Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
David: Welcome to chineseclass101. I am David.
Echo: 嗨,大家好,我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.)
David: And Echo, we are here with lesson 47 at the elementary level.
Echo: 对,第四十七课。(Duì, dì sìshíqī kè.)
David: And it took us ages to get this done because Echo was procrastinating.
Echo: No it was you 拖拖拉拉的。(Tuō tuōlā lā de.)
David: She was playing Farmville for hours.
Echo: No I never play that game.
David: Okay well never.
Echo: Well…
David: Sometimes.
Echo: Ten years ago.
David: Anyway, we do have a dialogue that’s all about procrastination. It’s taking place in the house as the day wears on and someone’s got something to do. Okay.
Echo: 但是他不做。(Dànshì tā bù zuò.)
David: Yes he is not doing it. He is doing everything but doing. So we are going to take you to the dialogue in a sec. Before we do though, for those of you folks who are listening to us on iTunes, if you haven’t come to chineseclass101.com yet and you have not signed up for your free lifetime account, you don’t know what you are missing. Lots of free tools, free resources. It’s a wonderful thing. So get yourself to chineseclass101.com and sign up.
Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.)
David: Echo, how long does it take?
Echo: Less than seven seconds.
David: Yes less than seven seconds. The internet gets faster. Anyway, let’s go on to the dialogue now.
DIALOGUE
A:你怎么在看电视?你不是要写报告吗?(Nǐ zěnme zài kàn diànshì? Nǐ bù shì yào xiě bàogào ma?)
B:我休息一下,晚饭以后接着写。(Wǒ xiūxi yīxià, wǎnfàn yǐhòu jiēzhe xiě.)
A:晚饭以后?你还剩多少?(Wǎnfàn yǐhòu? Nǐ hái shèng duōshao?)
B:不多了,就一万字吧(Bù duō le, jiù yī wàn zì ba.)
A:一万字?你不是明天要交吗?你写得完吗?(Yī wàn zì ? Nǐ bù shì míngtiān yào jiāo ma? Nǐ xiědewán ma?)
B:没事,我今天开夜车,一定能写完。(Méishì, wǒ jīntiān kāiyèchē, yī dìng néng xiěwán.)
David: One more time just a bit slower.
A:你怎么在看电视?你不是要写报告吗?(Nǐ zěnme zài kàn diànshì? Nǐ bù shì yào xiě bàogào ma?)
B:我休息一下,晚饭以后接着写。(Wǒ xiūxi yīxià, wǎnfàn yǐhòu jiēzhe xiě.)
A:晚饭以后?你还剩多少?(Wǎnfàn yǐhòu? Nǐ hái shèng duōshao?)
B:不多了,就一万字吧(Bù duō le, jiù yī wàn zì ba.)
A:一万字?你不是明天要交吗?你写得完吗?(Yī wàn zì ? Nǐ bù shì míngtiān yào jiāo ma? Nǐ xiědewán ma?)
B:没事,我今天开夜车,一定能写完。(Méishì, wǒ jīntiān kāiyèchē, yī dìng néng xiěwán.)
Echo: 你怎么在看电视?(Nǐ zěnme zài kàn diànshì?)
David: What are you doing watching television?
Echo: 你不是要写报告吗?(Nǐ bù shì yào xiě bàogào ma?)
David: Don’t you need to write a report?
Echo: 我休息一下。(Wǒ xiūxi yīxià.)
David: I am resting for a bit.
Echo: 晚饭以后接着写。(wǎnfàn yǐhòu jiēzhe xiě.)
David: I will keep writing after dinner.
Echo: 晚饭以后?你还剩多少?(Wǎnfàn yǐhòu? Nǐ hái shèng duōshao?)
David: After dinner? How much do you have left?
Echo: 不多了,就一万字吧(Bù duō le, jiù yī wàn zì ba.)
David: Not that much. Just 10,000 characters I think.
Echo: 一万字?你不是明天要交吗?(Yī wàn zì ? Nǐ bù shì míngtiān yào jiāo ma?)
