Intermediate - Requesting a Raise

David
哈哈，今天我觉得我听到Jenny有一点点生气了！ 说说她说“好吧，随便你”。Ken你应该小心说啊，Jenny不高兴就是各人也不高心！不能说她的时间是短的，因为她跟中文拨棵一起开始，对不对！ 虽然，但是她和dialogue的小姐也没有对用跟好的方法。为，应该跟老板聊’我们的公司的目标这么样？“ 应为你知道公司早已提高了很快。所以你觉得你自己的公司内的目标也早已过了，对不对。肯定老板明白你也要新目标，新挑战，和。。。新薪水。所以，能变，两个月，两个星期， 两天，这是上网的工作和生活，近代我们都能看到中国的生活提别快变。 好好聊。对不起，我的中文有一点软说，是软七八抄（？）说 和写词。我觉得是一个好机会练习新单词，也很有趣！你们能明白我的意思吗？我的语法也不高。你们和别的学生有时间，让你们帮我写好了。

Mike
First of all - for me with I think a comfort level at Elementary Lesson Level and difficulty following the banter of the Intermediate Lessons, today's lesson was superb. Plenty of good snippets of useable conversation in the dialogue and the easing into the banter was quite nice. In general, the normal Intermediate Lesson leaves me waiting for the dialogue to begin since I can usually "get it" but get lost in the buildup. So great job to the whole team. I hope you will do more lessons like this and perhaps more Elementary ones in a similar vein as well. If you look at your boxscore the Elementary Level is significantly lower in lessons provided so far. 為 什 麼] It was my impression that much of the banter was also a slight bit easier too. I would love to beleive not, but seeing how I got lost in the "Dating" banter the day before I think not. And a question to the grammarians, last evening I brought my shirts downstairs for the woman who picks up my stuff and does them in her shop. Great service by the way. A button was missing and I practiced all day 你 能 不 能 幫 我 縫 button 嗎 (ok I forgot how to say button in Chinese so I said button) but should I have used 你 會 不 會..... Maybe this is something Mrs. Ramely my 3rd grade English teacher apparently unsuccessfully tried to beat into me long ago the difference between "would and could" or is it something specific to Chinese ? Since I am in Taiwan I asked my friends this morning and they apparently didn't learn well from their 3rd grade Chinese teachers since the vote was almost split evenly. Anyways without showing the shirt she understood my request. Curagiously opening my mouth Mike in Jubei

Barry
Somehow, you folks at ChinesePod seem to be preoccupied with money. Either, someone loves her red evelopes [not red pockets], loves money, or they aren't making enough money. So, Ken...as the Boss please give Jenny and the rest of the crew more money. Jenny is definitely the PodStar of ChinesePod and deserves to have her salary doubled. In Corporate America, it's bad taste for an employee to ask their boss for an increase in salary. Compensation is earned by merit and job performance.

David
Hi Barry, Good to see you back, you always seem to provide a superb contrarian blurb. I really don't think Cpod is overly interested in making their endeavor a good business. The talk about money is quite light-hearted and let me tell you it is an extremely 'Chinese' trait to talk and be interested in all things money. Re. "In Corporate America, it’s bad taste for an employee to ask their boss for an increase in salary. Compensation is earned by merit and job performance" I think this is way out of touch, haha...soooo way out. Ask any layed off employee whether their 'A+" performance review meant a crock of pot, to put it lightly. Today's corporate culture is about individual responsibility, there are no more pensions, there is no assurance that a company will not vaporize the next day in a wave of accounting irregularities, medical insurance is not part of the total compensation package anymore, it's no wonder that the younger generation of workers focus on the bottom line, the base salary. It's b/c they must cover their own health insurance, 401Ks, save for downpayments for a ludicrous morgage, cover car insurance, and deal with a merit-system that does not keep up with inflation. I'm sorry, but bosses and 'Corporate America' these days don't work under the old rules, and if an employee doesn't ask, doesn't change companies, they likely will be passed over by someone else who has asked. Now how one asks, well that's something fun to talk about. Apologies for all the poli-talk, I'd hate for anyone to get some warm-and-fuzzy feeling about Corporate America from Barry's 'factoid'. Maybe we can have more 'dark' lessons, about dates-from-hell, crazy-bosses, losing money, arguments and ....哈哈，够了过了，算了，Barry 为什么你不用中国话聊， 我们联系...argue..hmm can't find the hanzi for 'cao jia'?? Anyone know?

毛博中
业绩。。。 好像jenny说“业绩“的绩的话用第四声。 我觉得是第一声调。 对不对。 －毛博中。。。珠海的美国来的老师。

Ken 凯恩
David, I'm impressed with your writing. I won't comment on the details, but it is certainly clear and comprehensible. Well done. I will laos give you something darker to chew on (if you'll excuse the mixed metaphor). Mike, nothing beats practice and the daily stuff is best of all. In fact, I beleive it is perfectly OK to use 'neng bu neng'. I'm also glad you pay such heed to your old grammar teacher.

