Lesson 390: Notes

1. The word 设备 can also be used to refer to “features”, as seen in: 现在的电脑除了可以上网以外还可以透过网路摄影机这个设备跟别人聊天 and 而且现在连手机里都有这样的设备了.

2. Notice the construction of “couldn’t dream of” in 我想以前的人 做梦也想不到会发明这样的产品吧! Literally it’s “dream also not be able to think of”.

3. Notice you can either contact “with” others or “and” others.
a. 如果你想跟住在很远的朋友联络有什么方式
b. 这种和别人联络的方式给人们带来很大的方便呢

4. Note the construction of “brings people a lot of convenience” in 这种和别人联络的方式给人们带来很大的方便呢! Literally it’s “give people bring come very big convenience”.

5. and 依赖 have similar meanings, as seen in the examples below.
a. 除了有独立的想法以外生活上也应该能自己照顾自己不再靠父母的帮助.
b. 要不然,要是小孩长大后还继续依赖父母这样以后的生活会过得非常辛苦的.

6. 过生活 literally means “pass life” and is used to describe living.
a. 要不然,要是小孩长大后还继续依赖父母这样以后的生活会过得非常辛苦的.
b. 嗯,如果没有自己一个人生活过或许就没办法真正体验到独立的感觉.

7. 热心 also has a meaning of being “warm-hearted”, which is how it is used in this sentence: 幸亏我的同事都是很热心的人能让我很放心地把工作交给他们.


Lesson 389: Notes

1. a. The sentence 那你打算怎么安排 can be translated into future tense or past tense, depending on the context of the situation. In the dialogue, we know that the woman has already arranged her schedule, so the translation becomes “So how did you plan it?”
b. Similarly, the sentence 我想尽量把课都安排在上午 could also be translated into the future or past, depending on context.

2. In the sentence 不过我想建议你再选一门沟通管理的课, the combines with the to become “again choose”, which translates into “also choose”.

3. Notice how apart from being able to a course, you can also 安排 a course, as seen in 我会给自己安排一门沟通管理的课的.

4. Notice the use of 丰富 to mean “rich in meaning” in 这样写出来的报告才会比较丰富


Lesson 388: Notes

1. Note how is used in 三面有海. This emphasizes that “you are facing the sea on three sides”.

2. While in English we use “is” for populations, capital cities and areas, in Chinese we use “has”, “is located in” and “is” respectively, as seen below:
a. 人口有四千九百多万人.
b. 首都在首尔.
c. 面积是九万九千多平方公里.

3. Note the construct used to say “occupies a high position on the world stage” in 手机跟其他的电脑产品 在全世界的市场中占了很高的地位. You could also replace the “very high” with an actual nth position to specify what place it actually was.

4. The expression 离不开 breaks up the word for “leave”. You can think of it as meaning “leaving, but not really leaving”, and is used to describe “not being too far from” in 韩国人一定离不开泡菜.

5. Notice how 受欢迎 is split up in 棒球跟足球也是最受韩国人欢迎的运动.


Lesson 387: Notes

1. This lesson features many uses of the word 答应. However, notice how the word can vary in meaning from “commit” to “agree” to “promise”, as seen in the following examples:
a. 我不得不答应.
b. 最后他总算答应了.
c. 答应别人了以后就不再改变.

2. can also mean “invite”, as seen in 比如说今天晚上你只想待在家里不想去任何地方. 但是你的同事突然找你一起去一个派对可是你想不到理由来拒绝他你就可以这么说.

3. 经过 has a more abstract meaning of “encountering”, as seen in 不过经过你的努力并且试着让对方了解答应这件事情的好处最后他总算答应了.


Lesson 386: Notes

1. 放松 is the short form of 放轻松, which literally means “to release relax”.

2. Note that 羡慕 can refer both to being envious (negative) or having admiration (positive). So the sentence: 有的人羡慕很有钱的人 could also translate into “Some people are envious of rich people.”

3. Note the use of the particle in 我真想把这个坏习惯改掉 and 如果只是一直羡慕别人坏习惯永远都改不掉的

4. Although 顺便 has a similar translation to 方便, the former refers to doing something on the way to accomplishing a different purpose. So a bank might be 方便 because it is nearby, but it would only be 顺便 if you could get there while on the way to somewhere else.