David: 10,000 characters, don’t you need to hand this in tomorrow.
Echo: 你写得完吗? (Nǐ xiědewán ma?)
David: Can you finish writing this?
Echo: 没事,我今天开夜车。(Méishì, wǒ jīntiān kāiyèchē.)
David: No problem. I will work all night.
Echo: 一定能写完。 (yī dìng néng xiěwán.)
David: I can definitely finish writing this.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Echo: Huh he’s pretty confident.
David: Right. So secrets from Echo’s university days. Did you ever do this? Did you ever 开夜车。(kāiyèchē.)
Echo: Yeah.
David: I do that all the time.
Echo: Well so it’s not just Chinese students.
David: No it’s not that. I think everyone does this sometimes although you know you hear this certain point in the evening where you’ve got to make the decision, am I going to bed or am I staying up all night.
Echo: Yeah.
David: But I think it’s worst for you guys because you couldn’t actually do the work in your dorms. So you’d have to go to the library or go to a coffee shop or something.
Echo: What do you mean by we can’t do it in the dorms.
David: Well, don’t they shut off the power at 11 o’ clock?
Echo: Not in the first two years.
David: Uh so they crack down on you when you are three.
Echo: Right.
David: Too many people are procrastinating.
Echo: But we still got lights in the public classroom or public rooms.
David: Okay.
Echo: Yeah.
David: So it was uncomfortable for procrastinators.
Echo: Yeah.
David: Anyway, we’ve got some great vocab for you. So what’s the waiting for. Let’s get right to it. And now the vocab section.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 看电视 (kàndiànshì)
David: To watch television.
Echo: 写报告 (xiě bàogào)
David: To write a report.
Echo: 晚饭 (wǎnfàn)
David: Dinner.
Echo: 接着 (jiēzhe)
David: To continue.
Echo: 剩 (shèng)
David: To be left over.
Echo: 万 (wàn)
David: 10,000
Echo: 字 (zì)
David: Characters.
Echo: 交 (jiāo)
David: To turn in.
Echo: 写得完 (xiědewán)
David: To be able to finish writing.
Echo: 开夜车 (kāiyèchē)
David: To drive the night truck.
Echo: Truck?
David: Just kidding, it means to work all night.
Echo: 开夜车,一定 (Kāiyèchē, yīdìng)
David: Certainly.
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
David: I love that word. Drive the night truck.
Echo: 开夜车。 (Kāi yè chē.)
David: They’ve also got one which is
Echo: 熬夜。 (Áoyè.)
David: Yeah which is literally to like stew the night. Right?
Echo: 对对对,很痛苦的一个词。 (Duì duì duì, hěn tòngkǔ de yīgè cí.)
David: Yeah that’s an HSK one. A lot of people don’t know that, drive the night truck.
Echo: 开夜车也属于HSK的词。 (Kāiyè chē yě shǔyú HSK de cí.)
David: Yeah, yeah, yeah. They are both HSK words. Anyway, we’ve got a lot of exciting vocab for you and our vocab focus today is going to be on things that you can do to procrastinate.
Echo: Yeah.
David: In the dialogue, we had one big one.
Echo: 看电视。(Kàn diànshì.)
