Learn an expression that's commonly used throughout China
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo: Hi, 大家好，我是Echo. (dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: And we are here today with intermediate lesson, season 2, Lesson 9. Protecting Your Lungs in Beijing. |
| Echo: 对，这个很难做到。(Duì, zhège hěn nán zuò dào.) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: 特别是在北京。(Tèbié shì zài běijīng.) |
| David: And you know, the crazy thing is, Beijing isn’t as bad as some of the interior cities too. |
| Echo: 真的吗？(Zhēn de ma?) |
| David: Yep. |
| Echo: 哎呦 (Āi yōu) |
| David: Yeah like 河北 has some pretty rough places. |
| Echo: 我听说石家庄特别不好。(Wǒ tīng shuō shíjiāzhuāng tèbié bù hǎo.) |
| David: Yeah. So our dialogue is taking place between two friends who are chatting in Beijing. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: And they are talking about the air pollution. |
| Echo: 对，北京的空气污染。(Duì, běijīng de kōngqì wūrǎn.) |
| David: Right. This is casual Mandarin as always. So let’s get to the show. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:北京的雾怎么这么大啊？ |
| (A: Běijīng de wù zěnme zhème dà a?) |
| B:你外行了吧？这不是雾，是雾霾。 |
| (B: Nǐ wàihángle ba? Zhè bùshì wù, shì wù mái.) |
| A:雾霾是什么？ |
| (A: Wù mái shì shénme?) |
| B:雾霾里面全是污染物，吸进肺里就出不来了。 |
| (B: Wù mái lǐmiàn quán shì wūrǎn wù, xī jìn fèi li jiù chū bù láile.) |
| A:能见度真低啊，我觉得我们好像在恐怖片里。北京怎么污染这么厉害呢？ |
| (A: Néngjiàndù zhēn dī a, wǒ juéde wǒmen hǎoxiàng zài kǒngbù piàn li. Běijīng zěnme wūrǎn zhème lìhài ne?) |
| B:我猜是汽车尾气加上冬天供暖的废气。 |
| (B: Wǒ cāi shì qìchē wěiqì jiā shàng dōngtiān gōngnuǎn de fèiqì.) |
| A:这个味道真刺鼻。 |
| (A: Zhège wèidào zhēn cì bí.) |
| B:我们还是赶紧回家吧。 |
| (B: Wǒmen háishì gǎnjǐn huí jiā ba.) |
| David: Once more, a little bit slower. |
| A:北京的雾怎么这么大啊？ |
| (A: Běijīng de wù zěnme zhème dà a?) |
| B:你外行了吧？这不是雾，是雾霾。 |
| (B: Nǐ wàihángle ba? Zhè bùshì wù, shì wù mái.) |
| A:雾霾是什么？ |
| (A: Wù mái shì shénme?) |
| B:雾霾里面全是污染物，吸进肺里就出不来了。 |
| (B: Wù mái lǐmiàn quán shì wūrǎn wù, xī jìn fèi li jiù chū bù láile.) |
| A:能见度真低啊，我觉得我们好像在恐怖片里。北京怎么污染这么厉害呢？ |
| (A: Néngjiàndù zhēn dī a, wǒ juéde wǒmen hǎoxiàng zài kǒngbù piàn li. Běijīng zěnme wūrǎn zhème lìhài ne?) |
| B:我猜是汽车尾气加上冬天供暖的废气。 |
| (B: Wǒ cāi shì qìchē wěiqì jiā shàng dōngtiān gōngnuǎn de fèiqì.) |
| A:这个味道真刺鼻。 |
| (A: Zhège wèidào zhēn cì bí.) |
| B:我们还是赶紧回家吧。 |
| (B: Wǒmen háishì gǎnjǐn huí jiā ba.) |
| David: And now, with English translation. |
| A:北京的雾怎么这么大啊？ |
| (A: Běijīng de wù zěnme zhème dà a?) |
| A: How can Beijing have so much fog? |
| B:你外行了吧？这不是雾，是雾霾。 |
| (B: Nǐ wàihángle ba? Zhè bùshì wù, shì wù mái.) |
| B: You are not from around here, huh? This isn't fog. It's smog. |
| A:雾霾是什么？ |
| (A: Wù mái shì shénme?) |
| A: What's smog? |
| B:雾霾里面全是污染物，吸进肺里就出不来了。 |
| (B: Wù mái lǐmiàn quán shì wūrǎn wù, xī jìn fèi li jiù chū bù láile.) |
| B: Smog is made of particles of pollution. Once you breathe them in, they don't come out. |
| A:能见度真低啊，我觉得我们好像在恐怖片里。北京怎么污染这么厉害呢？ |
