Learn about obsessive cleanliness disorder
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Hi everyone, I am David. |
| Echo: 嗨！大家好(Hāi! Dàjiā hǎo)，我是(Wǒ shì)Echo. |
| David: And welcome to chineseclass101.com. Today we’ve got intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 17. |
| Echo: The Secret to a Spotless House. |
| David: Right, we are sharing the secret on how to have a spotless house. Right Echo? |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. We are going to share that in the dialogue but before we get to the dialogue, we want to remind you. If you are interested in getting some 1 on 1 support along with our lessons, send us an email at contactus@chineseclass101.com and we will set you up for a free trial with our 1 on 1 tutoring service. |
| Echo: 而且这是据我所知非常非常有效的提高你的中文能力的一个办法。(Érqiě zhè shì jù wǒ suǒ zhī fēicháng fēicháng yǒuxiào de tígāo nǐ de zhōngwén nénglì de yīgè bànfǎ.) |
| David: Right and best of all, it’s free and there is no obligation so you can try it out without paying us. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And with that being said, let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 你家里怎么总是那么干净啊？(nǐ jiā lǐ zěnme zǒngshì nàme gānjìng a?) |
| 那是！我追求的是一尘不染的整洁。(nà shì! wǒ zhuīqiú de shì yīchénbùrǎn de zhěngjié.) |
| 你该不是有病吧？(nǐ gāi bù shì yǒubìng ba?) |
| 你才有病。(你才有病。) |
| 我是说洁癖。(wǒ shì shuō jiépǐ.) |
| 我没有洁癖，我只是请了个阿姨来打扫。(wǒ méiyǒu jiépǐ, wǒ zhǐ shì qǐng le ge āyí lái dǎsǎo.) |
| 哦，家有阿姨，如有洁癖。(ò, jiā yǒu āyí, rú yǒu jiépǐ.) |
| David: One more time, a little bit slower. |
| 你家里怎么总是那么干净啊？(nǐ jiā lǐ zěnme zǒngshì nàme gānjìng a?) |
| 那是！我追求的是一尘不染的整洁。(nà shì! wǒ zhuīqiú de shì yīchénbùrǎn de zhěngjié.) |
| 你该不是有病吧？(你該不是有病吧？) |
| 你才有病。(nǐ cái yǒubìng.) |
| 我是说洁癖。(wǒ shì shuō jiépǐ.) |
| 我没有洁癖，我只是请了个阿姨来打扫。(wǒ méiyǒu jiépǐ, wǒ zhǐ shì qǐng le ge āyí lái dǎsǎo.) |
| 哦，家有阿姨，如有洁癖。(ò, jiā yǒu āyí, rú yǒu jiépǐ.) |
| David: And now with the English translation. |
| 你家里怎么总是那么干净啊？(nǐ jiā lǐ zěnme zǒngshì nàme gānjìng a?) |
| How is your home so clean? |
| 那是！我追求的是一尘不染的整洁。(nà shì! wǒ zhuīqiú de shì yīchénbùrǎn de zhěngjié.) |
| Isn't it! I demand absolute spotlessness. |
| 你该不是有病吧？(你該不是有病吧？) |
| You don't have a disease? |
| 你才有病。(nǐ cái yǒubìng.) |
| You're the sick one. |
| 我是说洁癖。(wǒ shì shuō jiépǐ.) |
| I'm talking about an obsessive disorder. |
| 我没有洁癖，我只是请了个阿姨来打扫。(wǒ méiyǒu jiépǐ, wǒ zhǐ shì qǐng le ge āyí lái dǎsǎo.) |
| I'm not obsessive, I just ask a maid to clean. |
| 哦，家有阿姨，如有洁癖。(ò, jiā yǒu āyí, rú yǒu jiépǐ.) |
| Oh, having a maid is about the same. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So Echo, we were talking about this before. |
| Echo: 我也追求的是一尘不染的整洁。(Wǒ yě zhuīqiú de shì yīchénbùrǎn de zhěngjié.) |
| David: And I remember – I remember that you’ve done 180 on the concept of the 阿姨.(Āyí.) |
| Echo: 有吗？(Yǒu ma?) |
| David: Two years ago, Echo was going, no, no I am never going to let someone strange come to my house and clean and then you got an 阿姨(Āyí) and overnight. |
| Echo: 我可以告诉大家(Wǒ kěyǐ gàosù dàjiā)，她(Tā)Amazing! |