David: Watching television. And you might say, don’t bother me, I am watching television.
Echo: 别烦我,我在看电视。(Bié fán wǒ, wǒ zài kàn diànshì.)
David: Right but of course there are tons of ways to procrastinate. In addition to watching television, we have my favorite which is sleeping.
Echo: Umm this is my favorite too 别烦我,我在睡觉。 (Bié fán wǒ, wǒ zài shuìjiào.)
David: Don’t bother me. I am sleeping.
Echo: You are a sleepy head.
David: And if they tell you you’ve got work to do….
Echo: Everybody in the office knows that, David is sleepy head.
David: Echo is much more of a sleepy head than I am but the beautiful thing about sleeping is if they tell you that you’ve got work to do, you can say that you are taking care of your health.
Echo: 我在注意身体。(Wǒ zài zhùyì shēntǐ.)
David: We also have a lot of more modern past times of which I think one of our favorites is the 开心 (Kāixīn) Farm.
Echo: I have never played that 开心农场。(Kāixīn nóngchǎng.)
David: Liar, liar.
Echo: No…
David: What’s the name of the game?
Echo: 开心农场。 (Kāixīn nóngchǎng.)
David: Yeah 开心 (Kāixīn) is from 开心网. (Kāixīn wǎng.)
Echo: Yeah.
David: It’s a social network in China, one of the first ones.
Echo: It’s also happy.
David: And it’s happy and what is the second word there?
Echo: 农场。(Nóngchǎng.)
David: Which means Farm. So this is how you would say Farmville in Chinese.
Echo: 开心农场。 (Kāixīn nóngchǎng.)
David: Yeah. So you could say, don’t bother me, I am playing Farmville.
Echo: 别烦我,我在玩开心农场。 or 别烦我,我在偷菜呢。(Bié fán wǒ, wǒ zài wán kāixīn nóngchǎng. Or bié fán wǒ, wǒ zài tōu cài ne.)
David: Yeah don’t bother me. I am stealing 菜 (Cài) I am stealing vegetables.
Echo: Yeah 偷菜。(Tōu cài.)
David: Question. Last but not least, what is the Chinese word for to procrastinate?
Echo: 拖拖拉拉的 (Tuō tuōlā lā de) We can say that.
David: 拖拖拉拉 (Tuō tuōlā lā) Kind of like a tractor, pulls things around.
Echo: Like 别拖拖拉拉的。(Bié tuō tuōlā lā de.)
David: So how can you tell someone, don’t procrastinate.
Echo: 别拖拖拉拉的。(Bié tuō tuōlā lā de.)
David: You’ve got work to do.
Echo: 你还有工作呢 ,赶紧工作,我有一个小故事,就是在我们小的时候,也是现在所有的学生,就是小孩的时候 (Nǐ hái yǒu gōngzuò ne, gǎnjǐn gōngzuò, wǒ yǒu yīgè xiǎo gùshì, jiùshì zài wǒmen xiǎo de shíhòu, yěshì xiànzài suǒyǒu de xuéshēng, jiùshì xiǎohái de shíhòu) Like in the primary school or middle school 我们都要考试的时候,都要写作文。 (Wǒmen dōu yào kǎoshì de shíhòu, dōu yào xiě zuòwén.)
David: So you got to be writing your essays when you are a little kid.
Echo: 然后一般就是600字,1000字。(Ránhòu yībān jiùshì 600 zì,1000 zì.)
David: So 600, A thousand, that’s a lot for a little kid.
Echo: 对呀,然后我们就是一边写一边数,一边写一边数,特别可怜。就是“几个字啦?“。哦,我在这写一个句号。(Duì ya, ránhòu wǒmen jiùshì yībiān xiě yībiàn shǔ, yībiān xiě yībiàn shǔ, tèbié kělián. Jiùshì “jǐ gè zì la?“. Ó, wǒ zài zhè xiě yīgè jùhào.)
David: Oh let's write a period, that counts as one. Poor, poor Echo.
It’s grammar time.