| (A: Néngjiàndù zhēn dī a, wǒ juéde wǒmen hǎoxiàng zài kǒngbù piàn li. Běijīng zěnme wūrǎn zhème lìhài ne?) |
| A: Visibility is really low. I feel like we are in a horror film. How can Beijing's pollution be so bad? |
| B:我猜是汽车尾气加上冬天供暖的废气。 |
| (B: Wǒ cāi shì qìchē wěiqì jiā shàng dōngtiān gōngnuǎn de fèiqì.) |
| B: I'm guessing it's car exhaust coupled with winter coal burning. |
| A:这个味道真刺鼻。 |
| (A: Zhège wèidào zhēn cì bí.) |
| A: This smell really burns your nostrils. |
| B:我们还是赶紧回家吧。 |
| (B: Wǒmen háishì gǎnjǐn huí jiā ba.) |
| B: We'd better get home quickly. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: 这个，这个是一个真实的对话。(Zhège, zhège shì yīgè zhēnshí de duìhuà.) |
| David: Yes this is extremely realistic except I don’t hear a lot of people say the word for smoke. |
| Echo: 雾霾这两年越来越多了，现在新闻里面开始用了，所以老百姓也开始用。(Wù mái zhè liǎng nián yuè lái yuè duōle, xiànzài xīnwén lǐmiàn kāishǐ yòngle, suǒyǐ lǎobǎixìng yě kāishǐ yòng.) |
| David: Yeah a lot of people will just say 污染(Wūrǎn) pollution instead. So we are on the cutting edge here. We are teaching you the words that are coming into usage. |
| Echo: 没错，是非常有用非常流行的。(Méi cuò, shì fēicháng yǒuyòng fēicháng liúxíng de.) |
| David: Yeah let’s get to our vocab list which is filled with them. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 雾 (wù) |
| David: Fog. |
| Echo: 雾霾 (wùmái) |
| David: Smog. |
| Echo: 外行 (wàiháng) |
| David: Outsider. |
| Echo: 污染 (wūrǎn) |
| David: Pollution. |
| Echo: 肺 (fèi) |
| David: Lung. |
| Echo: 能见度 (néngjiàndù) |
| David: Visibility. |
| Echo: 尾气 (wěiqì) |
| David: Car exhaust. |
| Echo: 废气 (fèiqì) |
| David: Cold exhaust. |
| Echo: 刺鼻 (cìbí) |
| David: To sting the nose. |
| Echo: 刺鼻 (cìbí) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Yeah if you are in lovely Hong Kong with an Air Pollution Index of under 100, we warmly invite you to come to Beijing and try some real pollution for a change. |
| Echo: 冬天夏天都可以。(Dōngtiān xiàtiān dū kěyǐ.) |
| David: Year around. |
| Echo: 一年四季。(Yī nián sìjì.) |
| David: So the first word on our list is fog. |
| Echo: 雾 (Wù) |
| David: Fourth tone. |
| Echo: 雾 (Wù) |
| David: Not to be confused with the first tone 污 in pollution. |
| Echo: 污染 (Wūrǎn) |
| David: Pollution. |
| Echo: 污染 (Wūrǎn) |
| David: And even 6 or 7 years ago, people were getting the mixed up |
| Echo: 而且很多人很天真的说“啊，你看今天雾很大”。(Érqiě hěnduō rén hěn tiānzhēn de shuō “a, nǐ kàn jīntiān wù hěn dà”.) |
| David: Yeah. The fog is big which is kind of understandable because Beijing does sometimes get fog. |
| Echo: 对，因为北京在山的附近，所以会有雾。(Duì, yīnwèi běijīng zài shān de fùjìn, suǒyǐ huì yǒu wù.) |
| David: Yeah, yeah. These days though, there is this new word that’s coming in to describe 雾 (Wù),which is |
| Echo: 雾霾，就是有污染的雾。(Wù mái, jiùshì yǒu wūrǎn de wù.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 雾霾。(Wù mái.) |
| David: Yeah and maybe it’s got a bit of fog in there too but…. |
| Echo: 多数是雾霾。(Duōshù shì wù mái.) |
| David: Yeah it’s kind of this industrial haze. |
| Echo: 雾霾。(Wù mái.) |