Lesson 385: Notes

1. We see 表示 used several times in the explanation of today’s lesson:
a. 有时候被别人称赞我们觉得自己没有那么好就会跟对方说这句话表示客气的意思.
b. 有时候我们想要知道自己本来不了解的事情需要别人的帮忙并且告诉你通常都回跟对方说 请教 这个两个字表示尊重对方.
c. 那有什么问题 的意思跟 没问题 一样. 表示这个男人马上就答应了他的朋友的要求.
d. 要是觉得那个东西好像真的很好吃的样子就会让人想要流口水表示那个食物很吸引人.

2. The word 帮忙 literally means “help busy” and refers to being busy helping someone, as opposed to doing a small favor. In this lesson, note how the speaker uses 没有帮到忙 to explain the level of help not being all that much in 或是有人对你说了谢谢你的帮忙可是我们觉得自己并没有真的帮到忙也可以这么说.

3. Notice that while in English we “agree” to someone’s request, in Chinese you can “promise” to heed someone’s request, as seen in: 表示这个男人马上就答应了他的朋友的要求.


Lesson 384: Notes

When describing countries, note that we say “the area is” and “the population has”: 面积是五十多万平方公里. 人口是四千五百多万人.


Lesson 383: Notes

1. The literal translation of the sentence 有时候我们去买东西对要买的东西会有一些想法跟看法 is “Sometimes, we go buy things, towards want buy things will have some ways of thinking and points of view”.

2. Note the construction of 做得到 and 做不到 in the sentence 但是去做跟做不做得到就不是那么容易了. You can compare that with 做好 in 所以,当别人把话说得很好听时我们也要注意他是不是把事情做好了.


Lesson 382: Notes

1. While in English it’s possible to describe someone as being healthy, in Chinese we have to specify that it’s their bodies that are healthy, as seen in 所以要身体很健康的人才能参加这个比赛.

2. Notice the term for “personal challenge” seen in 这个比赛真的是一个很大的自我挑战呢

3. Notice how “So if less breathing, sunlight with water among one” becomes “So if you reduce either breathing, sunlight or water” in 所以要是少了呼吸,太阳跟水其中一个活的东西也会变成死的了.

4. Notice how Kirin says “let me think – ah, I know”: 嗯,让我想一想. 啊,我想到了.


Lesson 381: Notes

1. Notice how many words in Chinese have more varied meanings than their English counterparts. In this lesson, we see many uses of the word 特别 to describe : 建筑物. However in English, we are more likely to describe buildings as being “interesting” rather than “special”, as we see in 好特别的建筑物.

2. We can learn more about the usage of the word 曾经 in the sentence 这曾经是一位有名作家的家. We can see how it extends here to meaning “used to be”.

3. When a situation is known in context, we can get by with using the related measure word by itself without directly referring to the object. In the dialogue, the two people are looking at photographs. The woman then says 那这张呢? If we didn’t know they were talking about photos, we would have to guess what flat, sheet like object she was referring to.

4. Notice how the literal meaning of 梦想永远都不会变成真的 is “dream forever all will not become true”. In the English translation, the negation is put up front, making it “dreams never will come true”.


Lesson 380: Notes

1. Articles like this one are useful for learning how to describe something in Chinese that you may already know in English. For example, you may have heard the term “The land of the rising sun” before, but now you know that in Chinese that is: 日本这个词的意思是太阳升起的地方.”

2. As we take you to higher levels of the course, you will notice yourself learning many synonyms of words you already know, such as 几乎 and 受欢迎. Use the articles to learn the nuances of when one word might be used over another.


Lesson 379: Notes

1. Some of the elements emphasized in Chinese, are different from in English. For example, in the sentence 那家餐厅的菜很丰富, the literal meaning is “That restaurant’s food is very plentiful”. The word 丰富 is often used with food to describe abundance, such as going to someone’s house for dinner and seeing how much food has been prepared for the occasion.

2. Similarly, in the sentence 他们卖的东西品质都很实在, we don’t normally use the word “authentic” or “real” to describe quality, whereas it is used in Chinese.


Lesson 378: Notes

1. Note the usage of in 我小的时候会趁父母不在的时候找朋友或是同学来我家玩游戏. The second part literally means “look for friends or classmates to come to my house to play games”.

