Learn how to use the character 差, which means "something else"
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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 24. Must Love Dogs in China. |
| Echo: 对，在中国我们都很喜欢狗。 (Duì, zài zhōngguó wǒmen dōu hěn xǐhuān gǒu.) |
| David: Yes. That’s an order and we are going to find out why someone has to love dogs in our dialogue for today. |
| Echo: 对，今天我们的对话呢, 是在一个有钱的男人和一个记者之间发生的。 (Duì, jīntiān wǒmen de duìhuà ne, shì zài yīgè yǒu qián de nánrén hé yīgè jìzhě zhī jiān fāshēng de.) |
| David: Yes but the man is a bachelor and the question is why. So we are going to find out why in our dialogue which features casual Mandarin as always. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A 你平时有什么爱好？ (A Nǐ píngshí yǒu shénme àihào?) |
| B 我喜欢打高尔夫，看些英文原版的电影，大部分时间还是去世界各地旅行。 (B Wǒ xǐhuān dǎ gāoěrfū, kàn xiē yīngwén yuánbǎn de diànyǐng, dàbùfēn shíjiān hái shì |
| qù shìjiè gèdì lǚxíng.) |
| A 那你会不会因为工作的关系经常出差呢？ (A Nà nǐ huìbuhuì yīnwèi gōngzuò de guānxi jīngcháng chūchāi ne?) |
| B 不会，这些跑腿儿的事儿一般都是手下去做的。 (B Bùhuì, zhè xiē pǎotuir de shìr yībān dōu shì shǒuxià qù zuò de.) |
| A 那你一直是一个人生活的吗？ (A Nà nǐ yīzhí shì yīgerén shēnghuó de ma?) |
| B 噢不，家里有个管家和两个保姆照顾我。 (B o bù, jiālǐ yǒu ge guǎnjiā hé liǎngge bǎomǔ zhàogu wǒ.) |
| A 那为什么不找个女朋友呢？ (A Nà wèishénme bù zhǎo ge nǚpéngyou ne?) |
| B 哦，因为我认识的那些女人都不愿意每天和我的五只爱犬一起用餐。 (B ò, yīnwèi wǒ rènshi de nàxiē nǚrén dōu bùyuànyì měitiān hé wǒde wǔzhǐ àiquǎn yīqǐyòngcān.) |
| A: Do you have any hobbies? |
| B: I like to play golf, watch English movies and spend most of my time traveling around the world. |
| A: So do you need to travel much for business then? |
| B: No, these kinds of errands are usually done by my staff. |
| A: So have you always lived alone? |
| B: Oh no, I have a housekeeper and two housemaids to look after me. |
| A: Why don't you find a girlfriend then? |
| B: Oh, because none of the women I know want to eat together with me and my dogs. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: 对, 我们这个对话里的最后一句有点儿 (Duì, wǒmen zhège duìhuà li de zuìhòu yījù yǒudiǎn er) tricky. |
| David: Yeah I mean it’s potentially offensive if you read it the wrong way. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: He is not saying he expects someone to eat with his dogs. |
| Echo: 不是不是！不是每天和他的狗一齐吃饭。 (Bùshì bùshì! Bùshì měitiān hé tā de gǒu yīqí chīfàn.) |
| David: He is saying – right it’s with him and his dogs. |
| Echo: 但这个地方呢, 这样说他隐含了一个意思，就是和我还有我的狗一齐吃饭。 (Dàn zhège dìfāng ne, zhèyàng shuō tā yǐn hánle yīgè yìsi, jiùshì hé wǒ hái yǒu wǒ de gǒu yīqí chīfàn.) |
| David: Yes it’s the inclusive there. Anyway, our vocab today is about young urban professionals, right especially for women over 30, guys over 35 who are living alone in the city. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: So let’s get to our vocab. |
| Echo: 管家。 (Guǎnjiā.) |
| David: Housekeeper. |
| Echo: 管 家, 管家, 原版。 (guǎn jiā, guǎnjiā, yuánbǎn.) |
| David: Original edition. |
| Echo: 原 版, 原版, 出差。 (yuán bǎn, yuánbǎn, chūchāi.) |
| David: To go on a business trip. |
| Echo: 出 差, 出差, 跑腿儿。 (chū chāi, chūchāi, pǎotuir.) |
| David: To run errands. |
| Echo: 跑 腿 儿, 跑腿儿, 手下。 (pǎo tui r, pǎotuir, shǒuxià.) |
| David: Staff. |
| Echo: 手 下, 手下, 相亲。 (shǒu xià, shǒuxià, xiāngqīn.) |
| David: To go on a blind date. |
| Echo: 相 亲, 相亲, 爱犬。 (xiāng qīn, xiāngqīn, àiquǎn.) |
| David: Pet dog. |
| Echo: 爱 犬, 爱犬, 用餐。 (ài quǎn, àiquǎn, yòngcān.) |
| David: To have a meal. |
