Learn the language you'll need to take your pet to the veterinarian and get it neutered or spayed
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Jane: 大家好(Dàjiā hǎo)，我是(Wǒ shì)Jane。 |
| David: Right. Jane is here with us today for our intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 19. |
| Jane: The Chinese Eunuch. |
| David: Right. This is not what you are expecting though. This is actually a story about our cat. |
| Jane: 在我们的办公室里有一只小猫，前几天它经历了一段非常痛苦的时间。(Zài wǒmen de bàngōngshì li yǒuyī zhǐ xiǎo māo, qián jǐ tiān tā jīnglìle yīduàn fēicháng tòngkǔ de shíjiān.) |
| David: Yes. It was a traumatic experience for him. So we’ve got a dialogue that’s about this. Before we take you to that, we want to remind you, if you are looking for a one on one tutoring practice, make sure to check out our Elite package at chineseclass101.com and if you are interested, we get to everyone a free trial to check it out. So send us an email and ask for that and we will have one of our teachers call you for a free class. |
| Jane: 快注册吧！(Kuài zhùcè ba!) |
| David: Right. That being said though, let’s go to the dialogue. |
| Jane: 好吧。(Hǎo ba.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| 明天我家猫咪就要去做绝育手术了。(Míngtiān wǒjiā māomī jiù yào qù zuò juéyù shǒushùle.) |
| 天啊，太可怜了！(Tiānā, tài kělián le!) |
| 没办法，这也是为它好呀。(Méi bànfǎ, zhèyě shì wéi tā hǎo yā.) |
| 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yàobu, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshang gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| 什么？(Shénme?) |
| 它明天就要成猫太监了，今天还不能。。。(Tā míngtiān jiù yào chéng māo tàijiān le, jīntiān hái bù néng...) |
| 我。。。无语了。(Wǒ... wú yǔ le.) |
| David: One more time, a little bit slower. |
| 明天我家猫咪就要去做绝育手术了。(Míngtiān wǒ jiā māomī jiù yào qù zuò juéyù shǒushù le.) |
| 天啊，太可怜了！(Tiānā, tài kělián le!) |
| 没办法，这也是为它好呀。(Méi bànfǎ, zhèyě shì wéi tā hǎo yā.) |
| 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yàobu, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshang gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| 什么？(Shénme?) |
| 它明天就要成猫太监了，今天还不能。。。(Tā míngtiān jiù yào chéng māo tàijiān le, jīntiān hái bù néng...) |
| 我。。。无语了。(Wǒ... wú yǔ le.) |
| David: And now with the English translation. |
| 明天我家猫咪就要去做绝育手术了。(Míngtiān wǒ jiā māomī jiù yào qù zuò juéyù shǒushù le.) |
| Tomorrow my cat is going to get spayed. |
| 天啊，太可怜了！(Tiānā, tài kělián le!) |
| Heavens, how pitiable! |
| 没办法，这也是为它好呀。(Méi bànfǎ, zhèyě shì wéi tā hǎo yā.) |
| There's nothing to be done. This is better for it too. |
| 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yàobu, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshang gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| Why don't you look for a female cat for it tonight? |
| 什么？(Shénme?) |
| What? |
| 它明天就要成猫太监了，今天还不能。。。(Tā míngtiān jiù yào chéng māo tàijiān le, jīntiān hái bù néng...) |
| It's going to be a cat eunuch tomorrow, tonight it might as well... |
| 我。。。无语了。(Wǒ... wú yǔ le.) |
| I.. am speechless. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: I love that last line. |
| Jane: It is a very – apparently very, very popular internet language. |
| David: Yeah people who will leave out that 我(Wǒ), they will just go with 无语了。(Wúyǔle.) |
| Jane: Yeah. |
| David: Well, I don’t have anything to say. |
| Jane: Yeah. |
| David: Right and that was my reaction too. So we’ve got a lot of vocab here which is about pets and traumatic experiences that they go through. Let’s get to that now. |
| Jane: 好吧。(Hǎo ba.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jane: 猫咪(Māomī) |
| David: Kitty. |
| Jane: 猫咪，猫咪。绝育(Māomī, māomī. Juéyù) |
| David: Sterilization. |
| Jane: 绝育，绝育。手术(Juéyù, juéyù. Shǒushù) |
| David: Surgery. |
| Jane: 手术，手术。可怜(Shǒushù, shǒushù. Kělián) |
| David: Pitiful. |
| Jane: 可怜，可怜。太监(Kělián, kělián. Tàijiàn) |
| David: Eunuch. |
| Jane: 太监，太监。无语(Tàijiàn, tàijiàn. Wúyǔ) |
| David: Speechless. |
