Learn how to speak with increasing intensity in either good or bad situations
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dave: Hi everybody and welcome to chineseclass101 Elementary series, season 2, Lesson 11. The Latest Chinese Diet. |
| Echo: 嗨，大家好，我是Echo. (Hāi, dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) and welcome to chineseclass101.com. |
| Dave: And I am Dave. With us, you will learn to speak Chinese with fun and effective lessons. |
| Echo: And we also provide you with cultural insights. |
| Dave: And tips you won’t find in a textbook. So today’s lesson is about dieting. |
| Echo: While the dialogue is about how to maintain a slim body. |
| Dave: From diets to exercise, today’s lesson is full of fun vocabulary words that will leave your mind feeling strong and energetic. |
| Echo: And don’t miss today’s grammar point where we talk about a very common expression in Chinese that you will use more and more. |
| Dave: Right. So let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:你越来越瘦了，多吃点儿。 (nǐ yuèláiyuè shòule, duō chī diǎnr.) |
| B:我节食呢！ (wǒ jiéshí ne!) |
| A:你注意身体。 (nǐ zhùyì shēntǐ.) |
| B:没事，我天天锻炼。 (méishì, wǒ tiāntiān duànliàn.) |
| A:哎，别喝减肥茶了。 (āi, bié hē jiǎnféi chá le.) |
| B:没事。 (méishì.) |
| A:你已经很瘦了。 (nǐ yǐjīng hěn shòu le.) |
| B:你不懂，现在越瘦越好。 (nǐ bùdǒng, xiànzài yuè shòu yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: One more time, a bit slower. |
| A:你越来越瘦了，多吃点儿。 (nǐ yuèláiyuè shòule, duō chī diǎnr.) |
| B:我节食呢！ (wǒ jiéshí ne!) |
| A:你注意身体。 (nǐ zhùyì shēntǐ.) |
| B:没事，我天天锻炼。 (méishì, wǒ tiāntiān duànliàn.) |
| A:哎，别喝减肥茶了。 (āi, bié hē jiǎnféi chá le.) |
| B:没事。 (méishì.) |
| A:你已经很瘦了。 (nǐ yǐjīng hěn shòu le.) |
| B:你不懂，现在越瘦越好。 (nǐ bùdǒng, xiànzài yuè shòu yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: One more time with English. |
| Echo: 你越来越瘦了，多吃点儿。 (nǐ yuèláiyuè shòule, duō chī diǎnr.) |
| Dave: You are getting skinnier and skinnier, you should eat more. |
| Echo: 我节食呢！ (wǒ jiéshí ne!) |
| Dave: I am on a diet. |
| Echo: 你注意身体。 (nǐ zhùyì shēntǐ) |
| Dave: You should be careful of your health. |
| Echo: 没事，我天天锻炼。 (méishì, wǒ tiāntiān duànliàn.) |
| Dave: It’s nothing. I workout every day. |
| Echo: 哎，别喝减肥茶了。 (āi, bié hē jiǎnféi chá le.) |
| Dave: Ey don’t drink diet tea. |
| Echo: 没事。 (méishì.) |
| Dave: Don’t worry. |
| Echo: 你已经很瘦了。 (. nǐ yǐjīng hěn shòu le.) |
| Dave: You are already really skinny. |
| Echo: 你不懂，现在越瘦越好。 (nǐ bùdǒng, xiànzài yuè shòu yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: You don’t understand, the skinnier, the better. I could never go on on diet. I like food far too much. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: Well you are a boy, so you are under far less pressure to be skinny. |
| Dave: I don’t know if that’s true. There are fat guys in movies but they are never the hero who gets the girl. |
| Echo: Well still it’s not as intense. |
| Dave: No, no disagreement there. In China however, sometimes people tell me I look fat and they appear to mean it as a compliment. |
| Echo: Yeah that’s because the words for fat has more positive associations in Chinese. It suggests that you are strong and healthy. I think it’s partly because like 15 years ago, people often had very little food to eat in China and being fat suggests you that you were rich and had a better life than others. |
| Dave: Ah whereas in English, fat just means fat. Okay let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Dave: And now the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 越 (yuè) |
| Dave: The more. |
| Echo: 越来越 (yuèláiyuè) |
| Dave: The more and more. |
| Echo: 节食 (jiéshí) |
| Dave: To go on a diet. |
| Echo: 注意 (zhùyì) |
| Dave: To pay attention. |
| Echo: 身体 (shēntǐ) |
| Dave: Body or health. |
| Echo: 天天 (every day) |
| Dave: Everyday. |
| Echo: 锻炼 (duànliàn) |
| Dave: To workout. |
| Echo: 减肥茶 (jiǎnféichá) |
| Dave: Diet tea. |
