Popup Chinese

Intermediate: Locked in the Studio

Whenever someone visits our office and asks how we get such natural dialogues we just smile. The truth is that podcasting in China is a ruthless business and the use of force is occasionally necessary. And so we bring you this podcast in the spirit of sharing some advanced podcasting tips. Listen in for a great Chinese lesson, along with practical suggestions on coaxing productivity from a recalcitrant recording crew when you're seriously behind schedule and need the next six months of material finished by sundown.

toneandcolor

said on

June 1, 2009

补充例句 Supplementary sentences for this lesson:

Using 嫌 (to dislike; to disagree with)

Both verb phrases and adjective phrases can follow 嫌 to indicate that the subject "is bothered by the fact that..." or "minds that...". There's no real English equivalent to this verb that indicates that something is disagreeable to someone.

原来我想去那儿买东西，但是后来我嫌太麻烦就没去。 I was going to go there and buy stuff, but then it was too much of a pain so I didn't go.

你是不是嫌我老了？ Does it bother you that I'm too old?

Using 倒

倒 has a variety of adverbal uses. In this case, it implies a contrast when it follows a subject or topic. It usually precedes a negated verb phrase.

钱包丢了倒没关系，关键的是人没事儿 It doesn't matter that you lost your wallet - what's important is that you're okay

我一个大男人倒没什么，重要的是你一个姑娘家会不会觉得不好意思。It doesn't matter for a man like me - what worries me is that a young woman like yourself will be embarrassed.

Using 得 (must; to have to)

我得走了，你们先吃着。I have to go, you guys go ahead and eat.

已经八点了，我得去上班了。It's already 8:00, I have to go to work.

Echo

said on

June 2, 2009

@toneandcolor,

Nathan, what can I say about you ~~ 你真是太棒了 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

orbital

said on

June 2, 2009

good lesson. i'd even have pushed this up into the advanced category myself given the speed at which they're layering over each other in the dialogue.

and thanks for the example sentences and supplementary explanation Nathan. very helpful especially for 嫌.

toneandcolor

said on

June 2, 2009

I agree that the fast pace of the speech - especially the swallowing/slurring of consonants as in 锁上 [suǒ ‘àng] - is tough for the lower intermediate learner, but the sooner you get used to such naturally-paced speech the better.

juhuacha

said on

June 2, 2009

可怜的Brendan

Brendan

said on

June 2, 2009

Thanks for mentioning that slurring of 锁上, @toneandcolor -- I had wanted to mention that in a bit more detail, but Echo (who secretly wants people to have problems understanding) argued against it.

Xiao Hu

said on

December 15, 2010

@Brenan,Echo, Toneandcolor,

I think it would be important to mention in the comments how, 嫌 and 介意 differ.

In the above example, 你是不是嫌我老了. Would the sentence 你是不是介意我老了 be the same meaning? Or does 介意 not carry the intrinsic meaning of "bothers (one) that"

Echo

said on

December 16, 2010

@Xiao Hu,

从用法上来说，“嫌”后面必须接宾语，而“介意”不一定。比如，你可以说“您介意吗？”，但是在那个地方不能用“嫌”；另外，“嫌”的后面可以直接接形容词，“我嫌烦、她嫌累”，这时候，真正被主语嫌的讨厌的东西是被省略了的，比如，“我嫌（工作）累”，但是在“介意”的后面，如果有宾语，一定需要是主语介意的东西，比如，“你介意我抽烟吗”。