Intermediate - Annual Meeting Raffle - Poddies Collaboration

Right-Wingnut

John: Hey guys, your listening to an Intermediate lesson on ChinesePod. I'm John.

Dilu: 大家好， 我是Dilu。欢迎收听中文播客。

John: Today we have a lesson about a Chinese tradition. In China maybe companies at the end of the year, they have this ... what do they call it?

Dilu: 年会。

John: 年会。So is that a meeting or a party?

Dilu: 都可以。一般性大的公司可能是一些performance。好小的公司可能只是一个meal. And its before January 1st, or before Chinese New Year.

Right-Wingnut

00:32

Dilu: 应该是在Chinese New Year前面吧。讲年会。第二声和第四声。年会。

John: And many companies during their 年会, they have a raffle, a drawing, right?

Dilu: 对。我们叫抽奖。抽奖。

John: 1st tone, 3rd tone.

Dilu: 对。

John: Literally that means 'to draw a prize'.

Dilu: 对。很多的公司都会非常的generous. 年会抽奖就会有很多很好的奖品。

Right-Wingnut

John: So in this dialog we're going to hear about a 抽奖, and lets listen to what happens.

Dilu: 好的。

1:05 - Dialog

Right-Wingnut

Dialog

Right-Wingnut

Dialog

Right-Wingnut

2:35

John: So, in the beginning of the dialog the winner - she's not too enthusiastic about the entertainment at the 年会, right?

Dilu: 对。她说：每年年会的节目都差不多。

John: So 节目 - 2nd tone, 4th tone, that means ...

Dilu: Performance.

John: So 节目, in some contexts can be kind of like 'program', but in this case its like 'an event', 'a performance'.

Right-Wingnut

2:58

Dilu: 她这里说的节目有唱歌还有跳舞。但是好象她不太喜欢， 因为她说：不是唱歌，就是跳舞。真没意思。

John: So, 'if its not singing its just dancing'. So its either one or the other.

Dilu: 这个用一个pattern: 不是...什么什么，就是...什么什么。

John: So, 'if its not this, its that'. But before that she says something about how they're all the same. What does she say?

Dilu: 对。她说这些年会的节目都差不多。都差不多。

John: So when you say 都差不多, what you mean is ...

Right-Wingnut

3:30

Dilu: 都一样。

John: 都差不多一样。

Dilu: 是的。

John: So 'they're all more or less the same'.

Dilu: 但是她的朋友说：这样才热闹嘛。

John: 'Like this', 才热闹. So what does that mean?

Dilu: 就是要唱歌和跳舞这样的年会才会很热闹。

John: So 'you have to do that in order to make it 热闹 - to have that lively, noisy atmosphere.

Dilu: 对。这边其实有一个((shen re diao??))的pattern。是：只有唱歌和跳舞才热闹。

Right-Wingnut

4:00

John: So 'only if you have these things will it be 热闹. So this 才 kind of refers to that pattern even though part of it is missing.

Dilu: 而且她的朋友她说：待会儿就要抽奖了。不知道今年谁会中大奖。

John: 待 会儿就要抽奖了。'We're about to do the drawing', right?

Dilu: She's so excited.

John: So 抽奖 in this case is a verb, is that right.

Dilu: 对。是一个动词。第一声和第三声。抽奖。

John: 'To do the drawing'. And then she says: 不知道...what?

Right-Wingnut

Dilu: 不知道今年谁会中大奖。

John: Literally, 'I don't know this year who will win the big prize'. But you'll notice that in Chinese, often when you start off a sentence with 不知道 what its expressing is how we say 'I wonder' in English.

Dilu: 对。

John: 'I wonder who's going to get the big prize this year.

Dilu: 对。不知道今年谁会中大奖。

John: So if you've ever looked up the word 'wonder' in a Chinese dictionary, you might have been confused. That's because they don't really use the word 'wonder'. They say it like this. The verb for 'to win a big prize' was what again?