“So…what do you do?” While that might sound like a “Singles’ Night” introduction, we mean it…seriously (you should see our faces right now). In this lesson, you will learn how to ask someone what they do, using Mandarin Chinese. And this podcast will also help you to learn how to give a nice sounding response…and so much more.
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Bazza- As you seem to have a lot of trials and tribs getting it right; how do you export the word bank successfully? I have 14 pages and if I export as text file I still ged the same page even if I select a different page each time. Also the pinyin is pasted but the chinese characters do not export, end up as little squares. Rgds Xie Xie Pat
I import it into a OpenOffice spreadsheet but it should work with Excel. This is a the procedure I use: 1. Export the wordbank to a CSV file. 2. Open a new spreadsheet document in OpenOffice 3. Go file.. Open.. and select the CSV file, this should bring up a Text Import dialog box. 4. Under Character Set.. select Simpified Chinese, GB-18030 seems to work the best. 5. Select separated by comma, then OK to import. 6. Go Edit... Select All.. and then select a Chinese font, I usually use SimSun. Sometimes you get a stray Chinese character in the English column, but you can correct that by changing just that column to an English font.
[How's the Weather] "在中国我觉得不正常跟不认识人聊天，在美国不是这样子，经常你可以听人说“你好，今天边冷吧？” 在中国， 你们’chat about’什么题目？ 开会里聊 什么？可以问被的人的薪水吗？" David In China, the most popular topic is “job”I think, normally a stranger meet a new friend, he/she would ask“你是做什么的？”or“你的工作是什么”, if you don’t like that topic, you can talk pastime as well:“你喜欢什么”or“你休息的时候作什么”. Comment by Clark
Shouldn't business be shengyi not shenyi? I always thought it was shengyi but I can clearly hear Jenny say the N sound at the end, not ng. Which is correct??
Any chance anyone knows how to say, "I'm a market research analyst"? (wo3 shi1 ruan2 jian4 shi2 chang4 fen1 si1 shi1) or "I follow software trends and events of interest to software vendors", or "I track software vendor revenue"? Thanks.
what do other people do when after you're asked "what do you do?" (ni3 shi4 zou4shen2me de?), and then you tell them, and then you say, ni3 ne? (and you?). My normal reaction would be that after they spout out mandarin at 800mph, to just say very good, since it's likely I only understood 2 words out of whatever they said. From a Chinese cultural standpoint, should I be doing this? I could always say, "I don't understand", but that's a nice conversation killer.
pretzellogic：
I'm a market research analyst.
我是市场调查分析师。
Wǒ shì shìchǎngdiàochá fēnxīshī.
I follow software trends and events of interest to software vendors.
我分析软件市场趋势、追踪对软件供应商有帮助的活动。
Wǒ fēnxī ruǎnjiàn shìchǎng qūshì zhuīzōng duì ruǎnjiàn gōngyìngshāng yǒubāngzhù de huódòng.
I track software vendor revenue.
我追踪软件供应商的收益情况。
Wǒ zhuīzōng ruǎnjiàn gōngyìngshāng de shōuyì qíngkuàng.
I'm trying to find the proper word for "promotion" but keep getting 提升 (tí shēng) and cù xiāo which I think might mean promotion as in promoting a product. However, my dictionary skills are not quite up to par yet. Can anyone help with the proper word for a job promotion? 谢谢你们 !
Hi cfantacone, you can say 升迁 shēngqiān for promotion.
cfantacone:
You can say 升职 shēngzhí for a job promotion.
great, thanks!
lujiaojie,
Thanks for your post!!!!
Grammatically, why is the 'de' used at the end of the first sentence of the dialogue? Is it part of the possessive Ni3 de?
Hi cheesypoof
Please look at it this way.
你是做什么的？= 你是做什么的(人)？
Hi cheesypoof
It is different between two "de", for example:
1. ni de shu.(你的书) = Your books.
2. changye's explanation is right. Here omits 人。
Just like: zhe shi bu ke neng de（shi）.(这是不可能的（事) ）= It is impossible.
Thank you Changye and Watermelon for your posts. I worked through this to some extent with my tutor this week. Getting a handle on all the things you can omit and the implications have been a little troublesome for me. Thanks a lot. It helps.
Does anyone have an idear how Podiatrist would work out in Chinese?
jes13,
nciku says 足病医生 zúbìngyīshēng foot disease doctor.
I'm sure you could 儿化 érhuà it up and go for 足病儿医生儿 zúbìngéryīshēngér if you like that idear! ;-）
Hi Orangina,
I guess you are in the north China, in south China, we do not 儿化 these words.:)
lily, I was teasing jes13 because he said "idear" instead of "idea". Idear is used in England and in some parts of the US, so is kind of an English form of 儿化。 My guess is they don't 儿化 those words in the north either... but I don't know. :-)
Oh orangina, I am sorry, I think I lack sense of humour. :-)