| David: Yeah. Echo is a convert. We are all converts. It’s actually one of the great things about China. So anyway, that’s our dialogue. We’ve got a lot of vocab here that’s about cleanliness. So let’s get right to it. And now, the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 干净(gānjìng) |
| David: Clean. |
| Echo: 干净(gānjìng)，干净。追求(Gānjìng. Zhuīqiú) |
| David: To pursue. |
| Echo: 追求，追求。整洁(Zhuīqiú, zhuīqiú. Zhěngjié) |
| David: Tidy. |
| Echo: 整洁，整洁。有病(Zhěngjié, zhěngjié. Yǒu bìng) |
| David: To have a disease. |
| Echo: 有病，有病。洁癖(Yǒu bìng, yǒu bìng. Jiépǐ) |
| David: Obsessive cleanliness disorder. |
| Echo: 洁癖，洁癖。阿姨(Jiépǐ, jiépǐ. Āyí) |
| David: Maid. |
| Echo: 阿姨，阿姨。打扫(Āyí, āyí. Dǎsǎo) |
| David: To clean up. |
| Echo: 打扫，打扫。如(Dǎsǎo, dǎsǎo. Rú) |
| David: Like. |
| Echo: 如，如。(Rú, rú.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay. So we have a lot of words here that have to do with cleaning. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And our first one is actually the word for clean. |
| Echo: 干净(Gānjìng) |
| David: Let’s hear that again slowly. |
| Echo: 干净，干净。(Gānjìng, gānjìng.) |
| David: You’ve probably already run into that. There is a second word in our dialogue that means close to the same thing though. |
| Echo: Right, it’s 整洁(Zhěngjié) |
| David: Let’s hear that again. |
| Echo: 整洁(Zhěngjié) |
| David: Tidy. |
| Echo: 对。“干净”呢，就是更多的是说你们家里没有脏东西，“整洁”的意思呢，就是东西都放在合适的地方。(Duì.“Gānjìng” ne, jiùshì gèng duō de shì shuō nǐmen jiālǐ méiyǒu zàng dōngxī,“zhěngjié” de yìsi ne, jiùshì dōngxī dū fàng zài héshì dì dìfāng.) |
| David: Okay. |
| Echo: 收拾的很好。(Shōushí de hěn hǎo.) |
| David: So we are talking about two different things. |
| Echo: 干净(Gānjìng) |
| David: Means clean as in not dirty. |
| Echo: 就是不脏(Jiùshì bù zàng) |
| David: Yeah whereas |
| Echo: 整洁(Zhěngjié) |
| David: Means tidy. As in everything is in the proper place. |
| Echo: 没错，就是东西都放在合适的地方。(Méi cuò, jiùshì dōngxī dū fàng zài héshì dì dìfāng.) |
| David: Right. Presumably by the maid. |
| Echo: 很有可能(Hěn yǒu kěnéng)，然后你什么都找不到。(Ránhòu nǐ shénme dōu zhǎo bù dào.) |
| David: Yeah. Next we have something that’s actually not in our vocab list but it’s good to know. |
| Echo: 没错。一尘不染。(Méi cuò. Yīchénbùrǎn.) |
| David: Right. This literally means without even a speck of dust. |
| Echo: 这是一个成语。(Zhè shì yīgè chéngyǔ.) |
| David: Yeah. It’s an idiom. Let’s hear it again. |
| Echo: 一尘不染。(Yīchénbùrǎn.) |
| David: Right. And how are we going to get things to the point that they are spotless. |
| Echo: 收拾(Shōushí) |
| David: Right. We are going to clean it up. |
| Echo: 收拾(Shōushí) |
| David: So 收拾 means to clean up. |
| Echo: 对，其实“收拾”呢，更多的是就是把东西放在合适的地方。(Duì, qíshí “shōushí” ne, gèng duō de shì jiùshì bǎ dōngxī fàng zài héshì dì dìfāng.) |
| David: Okay. So it’s kind of tidying up maybe as opposed to cleaning. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. So if you 收拾(Shōushí) you are going to get your things very…. |
| Echo: 整洁。(Zhěngjié.) |
| David: But if you want to clean things up, you have to use a different verb. |
| Echo: 我们说“打扫”(Wǒmen shuō “dǎsǎo”) Actually you can use them together like 打扫干净。(Dǎsǎo gānjìng.) |
| David: Umm… |
| Echo: 把你的房间打扫干净。(Bǎ nǐ de fángjiān dǎsǎo gānjìng.) |
| David: And you can tidy up and make it clean too. |
| Echo: 把你的屋子收拾整洁。(Bǎ nǐ de wūzi shōushí zhěngjié.) |