Annie
Mike in Jubei, 能 means there is possibility to do something 会 means you have the ability to do something The lady should have the ability to sew the 扣子 , 她会缝. but you are only asking whether she can, or there is a possibility that she could do that for you. So you should use 能 Barry, I agree with some of your ideas. Though I don't agree with Zhuyin Fuhao. Pinyin works best , people just need a some guide. David, haha.. I also sensed that Jenny was not happy " 好吧，随便你" . When the salary raise should be mentioned, should be written in the contract right ? why can't we change quickly ? even by week though ? If there is someone who is not happy about her life in this company.... . probably will not work that hard . 毛博中 Jenny is right. 业绩 should be ye4 ji4 .

jenny zhu
David, What you want to say is 乱七八糟/luan4 qi7 ba1 zao1/all over the place, right? It is not the correct word to describe your Chinese. You are very eloquent and have solid vocabulary. The only problem is the writing. Each pronounciation hosts a plethora of characters.It really takes time to recognise them. The way to conquer the writing is totally mechanical. Repetition, repetion and repetition. You have to look at them and write them for dozens of times in order to really internalise these strokes and dots. To all poddies, Please don't be put off by my comment. Good spoken Chinese is more than enough an asset. Or do you have any prize-worthy tips for learning the characters?

jenny zhu
Annie, 你的解答真专业！/ni3 de jie3 da2 zhen1 zhuan1 ye4!/Your answers are so professional! cpod非常荣幸 有许多这样的听众！/cpod fei1 chang2 rong2 xing4 you3 xu3 duo1 zhe4 yang4 de ting1 zhong4!/cpod is privileged to have so many listeners like you! 谢谢大家！

Bazza 吴白锐
这里今天是雪.

mike
Annie Thanks for the explanation. At least for the moment it is clear. So , I think if I use 你 能 不 能 construction then following this with 幫 is appropriate but with 你 會 不 會 it would not . Yes ? You are beginning to remind me of Mrs. Ramely and that was 40 years ago. She also taught me Latin. Mike in Jubei

Annie
Hello Jenny, thank you and also you're welcome. I do really admire your language ability :-) Mike, yes , in that case use 能. 会 might have other meanings too... if you are confused later I will answer that. There is nothing wrong with grammar, clear and simple grammar explanation helps me. That's my belief. Especially if you want to write well, grammar is definitely a must. Speaking , mostly can be more tolerant.

Bazza 吴白锐
We need some more vote at PodcastAlley We're only 137th for March. We're doing well on vital podcasts though, currently in 3rd place for March, maybe we could reach number one this month? Vital Podcasts

Ken 凯恩
Bazza, Agreed. So, ChinesePod learners, get out the vote! What would we do without Bazza around here?

RJ
我也同意david的看法 比较多黑话题才能提高我的对cpod的兴趣 今天才是我的第二天听这里的podcasts可是迄今我已听过十几个你们的广播 太棒了 你们用多一点（高等的）中文就会更好 但当然这就是我的意见 ;) Ok, tired or writing in chinese, it's so mind racking. David, your very good, and must have a lot of partience to write so much. 恭喜你 你的中文真的了不起 对了 你经常说“应为”(ying1 wei4)。。。其实你该用的词是“因为”(yin1 wei4). :) Excellent cast Ken & Jenny. Looking forward to some more advanced stuff like this.

Heather
I vote for you to get a raise Jenny!! Great lesson. I am really enjoying the intermediate lessons. Keep up the good work!

Hans
We have a problem with 业绩's 绩 tone, is it first or fourth? On two online dictionaries I've found 绩 to be indicated as first tone, whereas Jenny says in her lesson it's fourth tone. Also on this page, we have two dissenting opinions, 毛博中 says it's first tone, while Annie says it's fourth tone. My hard copy Xinhua Zidian 1998 Edition says it's fourth tone. But the VERY C_POD online dictionary says it's first tone!!! Some clarification (i.e. correction of C_POD online dictionary) is needed

Annie
Jenny and I are right. So is the xin hua zi dian. :-)

Clark
I speak"绩" in fourth tone.

Bazza 吴白锐
82nd on podcast alley now, good work.

呵呵
不错呀 汉语好呀

David
RJ, 谢谢啊。 我也不知道为什么有的时候我写’应为‘。我因该用’因为‘。可能它们的声音太近了。’ying' vs 'yin'. 所以我们应该用汉字写多一点，以后我们能打词容易出来，也不觉得很累！对不对！。。。我门的眼睛看中文词也变累了！ 天天向上学。

Nicolas
How much is : 百分之五 ? 150 ?