| Jane: 无语，无语。要不(Wúyǔ, wúyǔ. Yào bù) |
| David: Why not. |
| Jane: 要不，要不。要么(Yào bù, yào bù. Yàome) |
| David: Either. |
| Jane: 要么，要么。(Yàome, yàome.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay. So our vocab section today is all about pets. |
| Jane: 是的，今天的词汇量对那些家里有宠物的听众来说应该是很有用的。(Shì de, jīntiān de cíhuì liàng duì nàxiē jiā li yǒu chǒngwù de tīngzhòng lái shuō yīnggāi shì hěn yǒuyòng de.) |
| David: Right especially if you need to take them to the vet and get them neutered or spayed. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: Which you really should. In China, a lot of people don’t. |
| Jane: 但是应该说越来越普遍了。(Dànshì yīnggāi shuō yuè lái yuè pǔbiànle.) |
| David: Yeah, yeah it’s more and more common and it’s actually really cheap too. Anyway, our first word is |
| Jane: 猫咪(Māomī) |
| David: Which means kitty. |
| Jane: 猫咪(Māomī) |
| David: Kitty as in the sentence. |
| Jane: 你的猫咪也太凶了，老咬人。(Nǐ de māomī yě tài xiōngle, lǎo yǎo rén.) |
| David: Your kitten is too savage. It’s always biting people. |
| Jane: 你的猫咪也太凶了，老咬人。(Nǐ de māomī yě tài xiōngle, lǎo yǎo rén.) |
| David: Your kitten is too savage. It’s always biting people and what’s that adjective? |
| Jane: 凶(Xiōng) |
| David: Right. That means fierce. |
| Jane: 凶(Xiōng) |
| David: Our next phrase is a bit technical. |
| Jane: 是的，这是一个专业用语:绝育手术。(Shì de, zhè shì yīgè zhuānyè yòngyǔ: Juéyù shǒushù.) |
| David: Let’s hear that again. |
| Jane: 绝育手术。(Juéyù shǒushù.) |
| David: In the dialogue, we heard it in this sentence. |
| Jane: 明天我家猫咪就要去做绝育手术了。(Míngtiān wǒjiā māomī jiù yào qù zuò juéyù shǒushùle.) |
| David: Right. Tomorrow afternoon, my cat has to go and do |
| Jane: 绝育手术。(Juéyù shǒushù.) |
| David: Right and that’s really two words together. The first, |
| Jane: 绝育(Juéyù) |
| David: Means sterilization. |
| Jane: 绝育(Juéyù) |
| David: Next we have the word for surgery. |
| Jane: 手术(Shǒushù) |
| David: Surgery. |
| Jane: 手术(Shǒushù) |
| David: Right. So in English, we say to neuter or to spay but in Chinese, |
| Jane: 在中文里，这个词是不分公母的。(Zài zhōngwén lǐ, zhège cí shì bù fēn gōng mu de.) |
| David: Right. |
| Jane: 绝育手术。(Juéyù shǒushù.) |
| David: And our next word is, what happens if that happens to you. You will become a |
| Jane: 太监(Tàijiàn) |
| David: Right. |
| Jane: 太监(Tàijiàn) |
| David: This is a really Chinese word. |
| Jane: 太监(Tàijiàn) |
| David: Right. |
| Jane: 中国古代时，有很多太监。(Zhōngguó gǔdài shí, yǒu hěnduō tàijiàn.) |
| David: In ancient times, there were many eunuchs in China. |
| Jane: 中国古代时，有很多太监。(Zhōngguó gǔdài shí, yǒu hěnduō tàijiàn.) |
| David: Right. Our last word is a new word. |
| Jane: 这是一个近年来非常流行的网络用语。(Zhè shì yīgè jìnnián lái fēicháng liúxíng de wǎngluò yòngyǔ.) |
| David: Right. It comes from the internet. |
| Jane: 无语。(Wúyǔ.) |
| David: Speechless. |
| Jane: 无语。(Wúyǔ.) |
| David: You use this word as follows. |
| Jane: 我无语了，你怎么能这么说呢？(Wǒ wúyǔle, nǐ zěnme néng zhème shuō ne?) |
| David: I am speechless. How can you say that? |
| Jane: 我无语了，你怎么能这么说呢？(Wǒ wúyǔle, nǐ zěnme néng zhème shuō ne?) |
| David: I am speechless, how can you say that? So this is maybe the last five years. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: And a lot of the time, people will also drop 我 and they will just say |
| Jane: 无语(Wúyǔ) |
| David: Or they will tape it out followed by five exclamation marks. |
| Jane: 看来(Kàn lái)David经常用这个词。(Jīngcháng yòng zhège cí.) |
| David: Yes. It’s really useful actually. Okay, so that takes us through our vocab. We’ve got two more words we are going to cover in our grammar section. |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: And |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: It’s grammar time. Our grammar section today is focusing on two words. |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: And |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: The difference between these words. These words sound a lot alike but there is a big difference between them. |