| David: Right. So think of these words as pairs. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: It’s not a 100% but it is pretty close. But 打扫 here, what about mopping? |
| Echo: 都是打扫。(Dōu shì dǎsǎo.) |
| David: So you could say, you know. |
| Echo: 打扫就是让你的房间变干净，所以不管你们用什么办法，不管是擦，扫，或者是刷。(Dǎsǎo jiùshì ràng nǐ de fángjiān biàn gānjìng, suǒyǐ bùguǎn nǐmen yòng shénme bànfǎ, bùguǎn shì cā, sǎo, huòzhě shì shuā.) |
| David: So 擦(Cā) is to mop and 扫(Sǎo) is to sweep. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And you had 刷(Shuā) as well which is to wipe. |
| Echo: 对，或者是(Duì, huòzhě shì)paint也可以，都可以。(Yě kěyǐ, dōu kěyǐ.) |
| David: Okay. Well I am getting my 阿姨(Āyí) to do that. |
| Echo: ”刷“ 就是你用更多的水，叫”刷“ 。(” Shuā “jiùshì nǐ yòng gèng duō de shuǐ, jiào” shuā “ .) |
| David: Okay. |
| Echo: 或者油漆也可以。(Huòzhě yóuqī yě kěyǐ.) |
| David: Well, we have a last word here as well which was totally new to me. |
| Echo: 洁癖(Jiépǐ) |
| David: Right. Let’s hear that again. |
| Echo: 洁癖。可能在...可能若你在中国听到很多普通的人更多的是说四声，洁癖 (jiépì)，但是呢是错的。(Jiépǐ. Kěnéng zài... Kěnéng ruò nǐ zài zhōngguó tīng dào hěnduō pǔtōng de rén gèng duō de shì shuō sì shēng, jiépǐ (jiépì), dànshì ne shì cuò de.) |
| David: Okay. |
| Echo: 应该说洁癖 (Yīnggāi shuō jiépǐ。) |
| David: And now people know how to pronounce it. We are going to tell them what it means. It means obsessive compulsive cleanliness disorder. |
| Echo: 对。所有你看到有“癖”这个字的，都是表示不好的习惯。比如说“怪癖”，奇怪的习惯。(Duì. Suǒyǒu nǐ kàn dào yǒu “pǐ” zhège zì de, dōu shì biǎoshì bù hǎo de xíguàn. Bǐrú shuō “guàipǐ”, qíguài de xíguàn.) |
| David: Okay. So six words we want you to remember from this lesson. First, |
| Echo: 干净(Gānjìng) |
| David: Which is clean, and what’s the verb we use with clean? |
| Echo: 打扫(Dǎsǎo) |
| David: We also have tidy |
| Echo: 整洁(Zhěngjié) |
| David: And the verb associated with that. |
| Echo: 收拾(Shōushí) |
| David: When you’ve done this, you are going to have a spotless house. |
| Echo: 一尘不染(Yīchénbùrǎn) |
| David: And if you do this a lot, you may want to get checked for obsessive cleanliness compulsive disorder. |
| Echo: 或者有朋友会问你“诶，你不是有洁癖吧？“(Huòzhě yǒu péngyǒu huì wèn nǐ “éi, nǐ bùshì yǒu jiépǐ ba?“) |
| David: Right. And pay attention especially for pronunciation of the second character there. |
| Echo: 对，洁癖。(Duì, jiépǐ.) |
| David: It’s third tone. You may hear it as fourth tone sometimes. Okay let’s get to the grammar section. We’ve got a good one. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Our grammar focus today is on the character |
| Echo: 如(Rú) |
| David: We’ve run into this before as part of the conjunction if. |
| Echo: 如果(Rúguǒ) |
| David: As in the sentence |
| Echo: 如果有问题(Rúguǒ yǒu wèntí)，随时给我打电话。(Suíshí gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà.) |
| David: If there is a problem, give me a telephone call any time. |
| Echo: 如果有问题(Rúguǒ yǒu wèntí)，随时给我打电话。(Suíshí gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà.) |
| David: Right. In our dialogue though, we see this used in a much more advanced way. |
| Echo: 家有阿姨(Jiā yǒu āyí)，如有洁癖。(Rú yǒu jiépǐ.) |