| David: It comes in Beijing from a couple of places. The two big ones are car exhaust. |
| Echo: 汽车尾气。(Qìchē wěiqì.) |
| David: Right which is literally the car, the tail gas. |
| Echo: 尾气。(Wěiqì.) |
| David: Right that’s the 尾 (Wěi) tail. |
| Echo: 尾巴 (Wěibā) |
| David: Yes it’s like a dog wagging its tail and we also have this cold exhaust. |
| Echo: 另外一种气:废气。(Lìngwài yī zhǒng qì: Fèiqì.) |
| David: Right. That’s mostly cold in Beijing. It literally just means kind of exhaust gases though. |
| Echo: 废气。(Fèiqì.) |
| David: Yeah and garbage gas. |
| Echo: 没有用的，废气。(Méiyǒu yòng de, fèiqì.) |
| David: Right. So you will hear people complaining and they will tell you that the smog in Beijing comes from car exhaust and heating exhaust. |
| Echo: 没错，在北京，雾霾的主要成分是汽车尾气和废气。(Méi cuò, zài běijīng, wù mái de zhǔyào chéngfèn shì qìchē wěiqì hé fèiqì.) |
| David: Right. The important components of pollution are car exhaust and coal exhaust. |
| Echo: 北京雾霾的主要成分是汽车尾气和废气。(Běijīng wù mái de zhǔyào chéngfèn shì qìchē wěiqì hé fèiqì.) |
| David: Yeah, we got this lovely word for outsider. |
| Echo: 外行 (Wàiháng) |
| David: Which can also mean an amateur, right. So if you are talking to someone who is a professional, you could say well, you know, I am – I am just an amateur at this. |
| Echo: 我只是外行。(Wǒ zhǐshì wàiháng.) |
| David: Yeah, I don’t really know exactly how to use this. You know, I play around with it, I mean the outsider. |
| Echo: 我只是外行。(Wǒ zhǐshì wàiháng.) |
| David: Right. The opposite… |
| Echo: 然后它的反义词就是:内行。(Ránhòu tā de fǎnyìcí jiùshì: Nèiháng.) |
| David: Yes and insider. |
| Echo: 内行 (Nèiháng) |
| David: Right. And 行(Xíng) here is |
| Echo: 行行出状元，是一个职业 industry. (Háng háng chū zhuàngyuán, shì yīgè zhíyè industry.) |
| David: Yeah it’s referring to an area or a sector or a business. |
| Echo: 行业。(Hángyè.) |
| David: Yeah okay. Last word here is to sting the nose. |
| Echo: 刺鼻。(Cì bí.) |
| David: Right. This is used specifically for this kind of this fierce pollution. |
| Echo: 对，就好像有什么东西在扎你的鼻子一样。(Duì, jiù hǎoxiàng yǒu shé me dōngxī zài zhā nǐ de bízi yīyàng.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 刺鼻的味道。(Cì bí de wèidào.) |
| David: Could you use this for something like Wasabi? |
| Echo: 可以，但一般的都是指不是特别好的。(Kěyǐ, dàn yībān de dōu shì zhǐ bùshì tèbié hǎo de.) |
| David: Yeah you use it for – like for that, you’d say it’s 辣(Là) right. |
| Echo: 对，但你也可以说“哎呦，这个有点刺鼻”。(Duì, dàn nǐ yě kěyǐ shuō “āi yōu, zhège yǒudiǎn cì bí”.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 但是，但是一般我们说刺鼻都是不好的东西。(Dànshì, dànshì yībān wǒmen shuō cì bí dōu shì bù hǎo de dōngxī.) |
| David: Okay. Anyway, remember these three words for talking about the pollution. |
| Echo: 雾，污染，雾霾。(Wù, wūrǎn, wù mái.) |
| David: And with that, let’s get on to our grammar section. It’s grammar time. Our grammar focus today comes from this line in the dialogue. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 北京的雾怎么这么大？(Běijīng de wù zěnme zhème dà?) |
