Intermediate - Business Trip in Kunming

Right-Wingnut

John: Hi ChinesePod listeners, I'm John.

Dilu: 你好，我是 Dilu。

John: Today its an Intermediate lesson, and the topic is ...

Dilu: 出差。出差。

John: 出差，going on a business trip.

Dilu: 对。

John: That's two 1st tones.

Dilu: 没错。两个第一声。出差。

John: One thing we want to point out right in the beginning is that 出差 is a verb.

Dilu: 没错。在中文里面，出差是一个动词。但是如果你要用名词，该怎么说呢？

Right-Wingnut

John: So this can be a problem because in English we like to say 'business trip', 'I have a business trip', 'I want to go on a business trip' or 'I don't want to go on a business trip'. Whereas in Chinese 出差 means 'go on a business trip'. So what if you want to say 'I have a business trip' in Chinese?

Dilu: 那我们先来听一下对话，然后再讨论一下这个问题。

John: All right, let's listen.

0:51 - Dialog

Right-Wingnut

Dialog

Right-Wingnut

1:53

John: So right in the beginning, we hear the girl say 'I'm on a business trip'.

Dilu: 对。她说：我在出差。我在出差。

Right-Wingnut

2:02

John: It's a verb here, right? 出差。

Dilu: 没错。是一个动词。

John: So its literally 'I'm going on a business trip', 'I'm doing the business trip thing'.

Dilu: 这个＇在＇表示正在发生。

John: She's doing it.

Dilu: 是的。

John: What if we want to say 'I have a business trip'?

Dilu: 那在中文里面，你会说：我要出差。

John: That means 'I'm going to go on a business trip'.

Dilu: 是的。

John: Which is basically the same as I 'have a business trip', but you have to use the verb. But what if you want to say to a Chinese friend 'you go on a lot of business trips'? In English we'd say 'a lot OF business trips'.

Right-Wingnut

2:36

Dilu: 但是在中文里面，还是用动词。说：你经常出差。

John: So its 'you often go on business trips', still using it as a verb.

Dilu: 没错。

john: Just keep that in mind. So the girl is talking about her business trip. Where did she go?

Dilu: 昆明。昆明。一个非常漂亮的地方。

John: 1st tone, 2nd tone. 昆明 is in 云南。

Right-Wingnut

3:01

Dilu: 是的。在中国的云南省。

John: What does she say about the trip?

Dilu: 她说要出差一周。出差一周。

John: 'To go on a business trip for a week'.

Dilu: 我们一般都是把时间放在动词的后面。出差一周。

John: So 出差一天，出差一个月。

Dilu: 没错。

John: And then what else does she say?

Dilu: 前面三天谈事情，后面几天自己安排。

Right-Wingnut

John: So notice in English we say 'for the first three days we're going to do this, for the last few days we're going to do this'. You use 'first' and 'last'.

Dilu: 对。在中文我们说：＇前面三天＇和＇后面几天＇。

John: Literally 'front' and 'back'. But it refers to the same concepts'. 前面三天，we could also say 前三天。

Dilu: 对。在中文里面，你也可以省略这和＇面＇。前三天。

John: 'First three days'. And then we could do the same for 'the last few days'.

Right-Wingnut

4:02

Dilu: 可以说：后几天。后几天。

John: Got it. So what is she going to do in the first 3 days?

Dilu: 谈事情。谈事情。

John: What does that mean exactly? Talk about stuff, talk about things?

Dilu: 对啊，就是 talk about business, talk about things.

John: But does this sound business-like? 谈事情。

Dilu: 如果你说＇谈事情＇，听上去就是跟工作有关系。而且比较严肃。

Right-Wingnut

John: So pretty serious. Sounds like a meeting, or maybe even a negotiation of some kind.

Dilu: 是的。

John: So 谈事情 is not like having a chat with your friend at starbucks.

Dilu: 不是 having a chat。但是可以是比较 ...

John: ［？］about very serious talk.

Dilu: 对。比较比较 serious。

John: So that's what she's doing, serious business stuff for the first three days, and in the last few days she's going to do what?

Dilu: 后面几天自己安排。自己安排。