Newbie - Student or Teacher?

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Some more traditional women will refer to their husband as 先生.

先 literally means "first," and 生 means "to be born." Someone born before you is traditionally assumed to be wiser, and deserving of respect.

@Pete I mostly hear Taiwanese ladies calling their husbands 我的先生 / wǒde xiānshēng

Hi matt_c,

Yes, this is probably due to the better preservation of traditional Chinese culture in Taiwan. In fact, some truly old-school men will refer to their wife as 内人-- “inside person." The times, they are a-changin'.

I have the same experience, but it's a little bit different from this one. I'm wondering if I look much older than my real age. Someone asked me "你是老师吗？", I didn't know how to answer, and I said “why?"

shenyajin,

 What's your real age? you look about 21 in your picture.

@shenyajin

Whatever age you are, you are surely nice to look at ;-)

And with some personality to back it up.

I actually study Chinese during the week and teach English on the weekends.

How should I reply?..

This can actually get confusing. Many teachers in average universities in China are fresh graduates themselves, i.e. in the same age bracket as the students they are teaching. How can you tell the difference?  

I'm a student because I have new things to learn and I'm a teacher since I do have something to teach other people.

三人行必有我师焉，呵呵……

活到老，学到老

还有三分学不到

huódàolǎo xuédàolǎo

háiyǒusānfēn xuébúdào

Even if you keep studying as you grow older,

There will still be 30% that you never learn.

To: 许尘

I'm curious why you chose 许 as your name, because I share the same 许 with you.

少年易老学难成  一寸光阴不可轻。
It takes a lot of time to learn something,
so we must make full use of our time.

I always feel ashamed when I hear this phrase!

“老师” (lao3shi1) is a colloquial word that is often used in conversations. The word is commonly used when addressing a teacher, like “李老师，你好！”, or referring to a teacher, like "他是一个很好的老师。"

"教师" (jiao4shi1) also means "teacher", but this word is more formal than 老师 and often appears in written words like 教师节 (Teacher's Day) and 中国教师协会 (China Teachers Association).

When you address students, "同学" (tong2xue2) is used instead of "学生", like "同学们，你们好！" or "王同学，你好！". The word "同学" (or 同班同学, tong2ban1tong2xue2) originally means "classmate".

Hi changye,

Thanks for the proverb and the background on 同学.

Mainland adults will use this to address school-age people, even strangers who are clearly not their classmates.

When I lived at the student dorm at Fudan University, I got very used to hearing the 老胖子 at the entrance bellowing out 同学，门卡！("classmate, show me your room card!")

i am going to china to play in a table tennis camp, will I call my coach lao3shi1? i.e. is it right to say i am a student of table tennis?

@hadley, it's better to call your coach "jiàoliàn" (教练), you can say "wǒ shì pīngpāng qiú xiàlìngyíng de yīyuán"(我是乒乓球夏令营的一员), "I'm a member of this table tennis camp".

@misterjess&fronk, I'm not telling! 21,haha, thank you!

hi there, i understand that a lecturer is called 教授。what about professor? associate professor? tutor?

Hi lampa77, not all lecturers are 教授，jiàoshòu，they may be jiǎngshī, 讲师(instructor). "professor" is "教授", and associate professor is "副教授" fù jiàoshòu. “Tutor” is 家教 jiājiào or 导师 dǎoshī in Chinese. Cheers!

professor(教授）means  the teacher is a well-read man，and just it is a title.

Is there anyone want to learn chinese?PLZ try me

I feel like I'll always be a student; there are too many words to learn!  Chinesepod makes it easier, thanks guys!

k

So, in a social faux-pas like this one, the correct manner of apology for the one who mistook the teacher for a student would be what exactly?

Speaking of apologies, what do you say when you step on someone's toe or the like when out on the street?

I  will say “不好意思”（bu hao yi si).

@mudpud,

Nanzhen's answer is correct.

Many people who know I teach English part-time have their kids call me (shu1shu1) "叔叔”。。I'm so young and am usually too embarassed to accept the title..

I tell my students to call me by my first name dispite the school saying it's not formal enough.

BTW:
My name is 许 because my last name starts with an S, plus I like to joke with chinese people that I'm just 也许 灰尘。。maybe Dusty..许尘。

Shenyajin,

那好，从此叫你神秘小姐

 Jess ;p

@misterjess, 你的中文进步好快！Amazing! I don't mind you calling me that. 但是我没有那么神秘啊！

@xuchen, 哦！那或许你可以再起个nickname, 徐灰！呵呵！

@shenyajin

我的亲近的朋友们叫我小土。。

还是小土好，比灰尘好听

@xuchen@nanzhen, 同意！小土好听！

“小土”比较口语化；“尘”有点禅的味道。

@mudphud, u can say "对不起"（dui4 bu4 qi3）as well.

"不好意思" also means " Excuse me" in china, eg,

"不好意思，你能告诉我现在是几点钟吗？"(bu hao yi si, ni neng gao su wo xian zai shi ji dian zhong ma?)=“Excuse me,can you tell me what time is it now?”

I'm a newbie. I find the Expansion sentences to be very useful but I'd like more practice with them. Can a sentence flash-card function be added? I'd like to be able to copy the Expansion ping ying sentence, paste it on to my flash-card deck. And do the same with the audio track. This would add to the idea of learning words lexically? (Perhaps not the right term. IOW I want to learn phrases as a unit.)

-I like your site and focus. It is helping me learn.