Previous Counseling

Week 1   
1.    Intermediate - A Promotion

2.    Review
3.    Review
4.    Elementary - Why are You Studying Chinese?

5 .    Elementary - What do Foreigners Like?

Week 2   
1.    Intermediate - Flattery in the Office

2.    Review
3.    Review
4.    Elementary - Making Copies

5.    Elementary - Sending a Fax

Week 3   
1.    Intermediate - Evading Nosy Questions

2.    Review
3.    Review
4.    Elementary - Directions with a Map #1

5.    Elementary - Directions with a Map #2

Week 4   
1.    Intermediate - Hot Pot Chitchat

2.    Review
3.    Review
4.    Elementary - How spicy?

5.    Elementary - To Tip or Not to Tip

你好 Helen，

我们在罗马呆了八天了。

Nihao Jeff,

Those lessons I constructed for you are based on your current level and available study time of every week, as well as the topics that you are probably interested in. 

Yes, our weekly pratice will be based on the content of the suggested lessons. For example, you can write down your questions if you have some when studying the lessons, so that I can explain it to you; or I will ask you some questions using the important words or expressions, or sentence patterns in the lessons you learned.But if you have any suggustions or questions about it, we can make some adjustments according to your request.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any other questions.

Regards,

Helen

Nihao Helen,

Thanks -- this sounds like a good plan.

How about the method of scheduling speaking practice?

Regards,

Jeff

Nihao Jeff,

That was just a kind of demo speaking practice just now.  Hope you are clear now! :)

Dont worry( 别担心 bie2 dan1xin1)！如果你有什么问题，please just let me know!

周末愉快！:)

Cheers,

Helen

Nihao Helen,

I have a qustion about the "A Promotion" lesson.  In the podcast, Jenny/Ken mention that 升 is the verb "to promote", and 升职 is the noun "promotion".  But in several of the sentences, it seems that 升职 is being used more like a verb..."你想到会升职吗", "我从来没有想到这么快会升职", and "她说我应该被升职".  Can you explain a little more clearly the difference in usage between 升 and  升职.

Thanks,

Jeff

Hi Helen,

A couple questions about the weekly talking practice:

1)  How do we schedule these sessions?  Is there a web page for doing it?

2)  Will the focus of each talking practice be the content of the week's suggested podcasts (e.g. for next week would we make a conversation based on the podcasts "A Promotion", "Why are You Studying Chinese", and "What do Foreigners Like?"), or would it be more general talking practice?

Thanks,

Jeff

Hope that makes sense.

如果有什么别的问题，请随时告诉我！

（随时sui2shi2=anytime）

Helen

Yes, this makes more sense (although it will take a lot of practice to use it correctly :-).

谢谢,

Jeff 

你好 Helen,

我是从罗马回家的。 是一个很有意思的地方。

I will try to have Skype turned on for the next time you call.

Jeff

Jeff 你好！

不好意思，我刚刚看到你的留言（liu2yan2=message）.

你在罗马呆了多长时间？

Ni zai luo2ma3 dai1 le duochang shijian?

你好Jeff,

"升职" is actually a kind of special verb called  "离合词"(li2he2ci2). The structure of this kind of verb is "Verb + Object (noun)". 见面 is also a 离合, but 喜欢 is not.

The feture of this kind of verbs is： 1. In some cases the two parts of the 离合词 have to be split. 2. It can not be followed by anothe object directly.  So, one can say 见他的面，or 跟他见面. But one can not say 见面他.

Regarding the word 升职，we can say

去年老板给他升了两次职。（one can not say 去年老板给他升职了两次）

The basic/original meaning of the character 升 is "to rise".

The word "promotion" is a noun in English. But in Chinese, just like what you noticed,升职 is verb.