Lesson focus

David: Okay this grammar section, it’s not the most exciting grammar section we’ve ever done like it’s a really useful one and this is one that a lot of people are going to get wrong but you are not going to get it wrong. Echo, what is it?
Echo: It’s continuing.
David: Yeah it’s different ways of describing that something is continuing. Now in our dialogue, we had this line.
Echo: 接着。晚饭以后接着写。(Jiēzhe. Wǎnfàn yǐhòu jiēzhe xiě.)
David: After dinner, I will continue writing it. We actually had an earlier version of this dialogue which was slightly different.
Echo: 晚饭以后再写。(Wǎnfàn yǐhòu zài xiě.)
David: Right. So we’ve got two ways of saying that something is continuing there. The first
Echo: 接着。(Jiēzhe.)
David: Is a verb and we stick it in front of another verb. So to continue writing.
Echo: 接着写。(Jiēzhe xiě.)
David: And that literally means to kind of pick up where you were doing it before and continue from there. The second way
Echo: 再。(Zài.)
David: Also means to continue.
Echo: 再写。 (Zài xiě.)
David: Right. Slight difference here. You can actually cheat.
Echo: 对 (Duì) Because when we use 再 (Zài) it could also mean I didn’t.
David: It’s starting for the first time.
Echo: Yeah I didn’t write that beforehand.
David: Right. So if you are a chronic procrastinator and you haven’t done any work yet, you want to be using 再 (Zài)
Echo: 再 (Zài) right.
David: Not 接着。 (Jiēzhe.)
Echo: Like 我明天再写。(Wǒ míngtiān zài xiě.)
David: Yes I will continue writing it tomorrow. We’ve got one more word for you.
Echo: 继续。(Jìxù.)
David: This also means to continue. It’s three of our ______ (0:12:17) word for talking about the continuous.
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.)
David: It’s part 3 of our ______ (0:12:23) word of words for talking about continuing things.
Echo: 继续 (Jìxù) Actually it’s more like 接着。(Jiēzhe.). It’s just more formal.
David: Yeah. So which is the most colloquial?
Echo: 接着。(Jiēzhe.)
David: And then which is the most formal?
Echo: 继续。(Jìxù.)
David: And then 再 (Zài) is kind of just in the middle.
Echo: Because 再 (Zài) has those two meanings.
David: Okay so avoid 再 (Zài) unless you really want to give the impression that maybe you haven’t done anything yet. Okay we’ve got some sample sentences for you as always. Echo, why don’t you take us away.
Echo: 好。我一会接着吃。(Hǎo. Wǒ yī huǐ jiēzhe chī.)
David: I am going to continue eating in a while.
Echo: So keep my 筷子 (Kuàizi) on the table.
David: Yeah don’t take that plate away.
Echo: 他明天继续做。(Tā míngtiān jìxù zuò.)
David: He will continue to do it tomorrow.
Echo: 他明天继续做。他以后再看。(Tā míngtiān jìxù zuò. Tā yǐhòu zài kàn.)
David: He will continue to look in a bit.
Echo: Or
David: Or he will look for the first time after a bit.
Echo: 他以后再看。(Tā yǐhòu zài kàn.)
David: And actually that’s not after a bit, it’s afterwards. So after he is doing something like watching television.
Echo: Yeah 看电视。(Kàn diànshì.)
David: Playing Farmville.
Echo: 玩儿开心农场。(Wán er kāixīn nóngchǎng.)
David: Right
Echo: 偷菜。(Tōu cài.)
David: Yeah. He will do it after he’s stolen the vegetables. This is important.
Echo: Hold on a second. I need to 偷菜 (Tōu cài) right now.
David: And speaking of Farmville, before we close, we’ve got to say, a lot of people, they say that the Chinese internet is filled with people imitating western sites. Well I think Farmville is a case, it’s a Chinese invention, isn’t it?
Echo: 是吗?(Shì ma?)
David: It was on 开心(Kāixīn). I think it was on the Chinese internet first.
Echo:所以那个是第一个。(Suǒyǐ nàgè shì dì yī gè.)
David: Right so China is a trendsetter in flash games of stealing vegetables online.
Echo: 这是一个不错的发明。(Zhè shì yīgè bùcuò de fǎ míng.)
David: And that means that China is at the forefront of procrastination at work.
Echo: 就是菜农的基地。(Jiùshì càinóng de jīdì.)

Outro

David: Yeah anyway, that’s our podcast for today. In review, we’ve given you a bunch of vocab to do with procrastination.
Echo: Yeah.
David: Great words including driving the night truck.
Echo: 开业车。(Kāiyè chē.)
David: And stewing the night.
Echo: 熬夜。(Áoyè.)
David: We’ve given you a grammar section with three different words you can use to say that something is continuing.
Echo: Right they are 接着,继续,再。(Jiēzhe, jìxù, zài.)
David: Just put them in front of the verb. And with that, that’s our podcast for today. Before we let you go, as always, we want to remind you, we’ve got premium PDFs on the site waiting for you.
Echo: Right.
David: They have all of this grammar stuff written down, all of this vocab written down and it makes it super easy to review things.
Echo: Right.
David: Print it out or take a look at it the day after you listen to a podcast and you will note your improvement. From Beijing, I am David.
Echo: 我是Echo.(Wǒ shì Echo.)
David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you guys next week.
Echo: Bye bye.
David: Bye.

Comments

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21 Comments
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ChineseClass101.com
2009-12-02 18:30:00

What are your secrets to successfully procrastinating on items of importance? Or do you plan and prep ahead of time to ensure that all the T's are crossed?

ChineseClass101.com
2021-11-26 18:17:58

Hello samia,

Thank you for sharing! We all have the experience of 开夜车 😅

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Ngai

Team ChineseClass101.com

samia
2021-11-25 19:51:45

my favorite expression 开业车😄

ChineseClass101.com
2020-09-19 04:32:54

你好 robert groulx,

You are very welcome. 😇

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Good luck with your language studies.

Kind regards,

雷文特

Team ChineseClass101.com

robert groulx
2020-09-18 23:06:42

thanks for the lesson

my favorite phrase is 筷子

robert

it is a serious issue of pocrastintion in our country

ChineseClass101.com
2017-07-16 14:17:27

Hello, diverkim,

fried squid = 煎鱿鱼(a kind of food)

fried = 煎,煎的

be fired = 被炒鱿鱼(bèi chǎo yóu yú), 被解雇(bèi jiě gù), it is not a food, but a phrase to express "be unemployed".