| David: Okay. This is going to be confusing for a lot of people. We’ve got two things that are really happening. One, we’ve got this Chinese thing where we’ve got this symmetrical balanced expression. |
| Echo: 对，对，就是我们特别的句子。(Duì, duì, jiùshì wǒmen tèbié de jùzi.) |
| David: Yeah it’s not really a couplet. It’s just |
| Echo: 这个算是排比句了，应该是。(Zhège suànshì páibǐ jùle, yīnggāi shì.) |
| David: Yeah. So what’s happening with 如 here? |
| Echo: 这个地方呢，“如”不是“如果”的意思，虽然它看起来很像。(Zhège dìfāng ne,“rú” bùshì “rúguǒ” de yìsi, suīrán tā kàn qǐlái hěn xiàng.) |
| David: Yeah. Yes, it’s not “if”, it is “like”. |
| Echo: 对，它是“好像”的意思。(Duì, tā shì “hǎoxiàng” de yìsi.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 这个地方其实更符合“如”的，古代的意思。(Zhège dìfāng qíshí gèng fúhé “rú” de, gǔdài de yìsi.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 就它在古代就是“好像”的意思。(Jiù tā zài gǔdài jiùshì “hǎoxiàng” de yìsi.) |
| David: Right. We don’t usually hear this a lot in colloquial Chinese but you can run into it sometimes. Now, in our dialogue, what was that sentence again? |
| Echo: 家有阿姨，如有洁癖。(Jiā yǒu āyí, rú yǒu jiépǐ.) |
| David: And our translation of this is actually kind of rough but what it means is, if your house has an 阿姨(Āyí), then it is like having 洁癖.(Jiépǐ.) |
| Echo: Yeah it is like you have 洁癖。(Jiépǐ.) |
| David: Yeah. So getting an 阿姨 makes you obsessive compulsive. |
| Echo: 没错，她会让你的屋子一尘不染。(Méi cuò, tā huì ràng nǐ de wūzi yīchénbùrǎn.) |
| David: Yeah. So we’ve got a couple more sentences for you. This next example comes from a famous Indian poet. |
| Echo: 没错，是...(Méi cuò, shì...) |
| David: Translate it into Chinese. |
| Echo: 对，差不多吧。生如夏花，死如秋叶。(Duì, chàbùduō ba. Shēng rú xià huā, sǐ rú qiū yè.) |
| David: Let’s hear that again. |
| Echo: 生如夏花，死如秋叶。(Shēng rú xià huā, sǐ rú qiū yè.) |
| David: Right and that means to live like summer flowers and die like autumn leaves. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: And that incidentally is the name of PuShu’s great musical album. |
| Echo: 对。生如夏花，他的一个专辑。(Duì. Shēng rú xià huā, tā de yīgè zhuānjí.) |
| David: If you find it, get it. It’s great music. Next example, |
| Echo: 生活如六月的天气一样，不可预测。(Shēnghuó rú liù yuè de tiānqì yīyàng, bùkě yùcè.) |
| David: Life is like something. Let’s hear again and see if you can pick it up. |
| Echo: 生活如六月的天气一样，不可预测。(Shēnghuó rú liù yuè de tiānqì yīyàng, bùkě yùcè.) |
| David: If you guessed a box of chocolates, you are wrong. |
| Echo: 差不多吧。(Chàbùduō ba.) |
| David: The answer is, life is like weather in the month of June. It can’t be forecast. |
| Echo: 没错。生活如六月的天气一样，不可预测。(Méi cuò. Shēnghuó rú liù yuè de tiānqì yīyàng, bùkě yùcè.) |
Outro |
| David: Right. So that’s our lesson for today. As always, we’ve put a lot more details and sample sentences in our lesson PDF. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: So if you haven’t checked that out, come to chineseclass101.com and download it. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: It’s going to help you memorize this stuff. Okay for now though, that’s our podcast for today. From Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo。 |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 网上见吧(Wǎngshàng jiàn ba) Bye bye. |
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