Business Chinese

user27603, (is this like that old show "The Prisoner") I would also be interested in more business-related lessons; however, it's a difficult topic to make interesting. Have you checked out Peter the Canadian? He got so boring that Amber (or John) sicced a ninja on him. I can't imagine what would happen if they had an accountant (my profession): eaten by Godzilla? Anyway, on a serious note, working along the lines that Cpod is just one tool among many, have you considered a language exchange? It took some work, but I have a business prof in China that I talk to a couple of hours a week via Skype; it's been quite helpful.

Thanks for your suggestions. I don't know how I got that user name - the CPod site seems to have assigned it to me randomly and I've been trying to change it to something more human-sounding! I listened to the Peter podcasts and maybe I need to go back to those lessons and go over them again.

tvan, true, there have been some interesting business lessons (not yet on accounting - I would support a request for such a lesson even if the accounted gets lynched like poor Peter). But the point that user27603 made is that there is still a lack of lessons on more formal written stuff. There are some Advanced lesson on making a contract: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/%E8%B0%88%E5%88%A4%E5%92%8C%E5%90%88%E5%90%8C/discussion or on differences between CVs in the US and in China: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/%E4%B8%AD%E8%A5%BF%E6%96%B9%E7%AE%80%E5%8E%86%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%8D%E5%90%8C/dialogue Really helpful (and requested before) would be Intermediate lessons on the very basics of how to write a letter or an email - with basic phrases for starting and ending, and information on where to put the date etc.

There have been a few conversations on the topic too, but I guess this is rather outside the main CPod focus (spoken Chinese). Would call for a deducated section on written Chinese, business or otherwise.

goulniky, I think that's it, Chinesepod's focus is on conversation. Henning, thanks for the links, especially the lesson on contracts. Actually, I mentioned language exchange because you can focus on written examples. Typically, one of us scans a document or finds a website in a section of mutual interest, and we spend several sessions going over it. For example, we spent several weeks going over profit and loss statements. (Yeah, I know.) I haven't tried e-mail/correspondence, but that ought to be a natural. I wish I could recommend a good book on the subject, but I haven't really found one that excites me.

user27603, I picked up a book when I went to China in 2006, looked good at the time but I hardly ever opened it., was just before I came across CPod. I'd happily send it to you in the UK, just send me a private message with your details. It doesn't cover writing letters as such, but the following 3 sections : Social Gatherings, Office Work and Day-to-day Operations (应酬,办公,业务). It's called Advanced Business Chinese from Peking University Press, Business Chinese Readers (商务汉语提高). There's supposed to be an audio CD but I didn't get it.

user27603 More emphasis on written Chinese is something I've been pushing for for a while now. I feel more and more like Chinesepod doesn't even want to provide any support to help us learn reading a writing especially because I've gone on the message boards on many occassions and posted questions directly to Jenny or Connie in Chinese and have never even once gotten a response back, however I do get responses back if I post in English. One of the reasons I joined Chinesepod as a paid member was to have more communication in written Chinese via the message boards with other people (hopefully) motivated in learning written Chinese, however there are very few Chinesepod users are fluent in or even interested in reading (I think the extent of those people have already posted responses to you on this thread). Actually it's gotten to the point now that I very rarely post anything in Chinese. That being said if you are interested in a written language exchange, I would be more than happy to help, I'm at a decent level now and it wasn't through studying from any manual, it was just through paying close attention to characters in my textbooks and my own self-study. I often use novels, magazines, newspaper articles, blogs and so forth (anything I can get my hands on) to exercise my retention of Characters. I read both Simplified and Unsimplified texts. It will take some work but if you are dilligent you will see results if you practice every day. If you're interested in a written exchange, then you can contact me through my profile, I'm always willing to help, especially because it's a two-way street, by my helping you, you also help me!

I'm an investment banker and I find one-way to pick up business Chinese vocabulary is from the bilingual Web sites of multinational, publicly-traded companies. For example, find a Chinese company from Beijing or Hong Kong or Taipei or wherever that's listed on NASDAQ or the TSX or LSE's AIM or even the NASD OTC BB and you'll usually find English-Chinese press releases, company fact sheets, financial statements etc. I'm also working from a 2-volume textbook with accompanying CD, entitled A Business Trip To China from the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese As a Foreign Language (NOTCFL). The authors state is is "designed for learners at a preintermediate level who have learned basic Chinese in a variety of setting". I would describe both volumes as being roughly around ChinesePod's Intermediate level, although parts of the first volume are closer to ChinesePod's Elementary. http://www.blcup.com/en/list_2.asp?id=552 Examples of topics covered include: opening a bank account, first meeting, hosting dinner for visitors, price negotiation, closing the deal, small businesses, contract draft, official contract signing, joint ventures, stock market quotations, public relations, various facilities in Chinese hotels, the financial and banking system of China, names of the departments in a company, commonly used greetings in Chinese business circles, common expressions on price, common expressions on tax, common words used in various business documents, common words used in business meetings, common terms in the stock market, common words in the field of advertisement, common expressions to your business partner before his/her journey, etc.

Dear fellow CPoders. Thanks for all these suggestions. I'm looking into them. It's good to know tha I'm not alone in this quest! 加油加油好好学习吧！