2. We use the verb with 规定, as seen in 父母都不让我们做很多事情订了很多规定所以孩子们就得趁父母不在的时候 做一些平常不可以做的事情.

3. While we’ve taught 自动 before as meaning “automatic”, the meaning in this lesson refers to being self-motivated, which is the opposite of: 被动.

4. Note the use of the sentence pattern in 一方面一方面 in 一方面能得到乐趣一方面能认识新朋友.

5. Here is a good expression, that can be used in daily conversation: 说到这个我才想到.


Lesson 377: Notes

1. Note the literal translations of the expressions used in this dialogue:
a. 好玩得不得了 literally means “Never ending fun”.
b. 哪里都不能去 literally means “where all not able to go”.
c. 什么地方都不能去 literally means “what place all not able to go”.

2. We see a couple of ways to say “to realize” in 想起来 – used in 哦,我想起来了 and 想到, used in 然后她突然想到.

3. You can make friends in three different ways:
a. Using 认识, as in 所以我也认识了很多新朋友.
b. Using , such as 所以我也交了很多新朋友.
c. Using 变成 as in 所以她也和许多客人变成了朋友.


Lesson 376: Notes

1. As has been mentioned before, these articles on countries are good ways to practice your knowledge of large numbers. Listen to the description of areas and populations and see if you can figure out the equivalent number, before looking at the translation.

2. As you listen to these country articles, also compare the details with that of your own country. The idea is to give you enough examples and ideas to come up with a description of your own country to give to others.


Lesson 375: Notes

1. Some of the blessings mentioned in this lesson are similar to their English counterparts, such as 祝你一切顺利, 祝你一路顺风 and 祝你旅途愉快. Others, like: 祝你马到成功 and 祝你万事如意 are a little different from how they might be expressed in English.

2. As mentioned in the lesson, some of these blessing lines, such as 祝你一路顺风 and 祝你旅途愉快 have similar meanings to each other and can be used in the same occasion. It is best to have a few of them memorized so that the next you are at one of these occasions wishing others, you have something to say that is different from the person next to you.


Lesson 374: Notes

This lesson showed how to say many common expressions, that can be used in your own speech and writings:

a. 在真实的生活中.

b. 试着做做看.

c. 学到更多的经验. (Literally – this is study more experience).

d. 谢谢你的称赞.


Lesson 373: Notes

1. 录取 is used as “hire” in this lesson, however it can be used in any situation where there is an application process that needs to be accepted, before a person is admitted.

2. We can see a couple of examples of the sentence pattern using in 我真替你开心 and 我已经请旅行社替我订机票跟火车票了.

3. Without context, the question “什么时候开始上班?” could simply refer to “What time do you start work (daily)?” However here it is used to ask when she begins her job for the first time.

4. The in 我打算一放暑假就出发 is a sentence pattern that indicates, as soon as action takes place (summer vacation beginning), another one will take place (his going on vacation).


Lesson 372: Notes

1. China is made up of 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities and 2 Self Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macau). 大陆 usually refers to China, excluding Hong Kong and Macau.

2. Note how China’s official title is 中华人民共和国, which differs from Taiwan, which goes by 中华民国.

3. Notice how 几百万 is used to say “a few million” in 每年都吸引几百万的外国观光客到长城去参观.


Lesson 371: Notes

While this lesson describes lines you may hear at a travel agent, some of the expressions are commonly used in advertisements of all types, such as 最低只要X元起, or simply X元起. Similarly, you can also expect to hear 机会难得 and 错过可惜 in typical ads.


Lesson 370: Notes

1. Note how common 不少, which literally means “not a few” is used in Chinese:

a. 不少大学生趁暑假到不同的地方.
b. 虽然这样得花不少时间做准备但是也是一个学习地理跟照顾自己的好机会.
c. 不少人认为 自助旅行比参加旅行团便宜也更有意思.

2. We see the character used in a different context here to refer to finishing an action. In the sentence 不过自助旅行前得把旅行的资料都找好, it is added to to give 找好.

3. 一方面 is often used together with 另一方面 to form the sentence pattern seen in 一方面比较自由而且没有时间的限制另一方面能油更多的机会认识当地的人了解当地的文化.


