about who, so it’s not a question. It’s a statement.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
David: And it’s a particularly tricky one. So Echo, we are going to explain this for people in a bit but before we do, let’s throw another example or two at them.
Echo: Okay. 谁让我就喜欢钻石呢! 多贵我也愿意买。 (Shéi ràng wǒ jiù xǐhuān zuànshí ne! Duō guì wǒ yě yuànyì mǎi.)
David: Okay. So you weren’t asking, who made me like diamonds so much?
Echo: 对。
David: I will buy them no matter how expensive they are. Something else is happening.
Echo: 谁让我就喜欢钻石呢! 多贵我也愿意买。 (Shéi ràng wǒ jiù xǐhuān zuànshí ne! Duō guì wǒ yě yuànyì mǎi.)
David: Let’s have one more example and then we are going to spill the beans on what’s going on.
Echo: Okay 谁让黄金升值这么快,珠宝的价格也贵了一倍。 (Shéi ràng huángjīn shēngzhí zhème kuài, zhūbǎo de jiàgé yě guìle yī bèi.)
David: Right and it’s so tempting to want to translate this as who made this happen.
Echo: 唔,没错。 (Wú, méi cuò.)
David: But that’s not what’s going on. Echo, what is happening?
Echo: 在这个地方 “谁让”不是问你, 对吧!它是在.... 其实是在解释.....是说因为.... (Zài zhège dìfāng “shéi ràng” bùshì wèn nǐ, duì ba! Tā shì zài.... Qíshí shì zài jiěshì..... Shì shuō yīnwèi....)
David: Right.
Echo: 我喜欢钻石。 (Wǒ xǐhuān zuànshí.)
David: It’s because of or for the reason that.
Echo: 没错,我们再听一下我们的句子, “谁让我就喜欢钻石呢! 多贵我也愿意买。” (Méi cuò, wǒmen zài tīng yīxià wǒmen de jùzi, “shéi ràng wǒ jiù xǐhuān zuànshí ne! Duō guì wǒ yě yuànyì mǎi.”)
David: So we could actually just drop it from the sentence.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: And it would mean almost exactly the same thing.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: Right. It’s because I like
Echo: 我就喜欢钻石, 多贵我也愿意买。 (Wǒ jiù xǐhuān zuànshí, duō guì wǒ yě yuànyì mǎi.)
David: I like diamonds this much. No matter how expensive they are, I will still buy them.
Echo: 唔,没错。 (Wú, méi cuò.)
David: Or
Echo: 谁让黄金升值这么快,珠宝的价格也贵了一倍。 (Shéi ràng huángjīn shēngzhí zhème kuài, zhūbǎo de jiàgé yě guìle yī bèi.)
David: The price of gold is going up so quickly. The price of jewelry has doubled too.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
David: Right. So it adds this sense of it’s for the reason that or it’s because of.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: But we add it because it still has this tone and it communicates a tone of, it’s unfortunate that or it’s your fault that.
Echo: 对, 就是好像是说话人的错误, 好像有一点儿不是在怪谁,但是.... (Duì, jiùshì hǎoxiàng shì shuōhuà rén de cuòwù, hǎoxiàng yǒu yīdiǎn er bùshì zài guài shéi, dànshì....)
David: Yeah.
Echo: 有一点是说这就是说话人的错误。 (Yǒu yīdiǎn shì shuō zhè jiùshì shuōhuà rén de cuòwù.)
David: Yeah or there is…
Echo:而且你也没有别的办法。 (Érqiě nǐ yě méiyǒu bié de bànfǎ.)
David: Or there is nothing that can be done about it.
Echo: 没错,很无奈的那种。 (Méi cuò, hěn wúnài dì nà zhǒng.)
David: And it’s not entirely negative because in the dialogue, it’s describing people getting wealthier.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: But it’s saying you know, it’s a process that can’t be stopped.
Echo: 对,谁让咱老百姓的生活水平提高了呢,咱不缺钱! (Duì, shéi ràng zán lǎobǎixìng de shēnghuó shuǐpíng tígāole ne, zán bù quē qián!)
David: Right. It’s because of the unstoppable.
Echo: 这个....这个 生活水平提高了。 (Zhège.... Zhège shēnghuó shuǐpíng tígāole.)
David: Yes it’s because the standard of living is getting better. It’s inevitable that of course people are going to have money to buy this stuff.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
David: Okay. We’ve got another example that stresses how sometimes this is used to lay blame on people.
Echo: 对,谁让你去年不投资黄金,现在晚了吧! (Duì, shéi ràng nǐ qùnián bù tóuzī huángjīn, xiànzài wǎnle ba!)
David: Again, this is really tricky. Let’s listen again.
Echo: 谁让你去年不投资黄金,现在晚了吧! (Shéi ràng nǐ qùnián bù tóuzī huángjīn, xiànzài wǎnle ba!)
David: And it’s easy to want to translate this as a question. You know who made you do – why didn’t you do this, right.
Echo: 对,其实不是一个问题,是 一个 …... (Duì, qíshí bùshì yīgè wèntí, shì yīgè…...)
David: Whose fault was it that this happened.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: You know, they are really saying, look it’s because you didn’t do this.
Echo: 唔, 谁让你去年不投资黄金。 (Wú, shéi ràng nǐ qùnián bù tóuzī huángjīn.)
David: It’s because you didn’t invest in gold last year.
Echo: 对,现在晚了吧! (Duì, xiànzài wǎnle ba!)
David: It’s too late now. Right and so we get the sense that it’s kind of unstoppable what’s happened.
Echo: 对。 (Duì.)
David: And it’s also maybe a bit your fault.
Echo: 没错,我们再来听最后一个例句, “谁让你去得这么晚,只剩下大白菜了。” (Méi cuò, wǒmen zàilái tīng zuìhòu yīgè lìjù, “shéi ràng nǐ qù dé zhème wǎn, zhǐ shèng xià dà báicàile.”)
David: That’s maybe if you go to the market at 5:59 right. You went so late. There is nothing left but the cabbage.
Echo: Right. 谁让你去得这么晚,只剩下大白菜了。 (Shéi ràng nǐ qù dé zhème wǎn, zhǐ shèng xià dà báicàile.)
David: Right and so we are being told, of course there is only going to be cabbage left. It’s you know, it’s 6 o’ clock.
Echo: 对,而且是你的错。 (Duì, érqiě shì nǐ de cuò.)
David: Yeah. So to review, this trips up a lot of advanced speakers.
Echo: 对, 谁让。 (Duì, shéi ràng.)
David: It’s not a question. We are not asking whose fault it is. We are making a statement about why things are the way they are.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
David: And there is a sense of inevitability and sometimes blame.
Echo: 谁让,谁让我们已经说了这么都了,现在没有时间了! (Shéi ràng, shéi ràng wǒmen yǐjīng shuōle zhème dōule, xiànzài méiyǒu shíjiānle!)

Outro

David: Exactly. If you have questions though, we have premium PDFs on the site you can download to view the transcript, read the grammar point and refresh what we’ve covered.
Echo: 没错,就在我们的 (Méi cuò, jiù zài wǒmen de) Learning Center.
David: Yes. So go check that out. If you don’t have an account with us, be sure to sign up because it takes 7 seconds or less.
Echo: 谁让它这么快了?快去 sign up 吧! (Shéi ràng tā zhème kuàile? Kuài qù sign up ba!)
David: For now though, that’s all the time we have. From Beijing, I am David.
Echo: 我是 (Wǒ shì) Echo.
David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site.
Echo: 谁让时间这么短了! (Shéi ràng shíjiān zhème duǎnle!) Bye bye.

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