Learn about the trial periods that are given when you begin a job and the two sounds of a certain character
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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 upper intermediate, season 1, Lesson 6. A Grueling Chinese Interview. |
| Echo: 唔, 没错，这个情况在中国还是挺典型的，并不少见这种情况。 (Wú, méi cuò, zhège qíngkuàng zài zhōngguó háishì tǐng diǎnxíng de, bìng bù shǎojiàn zhè zhǒng qíngkuàng.) |
| David: Hmm, which is why you don’t want this job. You want the good job. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: You get this interview but you don’t want it. Anyway, we’ve got a dialogue here that is between an employer and the employee. |
| Echo: 没错，啊.... 不好说哪个人到底算不算 employee, 对吧！ (Méi cuò, a.... Bù hǎoshuō nǎge rén dàodǐ suàn bù suàn employee, duì ba!) |
| David: Not yet, no, no… |
| Echo: 他就是.....对, 他是来面试的。 (Tā jiùshì..... Duì, tā shì lái miànshì de.) |
| David: Yes and he is being asked to jump through hoops that we are going to get to. So as always, this is casual Mandarin. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: Let’s get to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 谢谢你参加我们公司的面试。 (xièxie nǐ cānjiā wǒmen gōngsī de miànshì.) |
| B: 这是我的荣幸。请问什么时候能给我答复呢？ (zhè shì wǒ de róngxìng. qǐngwèn shénme shíhòu néng gěi wǒ dáfù ne?) |
| A: 是这样，因为应聘这个职位的人实在太多了，我们想给大家一个公平竞争的机会。 (shì zhèyàng, yīnwèi yìngpìn zhège zhíwèi de rén shízài tàiduō le, wǒmen xiǎng gěi dàjiā yī ge gōngpíngjìngzhēng de jīhuì.) |
| B: 应该的。(yīnggāi de.) |
| A: 所以我们决定选出一百名通过第一轮面试的人，参加第二轮试工。 (suǒyǐ wǒmen juédìng xuǎn chū yībǎi míng tōngguò dì yī lún miànshì de rén, cānjiā dìèrlún shìgōng.) |
| B: 没问题，请问我什么时候可以来？ (méiwèntí, qǐngwèn wǒ shénme shíhòu kěyǐ lái?) |
| A: 嗯...你可以...下个月，不，下下个月的第二个星期一来。 (en ...nǐ kěyǐ ...xià ge yuè, bù, xià xià ge yuè de dì èr ge xīngqīyī lái.) |
| B: 啊... (ā ...) |
| A: 另外还有，试工期为一个月，没有薪水，午餐自备。 (lìngwài hái yǒu, shìgōngqī wéi yī ge yuè, méiyǒu xīnshuǐ, wǔcān zì bèi.) |
| David: And now, with the English translation. |
| A: 谢谢你参加我们公司的面试。 (xièxie nǐ cānjiā wǒmen gōngsī de miànshì.) |
| A: Thank you for attending our company's interview. |
| B: 这是我的荣幸。请问什么时候能给我答复呢？ (zhè shì wǒ de róngxìng. qǐngwèn shénme shíhòu néng gěi wǒ dáfù ne?) |
| B: It's my honor. May I ask when will I get a reply? |
| A: 是这样，因为应聘这个职位的人实在太多了，我们想给大家一个公平竞争的机会。 (shì zhèyàng, yīnwèi yìngpìn zhège zhíwèi de rén shízài tàiduō le, wǒmen xiǎng gěi dàjiā yī ge gōngpíngjìngzhēng de jīhuì.) |
| A: It's this way. Because there are really too many people applying for this job, but we want to give everyone a fair opportunity to compete. |
| B: 应该的。(yīnggāi de.) |
| B: Of course. |
| A: 所以我们决定选出一百名通过第一轮面试的人，参加第二轮试工。 (suǒyǐ wǒmen juédìng xuǎn chū yībǎi míng tōngguò dì yī lún miànshì de rén, cānjiā dìèrlún shìgōng.) |
| A: So we decided to pick out a hundred of those who passed the first round of the interview to do an internship of sorts. |
| B: 没问题，请问我什么时候可以来？ (méiwèntí, qǐngwèn wǒ shénme shíhòu kěyǐ lái?) |
| B: No problem. When can I come? |
| A: 嗯...你可以...下个月，不，下下个月的第二个星期一来。 (en ...nǐ kěyǐ ...xià ge yuè, bù, xià xià ge yuè de dì èr ge xīngqīyī lái.) |
| A: Hmm...you can...come next month, oh no, the month after next month on the second Monday. |
| B: 啊... (ā ...) |
| B: What... |
