URLLesson Introduction
Jenny demanded that we teach you how to say that you enjoy your work, but not your boss--due to his temper. While we’re busy looking further into this matter, we’ll go ahead and teach you how to "moan about the man." Listen in to this podcast and learn how to talk about your bad-tempered boss, in Mandarin Chinese.
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billm says
July 3, 2008
Was that a Gospel intro? (Bazza any 中文 Gospel?)
Is the boss named Wang? 我不喜欢王老板。
dalishk says
July 3, 2008
Thanks CP!!! Can anyone help me to read and type Characters on Excel and Word? I have a new Macbook and I was able to get the little flag thing on the top right to type chinese. However, it doesn't work on Excel or Word- I just get squares.
Also, I have played around with the International settings and View-Text Encoding but on Chinesepod I can't read the discussions that have chinese writing. I can read the Chinese on all the other features and also online when looking at Chinese Sites.
Thank you for your help!!!
clarsen says
July 3, 2008
Hey Check out the Chinese cartoon... PRACTICE YOUR CHINESE... here's the link.
http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/2198
johns says
July 3, 2008
You two are such nice people. But, I wish these Newbie lessons were longer. They generally have such good content.
But, it is an incentive for nonmembers to join. The expansion section is very good.
seekeroftruth says
July 3, 2008
大家 好!
In this lesson Ken said something about the words not changing when plural. When I was studying the language, one of the first characters I came across was "门", which was often used to indicate plurals in nouns like "我门" and "老师门". Are these the only words that use "门" in this effect? Or are there other words that commonly use this character when expressing plural?
谢谢!
jennyzhu says
July 3, 2008
Thank you Johns. I used to worry whether we'd sound stale after so many lessons. But I have to say Ken and I have a wonderfully fresh energy in each podcast. He is the king of podcasting. Incidentally, also a fantastic 老板/lao3 ban3.
billm says
July 4, 2008
seekeroftruth:
surprised nobody else has answered your question. The character you want is slighly different. It uses the "ren" radical indicating association with people.
High usage combinations.
我们，你们，他们。
You can type or paste the "men" character into the search section at the top of this page. Hit search and you will see examples from other lessons.
trevorb says
July 4, 2008
While on the subject of bosses how do you write "pedantic" in Chinese characters and can you combine it with shen2jing1bing4 ;-)
My dictionary gives ban3 板 the meaning put on a stern face. So a boss is "old put on a stern face" kinda appropriate for my boss but from the fun you seem to have sounds like it doesn't fit yours Jenny!
architpol says
July 4, 2008
Chinese Pod 老是门。
In this expansion sentence "他的老板怎么样？"
the audio says 你的老板怎么样？。
changye says
July 4, 2008
Hi seekeroftruth,
The usage of “们” is a bit tricky. For example, you can say “学生们” (xue2 sheng1 men) to mean “students”, but you don’t need to add “们” anymore in the case of 很多学生 (hen3 duo1 xue2 sheng) because 很多 clearly suggests plurality. Chinese is a very word-saving language.
seekeroftruth says
July 4, 2008
Oh, the "men" was wrong. Sorry about that.
So, you can use "们" when the sentence doesn't already suggest that the noun in question is plural? Or are there only certain words that can be used with the character? It's one of the things I've had a hard time coming to a clear conclusion about, actually, even in my formal classes.
谢谢
changye says
July 4, 2008
Hi seekeroftrugh,
Exactly speaking, you can also say 很多学生们 or 有些 (you3 xie2) 学生们, and I think they are often shortened to 很多学生 and 有些学生. But you can’t use 们 together with a numeral, so, for example, the phrase 十个 (shi2 ge) 学生们 is grammatically incorrect, at least according to one of my dictionaries. You don’t have to care much about that since it is not a fatal mistake anyway, as long as you don’t take a HSK test.
boran says
July 5, 2008
This reminds me of the very first lesson I listened to - Phone Call for the Boss. In that one, the boss was a bit clueless.
ChinesePod - appealing to our basic attitude towards authority figures!
ardillachina says
July 5, 2008
Hello, nin hao, wan shang
about culture
what kind of preparation does a lao3ban3 in China have?
Are very hardworker persons?
People of his team can give any opinion in the meetings or the laoban have an authorithy way?
How many women work as laoban?
xie xie
user33413 says
July 6, 2008
lol pic.
jonsg says
July 7, 2008
Uh, hate to say it guys, but that "gospel" intro was ... not good. I'm still de-cringing...!
penben says
July 9, 2008
I have to wholeheartedly disagree with jonsg. Your intro was 太棒了! 加油! You all have some great skills!
fujianisland says
August 2, 2008
我也不喜欢王的，呵呵