If you're anything like our own bedraggled staff, getting out of bed in the morning is one of the more vicious challenges of the day. Combine natural lethargy with the reality of doing business in China (let's just admit that adventurous jobs often require extended hours), and you've got a recipe for exactly the situation we run into today.Of course, being the merciless corporate flacks we are, we're on the other side of the table. So listen in to our podcast today to find out what happens when Kang arrives late for work, yet again. This is hardly the first time it's happened, and we'll see how well his apologies go over with Apple, who has somehow ingratiated herself into a management position.
brett
said on November 10, 2008
Never heard the difference between 再 and 又 put so clearly before. I'll be more careful now about making sure I pair 又 with a following 了.
hairyvertibrate
said on November 10, 2008
Incredible site. Love the short stories especially, but the podcasts are good too. I'm a late riser so can related to this one too.
BMG
said on November 12, 2008
Great content. Also, I love the option to turn English/Pinyin on and off at will.
doubt616
said on May 12, 2009
Regarding the English translation of the last sentence, I note that the word 'if' is used:'If you are late again'.Is this a typical 'If'- 'Then' construction?For example:你不懂的话，你可以问我。（'If' you don't understand, 'then' you can ask me）I am curious to know whether something like 如果 is necessary here.
Echo
said on May 12, 2009
@doubt@616,
如果 is not necessary here, and actually you can drop 的话 too if everyone knows you mean "if".
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
Gail天堂的声音
said on May 13, 2009
@doubt616,@Echo,
如果……的话is a set phrase, but if we omit a part of it, it is still right. so you can say:
如果你不懂的话，你可以问我。
你不懂的话，你可以问我。
如果你不懂，你可以问我。
actually, in this sentence, we cannot omit both 如果and 的话 at the same time.
here we can say 你不懂可以问我。you see, we just have one subject in this sentence instead of two.
doubt616
said on May 13, 2009
@echo and gail - 太好了。谢谢。
If I am speaking to someone online in English and wish to convey that I am perfectly happy to answer any and all questions about English, I can use either:
你不懂的时候，你可以问我。
'When' you don't understand you can ask me.
h还是：
你不懂的话，你可以问我 or 如果你不懂的话，你可以问我。
'If' you don't understand (my words, speech) you can ask me.
Very useful. Cheers! :)
I was also wondering whether or not you accept suggestions for podcast dialogues...?
Gail天堂的声音
said on May 13, 2009
@doubt616,
yes, of course! we really appreciate that...
doubt616
said on May 22, 2009
I believe Brendan said that 迟十分钟 and 迟了十分钟 are both correct. Is that right?
orbital
said on May 23, 2009
I would instinctively go with 迟了十分钟 myself. 迟十分钟 sounds to me like something someone would say if they've only just arrived.
That's just my feeling though. I'd be curious what Gail or Echo have to say about this too.
Gail天堂的声音
said on May 23, 2009
@orbital,
了here is a past tense marker.
我迟了十分钟。--I have arrived.
我会迟十分钟。--I have not arrived yet.
usually we don't only say 我迟十分钟。we have to say it in the past or future tense.
Echo
said on May 23, 2009
@doubt616,
Exactly like what Gail said. If you use the past tense, say "迟了十分钟". If it is the future tense, say "我可能迟/迟到十分钟".
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
doubt616
said on May 23, 2009
我明白了。多谢。
kudra
said on May 31, 2009
The late guy seemed to have said a couple extra words/syllables almost under his breath. This is what I'm hearing.（好）不好意思不好意思。我（很/还）又迟到。any comment? Thanks.
Echo
said on May 31, 2009
@kudra,
It should be (啊...)不好意思不好意思，我（我...)又迟到了。For the words in the parenthesis, the guy pronounced softly, esp.the second one which was actually read as the second half syllable of 我. In the dialogue, the guy just arrived hastily and he was very nervous too. That's why he spoke this way.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
jyh
said on March 22, 2010
I am reviewing some old podcasts to check whether I do any better on them than I did a few months ago. On this one... not so great. It still takes me a second or two after the woman is done speaking the last line to sort out what she just said. Kinda depressing.
My question is just about grammar: In that last sentence, would changing the order of 再 and 也 alter the meaning of the sentence? Is it even correct? I am not quite sure why, but 你就也再別出現了 "comes" more naturally to me that 你就再也別出現了. The latter I almost need to learn as a set phrase; I could never use it as a pattern because I don't get it.
Echo
said on March 22, 2010
@jyh,
再也 is a set word/phrase in Chinese which means "ever again", so we can't separate these two characters from each other.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
jyh
said on March 22, 2010
@Echo: thanks. This is what I thought Brendan's comment seemed to imply but the dictionaries that I checked (the "Oxford Starter," which I really dislike, btw, and a couple of CC-CEDICT based ones on the iPhone) did not have it. If it's just a word to learn, like 要是 or 從來, rather than a grammar pattern, then I'll just memorize it :-)
Thanks again.
Echo
said on March 22, 2010
@jyh，
Actually whether 再也 is a word or not is still in dispute -- Chinese grammar books and Chinese dictionaries are having different opinions about this. 再也 is considered as a word in all the grammar books, but not in the dictionaries. I think maybe that's why you couldn't find it in your dictionary.
There is another very good dictionary you can use if you don't like "Oxford Starter"-- The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (Chinese-English Edition) by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. It is one of the most authoritative Chinese dictionaries in China.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
jyh
said on March 27, 2010
@Echo - Thank you for the dictionary recommendation. I have added it to my wish list, but that will have to wait until I start learning simplified characters, I am afraid. At the moment I find them harder to tell apart than trad. ones, so I type traditional characters with pinyin input and shift-alt-C them (on a Mac) to simplified :-)
Echo
said on March 29, 2010
@jyh,
Really? Tell you a secret -- I can't write traditional characters, and I also think it is not very easy to recognize them :)
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
jyh
said on March 29, 2010
@Echo - I can only type trad. characters, not write them, but I am a pretty fast pinyin typist :-) I think that traditional characters give more features to anchor in memory. Simplified characters look too much the same to me so far.
I use a self-modified version of the Heisig method to learn characters. I don't know if you are familiar with that book. Most Chinese & Taiwanese people I have talked to think that it's completely wrong/stupid/bunk as a method. I think that there is a lot of value in the methodology and order of learning the characters, but I had to tweak it a bit for it to work better for me.
blcsfo
said on March 30, 2010
I started learning 繁体字 Traditional when I was younger. And when I cane to China, and saw 简体字。 I was confused. But now, I can read it.
murrayjames
said on May 4, 2012
LOL @ Brendan's "phallogocentric diurnal cycle". You took me right back to graduate school, ah, the memories...