Will
5%

Paul
Just a note to the CPOD team: The first line of the English translation in the transcript is wrong ("Tell me about your date last night "). I think it was copied from the previous lesson. Unless, the employee was out on a date with the boss and asking for a raise. Hmmmm...

Mike in Ewshot
Hopefully some people may find this useful – ie some of the vocabulary from the discussion. I hope it is correct. The majority of the look ups is from the MDBG online dictionary one at http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php. 变成 bian4 cheng2 to change into / to turn into / to become 吵架 chao3 jia4 to quarrel / to have a row 理由 li3 you2 reason / ground(s) / justification 要求 yao1 qiu2 request / require / stake a claim (to something) / to ask / to demand 时序 shi2 xu4 time course – continued? 轨距 gui3 ju4 gauge (measuring system)

This sentence below from the expansion doesn't look right to me. 不 normally implies to me some sort of present or continuous situation. In this sentence, though, "refused" is past tense. Shouldn't the sentence use 没 instead of 不， or be translated something like "My boss refuses to give me a raise..."? 怎么了？老板不给我加薪因为我来公司时间不长。 (What's up? My boss refused to give me a raise, because I haven't been with the company for long.)

hi beirne, It's true, in most cases 没有 (méiyǒu) is used to negate past tense. However, in some cases, when the verb being negated has to do with wishful thinking, willingness, etc. 不 (bù) can also be used. So, in this sentence, you could use either 不 (bù) or 没有 (méiyǒu). Either way, since it's something the boss has already determined, we know it should be translated in English as "refused". Hope that helps to clarify a little!

Hi amber, I listened to the Qing Wen lesson on 没有 and 不 the other morning. The usage in this sentence seems to fall in the habitual sense described in the lesson. My question, then, is whether the Chinese sentence here implies a lasting state or describes a one-time action. If the sentence implies that the boss not only didn't give me a raise but he doesn't want to give me one in the near to mid-term future then the translation might be better stated as "My boss won't give me a raise". Using "refused" makes it a simple statement of the fact that at that point in time the boss did not give me a raise. Unless your point is that the 不 changes the translation from a simple "didn't give me a raise" to "refused to give me a raise".

Hi All,

In what context does one use 品质 instead of 质量 when describing quality?  Please advise.  Thanks.

BTW - I'm new to CPod and I love it.  This is an amazingly good resource for learning Chinese.

Cheers,

Geek4China

hi geek4china,

质量 (zhìliàng) and 品质 (pǐnzhì) both mean the quality of something, as in:
中国瓷器品质优良。
(Zhōngguó cíqì pǐnzhì yōuliáng.)
中国瓷器质量优良。
(Zhōngguó cíqì zhìliàng yōuliáng.)
Chinese porcelain is of excellent quality.

In the above context, either word can be used.  However, if you are speaking of a quality or character of a person or behaviour, you can only use 品质 (pǐnzhì), i.e.

道德品质 (dàodé pǐnzhì)  moral quality
他的道德品质有点儿问题。
(Tā de dàodé pǐnzhì yǒudiǎnr wèntí.)
His moral character is questionable.

The exercises are missing for this lesson.

(It's a really old one.  Jenny says some funny things.)

Hi svik

Thank you for pointing that out. Fixed now.

Hi Connie

你今年的业绩非常好。
我觉得你应该向老板要求加薪。

nǐ jīnnián de yèjì fēicháng hǎo.

wǒ juéde nǐ yīnggāi xiàng lǎobǎn yāoqiú jiāxīn.

Good luck!

Regarding the expansion sentence:

怎么了？老板不给我加薪因为我来公司时间不长。

Zěnmele? Lăobăn bù gěi wŏ jiāxīn yīnwèi wŏ lái gōngsī shíjiān bù zhăng.

What's up? My boss refused to give me a raise, because I haven't been with the company for long.

 

Should the last character be cháng instead of zhǎng?

Hi go_manly

You are right. That should be "chang2" (long).

thanks Changye

As I've been going through the exercises, I've found numerous errors. Most of them seem too trivial to keep reporting here, and I have only posted recently when I am not sure myself. John has suggested sending him a message when I find errors, but I'm sure he would become annoyed with the number of messages I would need to send him. There should be a fault reporting system independent of these discussions and the PM system.

Hi go_manly

Actually, Cpod needs more diligent proofreading, preferably by several persons, before uploading lessons. Cpod has both Chinese and English staff members, but it seems to me that they don't fully take advantage of that. Here is the "contact us" page, which John told me before.

http://chinesepod.com/contact

 

校正 (jiaozheng)= proofread.