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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo: Hi, 大家好, 我是 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: And we are here today with upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson 14. |
| Echo: 关于签证面试的故事。 (Guānyú qiānzhèng miànshì de gùshì.) |
| David: Yes. This is about a nerve-racking interview in China. We’ve got two friends, one of whom is talking about their experience applying for a visa. |
| Echo: 没错, 他可能刚刚从一个签证面试回来。 (Méi cuò, tā kěnéng gānggāng cóng yīgè qiānzhèng miànshì huílái.) |
| David: Yes. So we are going to hear about what it’s like from the Chinese perspective. This is casual Mandarin as always, but it’s fairly fast and fairly high level. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: Let’s get to it. I wonder if they got their visa. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 面试怎么样？过了吗？ (A: Miànshì zěnmeyàng? Guò le ma?) |
| B: 难说。可能有点儿悬。 (B: Nánshuō. Kěnéng yǒu diǎnr xuán.) |
| A: 为什么？ (A: Wèishénme?) |
| B: 考官问了我一个问题，为什么要去他们国家。 (B: Kǎoguān wènle wǒ yīge wèntí, wèishénme yào qù tāmen guójiā.) |
| A: 那你怎么说的。 (A: Nà nǐ zěnme shuō de.) |
| B: 因为空气好，人又少，物价又便宜。 (B: Yīnwèi kōngqì hǎo, rén yòu shǎo, wùjià yòu piányi.) |
| A: 这不挺好吗？都是大实话呀。 (A: Zhè bù tǐng hǎo ma? Dōu shì dà shíhuà yā.) |
| B: 考官立马又问，就是说你们国家空气不好，人又多，物价又贵。对吗？ (B: Kǎoguān lìmǎ yòu wèn, jiùshìshuō nǐmen guójiā kōngqì bù hǎo,rén yòu duō, wùjià yòu guì. duì ma?) |
| A: 他反应还真快。 (A: Tā fǎnyìng hái zhēn kuài.) |
| B: 我一听就傻在那儿了。 (B: Wǒ yī tīng jiù shǎ zài nàr le.) |
| A: How was the interview? Did you pass? |
| B: Hard to say. Maybe not. |
| A: Why? |
| B: The interview officer asked me why I wanted to go to their country. |
| A: And how did you answer? |
| B: Because of the clean air, small population and low prices. |
| A: Wasn't that good? It's the honest truth. |
| B: The officer immediately asked if I meant to say the air here is not clean, if there are too many people and if prices are too expensive. |
| A: He reacted really quickly. |
| B: And as soon as I heard that I was lost for words. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: I wonder if they got their VISA. |
| Echo: 不好说，够悬的。 (Bù hǎoshuō, gòu xuán de.) |
| David: Yeah. It’s hard. |
| Echo: 对，但是我觉得他的回答可能也不够好, 如果他不是去移民的话，也不应该说这么。 (Duì, dànshì wǒ juédé tā de huídá kěnéng yě bùgòu hǎo, rúguǒ tā bùshì qù yímín dehuà, yě bù yìng gāi shuō zhème.) |
| David: Right. It should have been I don’t want to go, I need to go. I’ve got so much to do here in China. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: Anyway, our vocab today is all about getting visas. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 对, 跟签证有关系。悬。 (Duì, gēn qiānzhèng yǒu guānxì. Xuán. ) |
| David: Risky. |
| Echo: 悬, 悬, 考官。 (xuán, xuán, kǎoguān.) |
| David: Immigration officer. |
| Echo: 考 官, 考官, 物价。 (kǎo guān, kǎoguān, wùjià.) |
| David: Price. |
| Echo: 物 价, 物价, 实话。 (wù jià, wùjià, shíhuà.) |
| David: The truth. |
| Echo: 实 话, 实话, 反应。 (shí huà, shíhuà, fǎnyìng.) |
| David: To react. |
| Echo: 反 应, 反应, 移民。 (fǎn yìng, fǎnyìng, yímín.) |
| David: Immigration. |
| Echo: 移 民, 移民, 立马。 (yí mín, yímín, lìmǎ.) |
| David: Immediately. |
| Echo: 立 马, 立马, 拒签。 (lì mǎ, lìmǎ, jùqiān.) |
| David: To refuse a visa. |
| Echo: 拒 签, 拒签, 绿卡。 (jù qiān, jùqiān, lǜ kǎ.) |
| David: Green card. |
| Echo: 绿 卡, 绿卡。 (lǜ kǎ, lǜ kǎ.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Let’s have a closer look at some of these words and phrases. Our first word is immigration. |
| Echo: 移民。 (Yímín.) |
| David: Immigration. |
| Echo: 移民。 (Yímín.) |
| David: And this can be a verb as well, to immigrate. |
| Echo: 移民, 对, 比如说 移民去美国, 是我从上大学以来的一个梦想。 (Yímín, duì, bǐrú shuō yímín qù měiguó, shì wǒ cóng shàng dàxué yǐlái de yīgè mèngxiǎng.) |