| A: 另外还有，试工期为一个月，没有薪水，午餐自备。 (lìngwài hái yǒu, shìgōngqī wéi yī ge yuè, méiyǒu xīnshuǐ, wǔcān zì bèi.) |
| A: There is one more thing. The trail runs for a month without pay and you have to pay for your own lunch. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: You know, the economy here is better still than in the States but it can be difficult to get a good job. |
| Echo: 对，我觉得这个跟经济没有太大的关系, 这个就是大家都觉得中国这一个人力还是很便宜的, 劳动力是很便宜的, 跟这个有关。 (Duì, wǒ juédé zhège gēn jīngjì méiyǒu tài dà de guānxì, zhège jiùshì dàjiā dōu juédé zhōngguó zhè yīgè rénlì háishì hěn piányí de, láodònglì shì hěn piányí de, gēn zhège yǒuguān.) |
| David: Yeah. There is a lot of disrespect for unskilled workers definitely. |
| Echo: 唔，不光是这个, 我觉得对...就...任何...任何行业都差不多, 都有关系, 特别是在你刚找一个工作的时候, 比如说大学毕业刚找一份工作 …. (Wú, bùguāng shì zhège, wǒ juédé duì... Jiù... Rènhé... Rènhé hángyè dōu chàbùduō, dōu yǒu guānxì, tèbié shì zài nǐ gāng zhǎo yīgè gōngzuò de shíhòu, bǐrú shuō dàxué bìyè gāng zhǎo yī fèn gōngzuò….) |
| David: Yeah, yeah. |
| Echo: 经常会有这种情况。 (Jīngcháng huì yǒu zhè zhǒng qíngkuàng.) |
| David: Yeah so a lot of people will leverage connections to get that first job. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: Yeah anyway, our vocab today is all over the place but the central theme is looking for work. |
| Echo: 没错，我们看看吧! (Méi cuò, wǒmen kàn kàn ba!) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 答复。 (Dáfù.) |
| David: Reply. |
| Echo: 答 复, 答复, 实在。(Dá fù, Dáfù, Shízài.) |
| David: Really. |
| Echo: 实 在, 实在, 公平竞争。 (Shí zài, Shízài, gōngpíngjìngzhēng.) |
| David: Fair competition. |
| Echo: 公 平 竞 争, 公平竞争, 试工。 (gōng píng jìng zhēng, gōngpíngjìngzhēng, Shì gōng.) |
| David: Trial work. |
| Echo: 试 工, 试工, 薪水。 (Shì gōng, Shì gōng, Xīnshuǐ.) |
| David: Salary. |
| Echo: 薪 水, 薪水, 自备。 (Xīn shuǐ, Xīnshuǐ, Zì bèi.) |
| David: To prepare oneself. |
| Echo: 自 备, 自备, 应聘。 (Zì bèi, Zì bèi, yìngpìn.) |
| David: To apply for jobs. |
| Echo: 应 聘, 应聘, 轮。 (yìng pìn, yìngpìn, lún.) |
| David: Round. |
| Echo: 轮, 轮。(lún, lún.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. The first word we want to focus on is this word we translated as trial work. |
| Echo: 试工。 (Shì gōng.) |
| David: Trial work. |
| Echo: 试工。 (Shì gōng.) |
| David: And earlier, we actually called this an internship but that’s not quite it. |
| Echo: 对, Ah…. internship 我们说实习。 (Duì, Ah…. Internship wǒmen shuō shíxí.) |
| David: Yeah. So that – it has the word practice in it. |
| Echo: 对，因为是这样如果你是实习, 你可能之后不会有一份正式的工作。 (Duì, yīn wéi shì zhèyàng rúguǒ nǐ shì shíxí, nǐ kěnéng zhīhòu bù huì yǒuyī fèn zhèngshì de gōngzuò.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 而且你可能在正在上学。 (Érqiě nǐ kěnéng zài zhèngzài shàngxué.) |
| David: Right. In this case, they are trying to fill the position and they think you are good but they want to try. |
| Echo: 对，想试试。(Duì, xiǎng shì shì.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 所以你需要试工。 (Suǒyǐ nǐ xūyào shì gōng.) |
| David: Yes try work, trial work. |
| Echo: 对，一般试工的时候 工资都是比较低的。 (Duì, yībān shì gōng de shíhòu gōngzī dōu shì bǐjiào dī de.) |
| David: Yeah. Well normally, it’s unusual to have absolutely unpaid work. |
| Echo: 应该.... 应该不太正常。 (Yīnggāi.... Yīnggāi bù tài zhèngcháng.) |
| David: Yeah normally maybe two-thirds is what you could expect. |
| Echo: 或者更少，有的时候是非常少的。 (Huòzhě gèng shǎo, yǒu de shíhòu shì fēicháng shǎo de.) |