| Echo: 减肥药 (jiǎnféiyào) |
| Dave: Weight loss pills. |
| Echo: 健康 (jiànkāng) |
| Dave: Healthy. |
| Echo: 健康 (jiànkāng) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Dave: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Echo: The first word we will look at is 越。 (Yuè) |
| Dave: The more, the more something. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: The more something. |
| Echo: 越，女孩越高越漂亮。 (Yuè, nǚhái yuè gāo yuè piàoliang.) |
| Dave: The more tall girls are, the more pretty they are. |
| Echo: Right 女孩越高越漂亮。 (Nǚhái yuè gāo yuè piàoliang.) Okay next one 越来越。 (Yuè lái yuè.) |
| Dave: More and more. |
| Echo: 越来越，你越来越年轻了。 (Yuè lái yuè, nǐ yuè lái yuè niánqīngle.) |
| Dave: You look younger and younger. |
| Echo: Dave 你越来越年轻了。 (Nǐ yuè lái yuè niánqīngle.) |
| Dave: Oh thank you. It’s like that movie Benjamin Button. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: Eventually I will just turn into a small child. |
| Echo: 节食。 (Jiéshí) |
| Dave: To go on a diet. |
| Echo: 节食，节食对健康不好。 (Jiéshí, jiéshí duì jiànkāng bù hǎo.) |
| Dave: Going on a diet isn’t good for your health. |
| Echo: 节食对健康不好。注意。 (Jiéshí duì jiànkāng bù hǎo. Zhùyì.) |
| Dave: To pay attention. |
| Echo: 注意，他越来越不注意身体了。 (Zhùyì, tā yuè lái yuè bù zhùyì shēntǐle.) |
| Dave: He is paying less and less attention to his body or his health. |
| Echo: 他越来越不注意身体了 (Tā yuè lái yuè bù zhùyì shēntǐle) So we have this word next 身体。 (Shēntǐ) |
| Dave: Which means body or health. It can refer to your physical body or the health of that body. |
| Echo: Yeah 身体。他的身体很差，经常生病。 (Shēntǐ. Tā de shēntǐ hěn chà, jīngcháng shēngbìng.) |
| Dave: His body is in bad shape. He is constantly getting sick. |
| Echo: 他的身体很差，经常生病。天天。 (Tā de shēntǐ hěn chà, jīngcháng shēngbìng. Tiāntiān.) |
| Dave: Everyday. |
| Echo: 天天，我天天都去锻炼。 (Tiāntiān, wǒ tiāntiān dū qù duànliàn.) |
| Dave: I go workout every day. |
| Echo: 我天天都去锻炼。 (Wǒ tiāntiān dū qù duànliàn.) This actually brings us to the next word 锻炼。 (Duànliàn) |
| Dave: To workout. |
| Echo: 锻炼，我锻炼了一个小时。 (Duànliàn, wǒ duànliànle yīgè xiǎoshí.) |
| Dave: I worked out for an hour. |
| Echo: 我锻炼了一个小时。减肥茶。 (Wǒ duànliànle yīgè xiǎoshí. Jiǎnféi chá.) |
| Dave: Weight loss tea or tea for dieting. |
| Echo: 减肥茶，喝减肥茶没用。 (Jiǎnféi chá, hē jiǎnféi chá méi yòng.) |
| Dave: Drinking weight loss tea is useless. |
| Echo: 喝减肥茶没用。减肥药。 (Hē jiǎnféi chá méi yòng. Jiǎnféi yào.) |
| Dave: Weight loss pills. |
| Echo: 减肥药，我不吃减肥药。 (Jiǎnféi yào, wǒ bù chī jiǎnféi yào.) |
| Dave: I don’t take weight loss pills. |
| Echo: 我不吃减肥药。 (Wǒ bù chī jiǎnféi yào.) |
| Dave: I don’t take weight loss pills. Now literally it’s I don’t eat weight loss pills because in Chinese, you eat medicine but more commonly in English, we say take. |
| Echo: Right. And last word 健康。 (Jiànkāng) |
| Dave: Healthy. |
| Echo: 健康，我的身体越来越健康了。 (Jiànkāng, wǒ de shēntǐ yuè lái yuè jiànkāngle.) |
| Dave: My body is becoming healthier and healthier. |
| Echo: 我的身体越来越健康了。 (Wǒ de shēntǐ yuè lái yuè jiànkāngle.) |
| Dave: My body is becoming more and more healthy but you all know that’s a lie now because I told you I never go to the gym. Okay let’s move on to the grammar section. It’s grammar time. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: The focus of this lesson is 越。 (Yuè.) |
| Dave: This is a common expression that you will hear quite often and it means the more something the more something else. |
| Echo: Yeah 越什么什么，越什么什么。 (Yuè shénme shénme, yuè shénme shénme.) |
| Dave: Is a phrase used to show that as one condition increases or intensifies, another does as well. So let’s take a look at the example from our dialogue. |
| Echo: 现在越瘦越好。 (Xiànzài yuè shòu yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: Right now, the skinnier I am, the better. |
| Echo: 越瘦越好。 (Yuè shòu yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: This implies that the skinnier the person is |