| David: Right. And that’s why the visa process is so tortured here in China. There is lots of applications with the states at least though you will get an interview. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: And when you are interviewing, the person who is interviewing you is called |
| Echo: 考官。 (Kǎoguān.) |
| David: Immigration officer. |
| Echo: 对，或者是签证官。 (Duì, huòzhě shì qiānzhèng guān.) |
| David: Right. The first one |
| Echo: 考官。 (Kǎoguān.) |
| David: Literally means testing official. |
| Echo: 对, 这个也可以用在比如说面试的时候 。 (Duì, zhège yě kěyǐ yòng zài bǐrú shuō miànshì de shíhòu.) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: 考官都可以。 (Kǎoguān dōu kěyǐ.) |
| David: Yeah. And when you are someone you know is in there, make sure you proactively give them the evidence that’s going to establish that you are coming back to China. |
| Echo: 对，没错。 (Duì, méi cuò.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 你要告诉他们 你是有原因要回中国的。 (Nǐ yào gàosù tāmen nǐ shì yǒu yuányīn yào huí zhōngguó de.) |
| David: Yeah because they are not going to look at the stuff unless you point it out in our experience. And if you don’t, you are going to have your visa refused. |
| Echo: 拒签。 (Jùqiān.) |
| David: To refuse a visa. |
| Echo: 拒签。 (Jùqiān.) |
| David: And Chinese people will just say, oh I was rejected. |
| Echo: 我被拒签了。 (Wǒ bèi jùqiānle.) |
| David: Or |
| Echo: 我被拒了。 (Wǒ bèi jùle.) |
| David: Two more relatively advanced words. The first is that adjective which starts our dialogue. |
| Echo: 悬。 (Xuán.) |
| David: Risky or dangerous. |
| Echo: 没错, Ah….就是比如说 他说悬的时候什么什么事很悬, 就是什么时候可能不会成功。 (Méi cuò, Ah…. Jiùshì bǐrú shuō tā shuō xuán de shíhòu shénme shénme shì hěn xuán, jiùshì shénme shíhòu kěnéng bù huì chénggōng.) |
| David: Yeah. So it’s also suspenseful and we see this actually in the word for suspense movies. |
| Echo: 悬疑电影。 (Xuányí diànyǐng.) |
| David: Right. So things like Hitchcock. |
| Echo: 对, 就是你不能确定事实, 不能确定什么会发生的时候, 就是很悬, 悬疑。 (Duì, jiùshì nǐ bùnéng quèdìng shìshí, bùnéng quèdìng shénme huì fāshēng de shíhòu, jiùshì hěn xuán, xuányí.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 比如说 刚才多悬呀！下次过马路千万要当心。 (Bǐrú shuō gāngcái duō xuán ya! Xià cìguò mǎlù qiān wàn yào dāngxīn.) |
| David: So something has just happened crossing the road. |
| Echo: 刚才多悬呀！下次过马路千万要当心。 (Gāngcái duō xuán ya! Xià cìguò mǎlù qiān wàn yào dāngxīn.) |
| David: How dangerous that was or how close. What a close call. Next time, be careful. |
| Echo: 对, 可能......对, 可能就有一辆车呼啸的过, 然后这个司机对你说, “ 啊! 你眼瞎了吗？找死吗？” 在中国这个情况。 (Duì, kěnéng...... Duì, kěnéng jiù yǒuyī liàng chē hūxiào deguò, ránhòu zhège sījī duì nǐ shuō, “a! Nǐ yǎn xiāle ma? Zhǎosǐ ma?” Zài zhōngguó zhège qíngkuàng.) |
| David: Yeah and our next word is extremely colloquial but also a bit more advanced. |
| Echo: 对，立马。 (Duì, lìmǎ.) |
| David: We’ve already heard |
| Echo: “马上” 还有 “立刻”。 (“Mǎshàng” hái yǒu “lìkè”.) |
| David: Right but this is the most colloquial of the bunch. |
| Echo: 没错, 这是最最口语的。 (Méi cuò, zhè shì zuì zuì kǒuyǔ de.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 比如说 她一叫我 我立马就来了。 (Bǐrú shuō tā yī jiào wǒ wǒ lìmǎ jiù láile.) |
| David: As soon as he called me, I came. |
| Echo: 她一叫我 我立马就来了。 (Tā yī jiào wǒ wǒ lìmǎ jiù láile.) |
| David: Right or as soon as she called, I showed up. |
| Echo: 对, 或者比如说考官一生气, 我立马就害怕了。 (Duì, huòzhě bǐrú shuō kǎoguān yī shēngqì, wǒ lìmǎ jiù hàipàle.) |
| David: Right. As soon as the official got angry, I got afraid. |
| Echo: 考官一生气, 我立马就害怕了。 (Kǎoguān yī shēngqì, wǒ lìmǎ jiù hàipàle.) |
| David: Anyway, we hope if you go through this visa process, you will have a better time than the poor Chinese person in our dialogue. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: If it happens though, you will have to be showing them things and doing this and doing that and that’s what our grammar section is all about. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: It’s grammar time. Echo, what are we talking about today? |