| David: Anyway, it’s also more for Chinese work than expat jobs. So if someone asks you to do trial work, you can push them back. Anyway, that’s our first word, trial work. |
| Echo: 试工。(Shì gōng.) |
| David: Right. Another really critical word is the word for round. |
| Echo: 轮。(Lún.) |
| David: The first round. |
| Echo: 第一轮。 (Dì yī lún.) |
| David: The first round. |
| Echo: 第一轮。(Dì yī lún.) |
| David: The second round. |
| Echo: 第二轮。 (Dì èr lún.) |
| David: And you may have heard the expression, it’s my turn. |
| Echo: 轮到我了。(Lún dào wǒle.) |
| David: Right. One more time. |
| Echo: 轮到我了。 (Lún dào wǒle.) |
| David: Which literally means the wheel has turned to me. |
| Echo: 没错，转到我了。 (Méi cuò, zhuǎn dào wǒle.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: Yes. It’s my turn. |
| Echo: 转到我了,对，但是在这个我们的对话里这个 “轮” 是一个量词。 (Zhuǎn dào wǒle, duì, dànshì zài zhège wǒmen de duìhuà li zhège “lún” shì yīgè liàngcí.) |
| David: Yes it’s a measure word for the first round or the second round of interviews. |
| Echo: 唔，第几轮面试。 (Wú, dì jǐ lún miànshì.) |
| David: Right. We also have the critical word for salary here. |
| Echo: 薪水。 (Xīnshuǐ.) |
| David: Salary. |
| Echo: 薪水。 (Xīnshuǐ.) |
| David: And there is another word for salary as well. |
| Echo: 工资。 (Gōngzī.) |
| David: It means exactly the same thing. |
| Echo: 对，一样的, 就是这样工资哪可能有点老了, 像我的爸爸妈妈他们那个年代的人一般说, “我的单位给我发工资。” (Duì, yīyàng de, jiùshì zhèyàng gōngzī nǎ kěnéng yǒudiǎn lǎole, xiàng wǒ de bàba māmā tāmen nàgè niándài de rén yībān shuō, “wǒ de dānwèi gěi wǒ fā gōngzī.”) |
| David: Yeah. Well it’s got a lot more than a class struggle in there. |
| Echo: 没错, 对。 (Méi cuò, duì.) |
| David: The return to working capital is salary. |
| Echo: 工资，然后现在哪 比较时髦的说法, 会说薪水。 (Gōngzī, ránhòu xiànzài nǎ bǐjiào shímáo de shuōfǎ, huì shuō xīnshuǐ.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 但是两个都在用。 (Dànshì liǎng gè dōu zài yòng.) |
| David: Okay for instance, sample sentence... |
| Echo: 他每月的薪水太低, 实在买不起。 (Tā měi yuè de xīnshuǐ tài dī, shízài mǎi bù qǐ.) |
| David: His monthly salary is so low. He can’t afford it. |
| Echo: 他每月的薪水太低, 实在买不起。 (Tā měi yuè de xīnshuǐ tài dī, shízài mǎi bù qǐ.) |
| David: Right. Last but not least, we want to mention the word “honor.” |
| Echo: 荣幸。 (Róngxìng.) |
| David: Honor. |
| Echo: 荣幸。 (Róngxìng.) |
| David: And this is a pretty well-worn phrase. |
| Echo: 这一个很.... 对！很客气的。 (Zhè yīgè hěn.... Duì! Hěn kèqì de.) |
| David: Yeah it’s my honor. |
| Echo: 是我的荣幸。 (Shì wǒ de róngxìng.) |
| David: Yeah you will hear that in speeches a lot. |
| Echo: 唔，对，比如说别人说, 啊! 很高兴你能来怎么样怎么样的, 你可以说, ” 啊！你能邀请我, 是我的荣幸。” (Wú, duì, bǐrú shuō biérén shuō, a! Hěn gāoxìng nǐ néng lái zěnme yàng zěnme yàng de, nǐ kěyǐ shuō, ” a! Nǐ néng yāoqǐng wǒ, shì wǒ de róngxìng.”) |
| David: Right and that’s a bit less casual and colloquial. |
| Echo: 唔，这是很客气的。 (Wú, zhè shì hěn kèqì de.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 一般是很正式的场合会用。 (Yībān shì hěn zhèngshì de chǎnghé huì yòng.) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Okay so with that, let’s move on to our grammar point where we are going to talk about something that confuses everyone. |
| Echo: 差不多。 (Chàbùduō.) |
| David: It’s grammar time. Okay Echo, everyone gets confused by this. It’s.. |