| David: How can Beijing have this much fog? |
| Echo: 北京的雾怎么这么大？(Běijīng de wù zěnme zhème dà?) |
| David: Or how can Beijing have so much fog? What we want to highlight for you today is |
| Echo: 怎么这么 (Zěnme zhème) |
| David: Plus an adjective. |
| Echo: 怎么这么大？(Zěnme zhème dà?) |
| David: How can it be so big? |
| Echo: Yeah or 怎么这么污染？(zěnme zhème wūrǎn?) |
| David: How can it be so polluted? |
| Echo: 北京怎么这么污染？(Běijīng zěnme zhème wūrǎn?) |
| David: How can Beijing be so polluted? Another thing you might say is, how can visibility be so low? |
| Echo: 能见度怎么这么低。(Néngjiàndù zěnme zhème dī.) |
| David: How can visibility be so low? |
| Echo: 能见度怎么这么低。or 空气怎么这么刺鼻。(Néngjiàndù zěnme zhème dī.) (kōngqì zěnme zhème cì bí.) |
| David: How can the air be so stinging to my nose? |
| Echo: 刺鼻是一个形容词，空气怎么这么刺鼻。(Cì bí shì yīgè xíngróngcí, kōngqì zěnme zhème cì bí.) |
| David: Right. So we can use any adjective here, single character adjective, two characters. It doesn’t matter. This is really colloquial expression. |
| Echo: 怎么这么加 (Zěnme zhème jiā) Adjective. |
| David: Yeah. So you are going to see it ring down, but not that much. Secondly, we want to highlight it because if you want to sound really local, there is a trick you can play. It’s a mispronunciation but everyone does it. So… |
| Echo: 应该是“怎么”，但是很多人都会说“这么”。(Yīnggāi shì “zěnme”, dànshì hěnduō rén dūhuì shuō “zhème”.) |
| David: Yeah and even the 这么 (Zhème) they also kind of drop that H sound too. So you will hear people say things like 怎么这么 (Zěnme zhème) |
| Echo: 怎么这么蓝，怎么这么好。(Zěnme zhème lán, zěnme zhème hǎo.) |
| David: Yes. How can it be so good? |
| Echo: 怎么这么污染。(Zěnme zhème wūrǎn.) |
| David: Yeah especially when people are getting upset at the pollution. How can Beijing be so polluted? |
| Echo: 怎么这么污染。(Zěnme zhème wūrǎn.) |
| David: Yeah, how can visibility be so low? |
| Echo: 能见度怎么这么低。(Néngjiàndù zěnme zhème dī.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 有点像一个(Yǒudiǎn xiàng yīgè) tongue twister 怎么这么。(Zěnme zhème.) |
| David: Yeah it’s actually fun because it’s something that nobody tells you in textbooks, nobody tells you in books and when you hear it, it sounds like its regional dialect but everyone does it. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: So – yeah so we wanted to flag it for you so that you can do it too and you are going to sound like a native. |
| Echo: 你怎么这么地道。(Nǐ zěnme zhème dìdào.) |
Outro |
| David: Yeah and with that, we are at the end of our show for today. If you guys have any questions, as always, we have an email address. |
| Echo: Contactus@chineseclass101.com |
| David: Yeah send us an email and we would love to hear from you. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: For now though, from Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo. |
| David: Thanks for listening and we will see you guys online. |
| Echo: 我们要出去享受一下雾霾了。(Wǒmen yào chūqù xiǎngshòu yīxià wù máile.) |
| David: Yes. |
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