| Jane: 是的。我们先给大家介绍的是“要不”的用法。(Shì de. Wǒmen xiān gěi dàjiā jièshào de shì “yào bù” de yòngfǎ.) |
| David: Right. In our dialogue, we heard this in the following sentence. |
| Jane: 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yào bù, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshàng gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| David: Why don’t you get a female cat for her tonight? |
| Jane: 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yào bù, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshàng gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| David: So there are two things to note straight away. First is the meaning of |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: “Why not” or “how about”. |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: And the second thing to note is they were placing it at the beginning of our sentence. |
| Jane: 要不，给他点钱，他太可怜了。(Yào bù, gěi tā diǎn qián, tā tài kěliánle.) |
| David: Why don’t you give him some money? He is really pitiful. |
| Jane: 要不，给他点钱，他太可怜了。(Yào bù, gěi tā diǎn qián, tā tài kěliánle.) |
| David: Right. There is a third thing to note too which is that using this softens the tone of the sentence. |
| Jane: 用“要不”会使你的语气更加委婉。(Yòng “yào bù” huì shǐ nǐ de yǔqì gèngjiā wěiwǎn.) |
| David: Right. It softens the tone. We’ve got one more sample sentence for you. |
| Jane: 路这么远，要不打车吧？(Lù zhème yuǎn, yào bù dǎchē ba?) |
| David: It’s such a long trip. Why don’t we take a cab? |
| Jane: 路这么远，要不打车吧？(Lù zhème yuǎn, yào bù dǎchē ba?) |
| David: Right. So that’s |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: The second word |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: Is easily confused with this but it’s actually quite different. |
| Jane: 是的。要么总是成对儿的出现在句子里。(Shì de. Yàome zǒng shì chéng duì er de chūxiàn zài jùzi lǐ.) |
| David: Yeah. It comes in pairs as in the following sentence. |
| Jane: 你要么去医院打针，要么把这药吃了。(Nǐ yàome qù yīyuàn dǎzhēn, yàome bǎ zhè yào chīle.) |
| David: Either you go to the hospital and have an injection or you take this pill. |
| Jane: 你要么去医院打针，要么把这药吃了。(Nǐ yàome qù yīyuàn dǎzhēn, yàome bǎ zhè yào chīle.) |
| David: Right. So |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: Means either/or. |
| Jane: 是的。他给对方的感觉是你必须要从中取一，听起来更具有强迫性。(Shì de. Tā gěi duìfāng de gǎnjué shì nǐ bìxū yào cóngzhōng qǔ yī, tīng qǐlái gèng jùyǒu qiǎngpò xìng.) |
| David: Right. It’s a lot more forceful. |
| Jane: 你要么现在就跟我回去，要么永远也别回去了。(Nǐ yàome xiànzài jiù gēn wǒ huíqù, yàome yǒngyuǎn yě bié huíqùle.) |
| David: You either come back with me now or you never come back. |
| Jane: 你要么现在就跟我回去，要么永远也别回去了。(Nǐ yàome xiànzài jiù gēn wǒ huíqù, yàome yǒngyuǎn yě bié huíqùle.) |
| David: You either come back with me now or you never come back. Very, very forceful, very strong. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: So to recap, we’ve got two words here. The first is |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: The second is |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: They sound similar but they are used very differently. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: In the case of |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: We put this at the start of a sentence and it means how about in the case of |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: It comes in pairs and it’s a very forceful way of offering a choice. |
Outro |
| David: And that’s our lesson for today. As always, our PDF for this lesson contains a copy of the dialogue transcript along with a write up of this cultural note. If you have any questions, please contact us at contactus@chineseclass101.com |
| Jane: 我们等你。(Wǒmen děng nǐ.) |
| David: From Beijing, I am David. |
| Jane: 我是Jane。(Wǒ shì Jane.) |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Jane: 下次见吧。(Xià cì jiàn ba.) |
| David: Bye bye. |
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