| Echo: 今天我们要讲的是一个结构, 又...... 又...... 。 (Jīntiān wǒmen yào jiǎng de shì yīgè jiégòu, yòu...... Yòu...... .) |
| David: Right. Again also and also. |
| Echo: 对, 在对话里我们听到这个句子, “人又少, 物价又便宜。” (Duì, zài duìhuà li wǒmen tīng dào zhège jùzi, “rén yòu shǎo, wùjià yòu piányí.”) |
| David: There aren’t many people and prices are inexpensive. |
| Echo: 人又少, 物价又便宜。这个在中文里呢, 是和列举很多不同的东西。 (Rén yòu shǎo, wùjià yòu piányí. Zhège zài zhōngwén lǐ ne, shì hé lièjǔ hěnduō bùtóng de dōngxī.) |
| David: Right. You can string things together. I’d say actually two of them. Two of them is intermediate. Upper intermediate is when we get 3 or 4 or 5. |
| Echo: 对, 是表示他们都同样的重要。 (Duì, shì biǎoshì tāmen dōu tóngyàng de zhòngyào.) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: 不管你列举多少个。 (Bùguǎn nǐ lièjǔ duōshǎo gè.) |
| David: Right. So you’ve got a list. You are stressing it. In the dialogue, we have three of them. |
| Echo: 唔, 空气又好, 人又少, 物价又便宜。 (Wú, kōngqì yòu hǎo, rén yòu shǎo, wùjià yòu piányí.) |
| David: The air is clean. There aren’t many people and prices are cheap. |
| Echo: 唔, 空气又好, 人又少, 物价又便宜。 (Wú, kōngqì yòu hǎo, rén yòu shǎo, wùjià yòu piányí.) |
| David: Right and you can put extra emphasis on 又 (Yòu) if you really want to stress it. |
| Echo: 对, 没错, 比如说 签证官又严肃, 又认真, 让我很害怕。 (Duì, méi cuò, bǐrú shuō qiānzhèng guān yòu yánsù, yòu rènzhēn, ràng wǒ hěn hàipà.) |
| David: Right. The immigration official was both |
| Echo: 又严肃，又认真。 (Yòu yánsù, yòu rènzhēn.) |
| David: Right both strict as well as earnest. |
| Echo: 对, 可能还 又苛刻。 (Duì, kěnéng hái yòu kēkè.) |
| David: Calculating. Very, very colloquial that one. |
| Echo: 又苛刻。 (Yòu kēkè.) |
| David: Yeah. So you can string these together. One thing to be careful about is, thing to note. Everything that follows 又 (Yòu) has to be the same part of speech. |
| Echo: 又。 (Yòu.) |
| David: In both of these examples, those were adjectives. |
| Echo: 对, 空气又好, 人又少, 物价又便宜。 (Duì, kōngqì yòu hǎo, rén yòu shǎo, wùjià yòu piányí.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 或者是 这个签证官又严肃, 又认真, 又苛刻。 (Huòzhě shì zhège qiānzhèng guān yòu yánsù, yòu rènzhēn, yòu kēkè.) |
| David: Right. So both adjectives in those case, the only difference is, in the first, the subject changed too. In the second, we are talking about the same person. |
| Echo: 对, 这个没关系。 (Duì, zhège méiguānxì.) |
| David: Yeah. It doesn’t need to be an adjective though. |
| Echo: Uhmm, 可以是动词, 比如说 拿到绿卡的那一刻, 他又喊又叫, 又蹦又跳。 (Kěyǐ shì dòngcí, bǐrú shuō ná dào lǜkǎ dì nà yīkè, tā yòu hǎn yòu jiào, yòu bèng yòu tiào.) |
| David: He was really excited. |
| Echo: 肯定是。 (Kěndìng shì.) |
| David: That’s the easy translation. Let’s hear it again though. |
| Echo: 拿到绿卡的那一刻, 他又喊又叫, 又蹦又跳。 (Ná dào lǜkǎ dì nà yīkè, tā yòu hǎn yòu jiào, yòu bèng yòu tiào.) |
| David: He cried and screamed and jumped and jumped but bounced ______ (0:09:06) yes. So you can use anything as long as it’s the same part of speech. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: Just don’t mix up adjectives and verbs. |
| Echo: 对, 我再给大家一个例子, 移民通过的时候, 他又是哭又是叫, 都不知道该怎么办好了。 (Duì, wǒ zài gěi dàjiā yì gè lìzi, yímín tōngguò de shíhòu, tā yòu shì kū yòu shì jiào, dōu bù zhīdào gāi zěnme bàn hǎole.) |
| David: Which goes to show how hard it is still for Chinese people to get visas. Really, really challenging. |
| Echo: 对, 不过移民是最难的, 应该是。 (Duì, bùguò yímín shì zuì nán de, yīnggāi shì.) |
| David: Yeah. One tip we found actually is if you are helping a Chinese person out, you are inviting them home. It helps to get a letter from your congressmen or your member of parliament if you’ve got one. |
| Echo: 对，从你的议会。 (Duì, cóng nǐ de yìhuì.) |
Outro |
| David: Yeah. It makes them take you a bit more seriously. Anyway, that’s our lesson for today. From Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是 (Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 咱们网上见。 (Zánmen wǎngshàng jiàn.) Bye bye. |
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