| Echo: 越瘦。 (Yuè shòu.) |
| Dave: The better it is. |
| Echo: 越好。 (Yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: This phrase can also be used with verbs. |
| Echo: 这部电影越看越喜欢。 (Zhè bù diànyǐng yuè kàn yuè xǐhuān.) |
| Dave: The more I watch this movie, the more I like it. |
| Echo: 越来越So 越来越 (Yuè lái yuè So yuè lái yuè) is a common way to say that some quality intensifies with time. |
| Dave: Right. It’s a neutral expression. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Dave: So it can be used to talk about increasingly good or bad conditions. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Dave: To say that something is intensifying over time, we use this formula. |
| Echo: 越来越 (Yuè lái yuè) plus adjective or plus verb phrase. |
| Dave: Right. Let’s go over some examples to shed some light on this. |
| Echo: 你越来越漂亮了。 (Nǐ yuè lái yuè piàoliangle.) |
| Dave: You are getting prettier and prettier. |
| Echo: 越来越漂亮。 (Yuè lái yuè piàoliang.) |
| Dave: Prettier and prettier. |
| Echo: 他越来越年轻了。 (Tā yuè lái yuè niánqīngle.) |
| Dave: He is becoming younger and younger. |
| Echo: 越来越年轻。(Yuè lái yuè niánqīng.) |
| Dave: Younger and younger. |
| Echo: 我越来越喜欢我的工作了。 (Wǒ yuè lái yuè xǐhuān wǒ de gōngzuòle.) |
| Dave: I like my job more and more. |
| Echo: And notice we had a verb phrase at the end of the sentence using 喜欢 (Xǐhuān) |
| Dave: Like |
| Echo: Right. You can use the verb phrase after 越来越 (Yuè lái yuè) as well as adjectives. |
| Dave: Now we are going to review the second point. |
| Echo: When using verb or an adjective, follow this pattern 越 (Yuè) plus adjective or verb phrase plus 越 (Yuè) plus adjective or verb phrase. |
| Dave: This is the same pattern that we saw in the dialogue. Okay let’s go over some more examples. Echo. |
| Echo: 分数越高越好。 (Fēnshù yuè gāo yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: The higher the score, the better. |
| Echo: 分数越高越好。 (Fēnshù yuè gāo yuè hǎo.) So we have two adjectives 高 (Gāo) and 好。 (Hǎo) |
| Dave: The higher and the better. |
| Echo: 越高越好。 (Yuè gāo yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: Our next example. |
| Echo: 鞋子越舒服越好。 (Xiézi yuè shūfú yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: The more comfortable the shoe is, the better and I agree with this statement 100%. |
| Echo: Yeah 越舒服越好。 (Yuè shūfú yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: More comfortable, the better. So Echo, in review, we have two patterns meaning the more something, the more something else. |
| Echo: Right. One pattern is, |
| Dave: The one we just went over. |
| Echo: 越 (Yuè) plus adjective or verb phrase plus 越 (Yuè) plus adjective or verb phrase. |
| Dave: And the second pattern was |
| Echo: 越来越 (Yuè lái yuè) plus adjective or verb phrase. |
| Dave: Okay Echo, let’s leave our listeners with one last sentence. |
| Echo: 中文越说越好。 (Zhōngwén yuè shuō yuè hǎo.) |
| Dave: The more you speak Chinese, the better you get. |
| Echo: Right 中文越说越好。 (Zhōngwén yuè shuō yuè hǎo.) and the best way to improve your speaking is with |
| Dave: The voice recording tool at chineseclass101. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| Dave: Yes the voice recording tool in the premium learning center. |
| Echo: Record your voice with a click of a button |
| Dave: And then play it back just as easily. |
| Echo: So you record your voice and then listen to it. |
| Dave: Compare it to the native speakers. |
| Echo: And adjust your pronunciation. |
| Dave: This will help you improve your pronunciation quickly. |
| Echo: Right. |
Outro |
| Dave: Okay that’s it for today. I am Dave from Beijing. |
| Echo: 我是Echo. (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Dave: And we will see you next week. |
| Echo: Thanks for listening. |
| Dave: Keep listening to chineseclass101. |
| Echo: Bye bye. |
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