| Echo: 用 餐, 用餐。 (yòng cān, yòngcān.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Let’s have a closer look at some of these words and phrases. The first word we want to look at is |
| Echo: 管家。 (Guǎnjiā.) |
| David: Housekeeper. |
| Echo: 管家。 (Guǎnjiā.) |
| David: This is an old fashioned word. So it’s somewhat like butler in English. |
| Echo: 对，但是如果你是有钱人的话，一般家里还会有管家。 (Duì, dànshì rúguǒ nǐ shì yǒu qián rén dehuà, yībān jiālǐ hái huì yǒu guǎnjiā.) |
| David: Yeah. It’s the head butler position but this is not an 阿姨 (Āyí). |
| Echo: No. |
| David: Or someone who’s just going to come over and clean. |
| Echo: 他...他自己觉得这个管家自己觉得他的职位应该比阿姨高得多。 (Tā... Tā zìjǐ juédé zhège guǎnjiā zìjǐ juédé tā de zhíwèi yīnggāi bǐ āyí gāo dé duō.) |
| David: Right. Its professional position but they still have to do housekeeping and errands and that sort of thing. |
| Echo: 唔，对，比如说遛狗。 (Wú, duì, bǐrú shuō liú gǒu.) |
| David: Right. Walk the dog or |
| Echo: 对，管理家庭的琐事。 (Duì, guǎnlǐ jiātíng de suǒshì.) |
| David: Yes just taking care of household matters. The next word we wanted to touch on, we translated as staff. |
| Echo: 手下。 (Shǒuxià.) |
| David: Staff. |
| Echo: 手下。 (Shǒuxià.) |
| David: Which is only half true because it’s got to be your staff. |
| Echo: 对，没错。 (Duì,méicuò.) |
| David: Right. You can’t go to a restaurant and call the employees. |
| Echo: 哈哈哈！你们都是手下。 (Hāhā hā! Nǐmen dōu shì shǒuxià.) |
| David: Right because it implies that someone is under your hand, right. So they are on your staff. |
| Echo: 对，所以你可以说 我在公司里是一个帐目经理，我手下有两个员工。 (Duì, suǒyǐ nǐ kěyǐ shuō wǒ zài gōngsī lǐ shì yīgè zhàng mù jīnglǐ, wǒ shǒuxià yǒu liǎng gè yuángōng.) |
| David: Yeah, which is using it descriptively, I, under my hand, have. |
| Echo: 对，我手下有两个员工, 或者你也可以说 我有两个手下。 (Duì, wǒ shǒuxià yǒu liǎng gè yuángōng, huòzhě nǐ yě kěyǐ shuō wǒ yǒu liǎng gè shǒuxià.) |
| David: I have two underlyings. |
| Echo: 我有两个手下。 (Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè shǒuxià.) |
| David: Right. In this lesson, we have 儿发音 (Er fāyīn) word prominently in this phrase. |
| Echo: 跑腿儿。 (Pǎotuǐ er.) |
| David: To run errands. |
| Echo: 跑腿儿, 对, 如果我们分开来看这个词就是跑, run. 对吧！然后..... (Pǎotuǐ er, duì, rúguǒ wǒmen fēnkāi lái kàn zhège cí jiùshì pǎo, run. Duì ba! Ránhòu......) |
| David: Yeah it is running legs. |
| Echo: 对，所以就是一般很多的比较刚性公司的, 比较初级的手下。 (Duì, suǒyǐ jiùshì yībān hěnduō de bǐjiào gāngxìng gōngsī de, bǐjiào chūjí de shǒuxià.) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: 他们做的工作可能就是跑腿的。 (Tāmen zuò de gōngzuò kěnéng jiùshì pǎotuǐ de.) |
| David: Right. So this is like a male clerk. The job that you are doing is, |
| Echo: 跑腿儿。 (Pǎotuǐer.) |
| David: Right but it’s not just running. You’ve got to be doing errands. You’ve got to be doing work. |
| Echo: 对，比如说去买一些办公用品呀！ (Duì, bǐrú shuō qù mǎi yīxiē bàngōng yòngpǐn ya!) |
| David: Yes. Basically [*] it’s not an Olympic sport. |
| Echo: No, no. 别担心。 (Bié dānxīn.) |
| David: Right and our last word is |
| Echo: 出差。 (Chūchāi.) |
| David: To go on a business trip. |
| Echo: 出差。 (Chūchāi.) |
| David: And we are going to hear a lot more about this word in just a sec. |
| Echo: 对，我们的语法时间。 (Duì, wǒmen de yǔfǎ shíjiān.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: It’s grammar time. Our grammar point today is not about a word. It’ about a character. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: It’s about a particularly tricky one. |
| Echo: 就是这个出差的 “差”。 (Jiùshì zhège chūchāi de “chāi”.) |
| David: Right. Now you’ve run into this character meaning something else. Now let’s get the obvious thing out of the way. What is it doing in this word meaning business? |