Cho

Team ChineseClass101.com

diverkim
2017-07-10 00:35:31

Hi,

Reading the comments, and I was reminded of "fried squid" for being "fired." Is that 煎鱿?

ChineseClass101.com
2012-10-05 12:43:31

Hi Herman,

不客气,加油!

Echo

Team ChineseClass101.com

Herman
2012-10-04 10:18:10

这功课挺好, 我学了几个多生词。谢谢。

Echo
2011-05-13 06:14:05

@phoenix_darshan,

Haha, yes, it is the story about my childhood.

Hmmm, do you mean the sentence about the stealing vegetable game? I said 菜农的基地 -- cai4nong2 de5 ji1di4 (the base of vegetable farmers).

--Echo

phoenix_darshan
2011-05-12 17:21:16

i believe ist about a little boy in primary school who had to write an essay of 600-1000 words and wrote a little, counted, wrote , counted, counted the period (full stop)???

but the last sentences in podcast before saying goodbye still evade me:)

-phoenix

Echo
2011-05-12 03:26:20

@phoenix_darshan,

Ohh, I'm so flattered. Thanks. :razz:

No worries. If you'd like to, you can try to explain/retell the story in English.

--Echo

phoenix_darshan
2011-05-11 16:16:12

hi Echo,

id rather not embarass myself i can somehow avoid it:)

thanks a lot for reply, its almost like talking to a star!

the star of my Chinese improvements:)

Echo
2011-05-11 14:27:23

@phoenix_darshan,

Oops, my mistake: it should be "zai4" not "jie1zhe5", sorry :sad:

The pinyin is tuo1tuo1la1la1(拖拖拉拉).

Hmmm, about the story and my last sentence, do you want to give a try first as practice? I'll correct them for you later on :smile:

--Echo

phoenix_darshan
2011-05-08 07:59:42

Hi CC101 team,

its me again, im not sure if I suffer from hearing impairment, but in the dialogue it really sounds like they say "zai" and not "jie zhe" like in the pdf file and when echo repeats it. please have a listen!

also whats the pinyin for tou tou la la: procrastinate and could you please post the characters for echoes little story and her last sentence please.

on a sidenote it will be great to include more of those funny quirky expressions like fried squid: being fired, dive the night bus: working all night or even have an additional file summarising a few....just a suggestion

thanks in advance

zhouli
2009-12-09 11:42:30

@蓝大卫,

eh, the two english sentences have the same meaning right? next time we will definitely put on the negative one...:smile::oops:

蓝大卫
2009-12-09 03:33:49

The expansion section has the sentence:

我明天一定不迟到。

Wǒ míngtiān yīdìng bù chídào.

I will definitely be on time tomorrow.

Literally, this is "I will definitely not be late tomorrow". How could this be stated positively,

rather than negatively?

蓝大卫
2009-12-04 03:17:18

Randy,

If you new to Chinese, I would suggest that you check out this resource:

https://www.chineseclass101.com/learningcenter/reference/pinyin_chart

Learning to pronounce Chinese correctly is very important and learning pinyin,

which will be found in all the lessons, is foundational.

I wish the best of success!

david
2009-12-03 16:27:50

Hi Randy,

Lessons are published sequentially. If you're totally new to mandarin, try starting with either our Survival Phrases series (which teaches critical words and phrases and is great for getting your feet wet), or our more advanced beginner lessons. Our beginner series starts with "hello" as well, but moves faster and also covers basic Chinese grammar, etc.

Survival Phrases:

https://www.chineseclass101.com/category/survival-phrases/

Beginner Lessons:

https://www.chineseclass101.com/category/beginner-lessons/

To find the first lesson in each series, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Last". Or sign up for a subscription to download everything to your iPod automatically. Pretty convenient: https://www.chineseclass101.com/basic-premium-podcast-feed/

Randy
2009-12-03 12:33:02

I am a bit irritated, I know nothing at all and need to start with lesson one, period. Why start me on lesson 47 where I have no idea what the &&() is going on?

david
2009-12-03 03:16:59

When it comes to language study, I find it's easy to procrastinate by making plans and just not following through on them. I found myself making better progress when I started forcing myself to do small things like turn on the Chinese news in the morning. Only takes a second and gives you some good vocabulary.

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