| Echo: 唔，这是一个多音字。 (Wú, zhè shì yīgè duō yīn zì.) |
| David: Yes it’s a word with different pronunciations and different meanings. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| David: And they confuse everyone. We hear it in this line in our dialogue. |
| Echo: 试工期为一个月。(Shì gōngqí wéi yīgè yuè.) |
| David: The trial period is one month. |
| Echo: 试工期为一个月。 (Shì gōngqí wéi yīgè yuè.) |
| David: And how do you say that again? |
| Echo: 为。(Wéi.) |
| David: Second tone. |
| Echo: Right “为”是 “试” 的意思 在这个地方。 (“Wéi” shì “shì” de yìsi zài zhège dìfāng.) |
| David: Right. In the second tone, this character means to be is… |
| Echo: 对！是！”为”。 (Duì! Shì!”Wéi”.) |
| David: The trial period is a month. |
| Echo: 试工期为一个月。 (Shì gōngqí wéi yīgè yuè.) |
| David: Your salary is 2000. |
| Echo: 你的薪水为两千。 (Nǐ de xīnshuǐ wéi liǎng qiān.) |
| David: Your salary is 2000. |
| Echo: 你的薪水为两千。 (Nǐ de xīnshuǐ wéi liǎng qiān.) |
| David: One more example. |
| Echo: 他应聘为经理。 (Tā yìngpìn wéi jīnglǐ.) |
| David: He applied for the post of manager. |
| Echo: 他应聘为经理。 (Tā yìngpìn wéi jīnglǐ.) |
| David: A bit trickier that but it’s still the verb to be. |
| Echo: 对，这更多的就好像是他通过应聘, 成为了经理。(Duì, zhè gèng duō de jiù hǎoxiàng shì tā tōngguò yìngpìn, chéngwéi le jīnglǐ.) |
| David: Yeah. So in these cases, it’s second tone and the reason this confuses so many people is in colloquial Chinese, people will often take the other way, the fourth tone line and casually turn it into second tone. |
| Echo: 对，没错，其实它有一个 “ 为” 的音，四声也有。 (Duì, méi cuò, qíshí tā yǒu yīgè “wèi” de yīn, sì shēng yěyǒu.) |
| David: Yes, yes. |
| Echo: 对，但是它不一样。 (Duì, dànshì tā bù yīyàng.) |
| David: Well it’s a different meaning but I mean people know that by now. The main difference is that a lot of the time, people will take that fourth tone and they will turn it into second tone colloquially and casually. So it’s easy to get confused because it sounds the same. In standard Mandarin though, there is a difference. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: In the second tone, |
| Echo: 为。(Wéi.) |
| David: Means to be. In the fourth tone, |
| Echo: 为。(Wéi.) |
| David: For the sake of. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: In order to. |
| Echo: 为了什么？为了谁？因为。 (Wèile shénme? Wèile shéi? Yīnwèi.) |
| David: Yes. So this confuses a lot of people. Don’t let it confuse you. Let’s hear those three examples one more time. |
| Echo: 试工期为一个月, 你的薪水为两千, 他应聘为经理。(Shì gōngqí wéi yīgè yuè, nǐ de xīnshuǐ wéi liǎng qiān, tā yìngpìn wéi jīnglǐ.) |
| David: As always, we’ve provided a write up all about this in our lesson notes, so… |
| Echo: 没错，如果你在我们的课上有什么没跟上的地方.... (Méi cuò, rúguǒ nǐ zài wǒmen de kè shàng yǒu shé me méi gēn shàng dì dìfāng....) |
| David: Yes. |
| Echo: 你都可以去哪边看一看。 (Nǐ dōu kěyǐ qù nǎ biān kàn yī kàn.) |
| David: Yes and we’ve got the dialogue written down there as well. So you can follow along there. It’s a great way to push your Mandarin up to another level. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
Outro |
| David: That being said though, that’s all the time we have today. From Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是Echo。 (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: 我们网上见 (Wǒmen wǎngshàng jiàn). Bye-bye. |
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