| Echo: 出差, 这个里边呢它的发音我们要听好是 “差”。 (Chūchāi, zhège lǐbian ne tā de fǎ yīn wǒmen yào tīng hǎo shì “chāi”.) |
| David: Right. First tone |
| Echo: “差”。 (“chāi”.) |
| David: And this is an older usage. In imperial China, there used to be a position. |
| Echo: 对，是一种工作的名字, 比如说差役。 (Duì, shì yī zhǒng gōngzuò de míngzì, bǐrú shuō chāiyì.) |
| David: Right. That’s the name of the position. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: And it’s someone who would go out to do things for… |
| Echo: 衙门。 (Yámén.) |
| David: Yes for someone who works in the ministerial department. |
| Echo: 对，其实就有点像今天在派出所里工作的警察。 (Duì, qíshí jiù yǒudiǎn xiàng jīntiān zài pàichūsuǒ lǐ gōngzuò de jǐngchá.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 差不多这样的工作去抓坏人回来。 (chàbuduō zhèyàng de gōngzuò qù zhuā huàirén huílái.) |
| David: Right. So it used to be a position that involves sending people out to do things. |
| Echo: 对，这个后来就延伸成为了 “差” 这个字动词的意思。 (Duì, zhège hòulái jiù yánshēn chéngwéile “chāi” zhège zì dòngcí de yìsi.) |
| David: Right. So we have two meanings for |
| Echo: 差。 (chāi.) |
| David: You are going to see the words that are nouns referring to business. |
| Echo: 对，比如说出差，或者是差使。 (Duì, bǐrú shuō chūchāi, huòzhě shì chāishǐ.) |
| David: Right. To go out on business or official adherence. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: The second meaning is a verb meaning to send someone out, to dispatch. |
| Echo: 比如说差遣，或者差人去做。 (Bǐrú shuō chāiqiǎn, huòzhě chāi rén qù zuò.) |
| David: Yeah. Now the reason this confuses everyone is because of course we’ve run into this character with a totally different pronunciation. |
| Echo: 唔，我们听过 “差”。 (Wú, wǒmen tīngguò “chā”.) |
| David: Or |
| Echo: 差。 (Chà.) |
| David: Right. Not just one but two. The most common is the word |
| Echo: 差。 (Chà.) |
| David: Which we hear in words like |
| Echo: 差不多。 (chàbuduō.) |
| David: And here it means a difference. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: Right. The difference is not big. It’s more or less the same. |
| Echo: Uhmm, 差不多, 比如说 秘书做的工作差不多都是跑腿的。 (chàbuduō, bǐrú shuō mìshū zuò de gōngzuò chàbuduō dōu shì pǎotuǐr de.) |
| David: And the reason this is confusing is that in the first tone, one of the meanings is exactly the same. |
| Echo: 对, 差。 (Duì, chā.) |
| David: It also means a difference as in |
| Echo: 差别，差距。 (Chābié, chājù.) |
| David: Right which is |
| Echo: Difference. |
| David: Right, which is difference. So these two pronunciations are very similar with this meaning, difference. |
| Echo: 对, 差不多, 或者是差别。 (Duì, chàbuduō, huòzhě shì chābié.) |
| David: Right. That confuses a lot of people and then this makes it even worse. There is yet another meaning for this character in the fourth tone. |
| Echo: 对，差，比如说太差了！ (Duì, chà, bǐrú shuō tài chàle!) |
| David: Poor quality. |
| Echo: 对, 一般我们说质量太差了。 (Duì, yībān wǒmen shuō zhìliàng tài chàle.) |
| David: Right. It’s something that’s inferior, subpar. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: Right. So there are really three meanings for this character and three different pronunciations. |
| Echo: 差, 差, and 差。 (chāi, chā, and chà.) |
Outro |
| David: Beware of the differences and you won’t have any problems. For now though, that’s all the time we have in this lesson. From Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是 (Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: Thanks for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 谢谢大家, 我们网上见吧！ (Xièxiè dàjiā, wǒmen wǎngshàng jiàn ba!) |
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