Lesson 369: Notes

1. The participants in the dialogue are in Taiwan, so the prices quoted are in Taiwanese dollars. The not requiring a visa for a short-term stay is also a recent announcement for Taiwanese citizens.

2. Notice the different ways you can use to ask someone to do something for you. You can either ask for their help, as in 大家常常再暑假的时候计划出国旅行并且会请旅行社帮忙订飞机票 or you can ask them to do it for you, as seen in 也麻烦你替我订从英国到法国的火车票.

3. In the explanation, there is reference to the speaker and his: 对方 or the person he is speaking to, as seen in: 对话中的这个女人想要知道对方想去欧洲的哪个国家.


Lesson 368: Notes

Large numbers in Chinese are a bit tricky to calculate in English since they are not based on thousands but rather ten thousands, as seen in 面积是九百六十多万平方公里 and 人口三亿多.


Lesson 367: Notes

1. Notice how 仔细 differs from 小心. The latter is used for dangerous situations, whereas the former is used for general attentive situations, such as 请你们仔细听第一个句子.

2. We can see a new usage of 现场 in 这样就不会让客人浪费太多的时间在现场等位子.

3. 客满 literally means “guest filled” and refers to situations such as no rooms being available in a hotel, no tables available in a restaurant or no tickets available at a movie theater or concert. 有时候餐厅的生意太好客人很多很快就会客满,没有位子了.

4. 服务员 literally means “service person” and so in a restaurant context can refer to a waiter, host or any other employee that deals directly with customers.


Lesson 366: Notes

1. In the sentence 对一般的大学生来说, the literal translation is more along the lines of “According to general university students”, as in the typical university student.

2. 随便 refers to doing something without thinking about it too much (it literally means “follow convenient”). It is used more often in Chinese than in English, in a more variety of situations. The line 最好别随便相信报纸上 refers to not believing what you read in the papers without doing your due diligence first.

3. The word: 征求, which we learned in our last lesson is used a little differently in Chinese than in English. It is commonly paired with 广告, to mean advertisements that request something, as seen in 有些征求打工的广告看起来很轻松有趣.


Lesson 365: Notes

1. The literal meaning of 欢迎光临 is somewhat along the lines of “Thank you for welcoming us with your presence”. It is used almost exclusively in retail establishments welcoming customers.

2. The word 老板 is used a lot more often in Chinese than in English, as it’s a term of respect. 请问您是这家餐厅的老板吗

3. 曾经 refers to the experience of doing something before.
a. 请问你曾经在餐厅工作过吗
b. 我几年前曾经在一家咖啡店打过工.

4. 刚好 is used when you reach your goal quicker than you might have hoped for. 他刚好是餐厅的老板.


Lesson 364: Notes

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1. Note how 大约 can also be reduced to .
a. 最高的山是玉山大约四千公尺.
b. 台湾人口约两千三百万人.

2. Just as we end off many lessons with 你们继续加油, as words of encouragement, you can see 加油 used as a form of encouragement in the sentence 每次到比赛的时候到处都看得到人们为台湾队加油.


Lesson 363: Notes

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1. This lesson introduces the type of announcements that you might hear in an airport. Similar announcements can also be heard in train stations too around China. In them, you can hear key phrases such as 各位旅客请注意 and 谢谢您的合作.

Similarly, in many banks or places where customers have to take a number and wait for their turn, you may hear an announcement asking you to 到八号柜台 when your turn is up.

2. 处理一些事情 is used to describe a process that you have to go through, where the actual details of the process aren’t important. We see it used in 机场的服务员会告诉旅客 请他们带着护照跟行李 到其中一个柜台那边 处理一些事情.

3. Note the difference between 十分钟内 and 十分钟后. We see both used in this lesson:

a. 飞机十分钟内就要起飞了.
b. 我们的班机再十分钟就要到香港了.


Lesson 362: Notes

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Note how some words are used differently in Chinese than in English. For example, we wouldn’t say “go travel everywhere” in English, but we can say 到处去旅行. Similarly 放松心情 is used a lot more often in Chinese than in English.


Lesson 361: Notes

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1. Compare the following two sentences:

a. 期末考终于考完了.
b. 期末考终于就要考完了.

The addition of the extra characters 就要 indicates that the action has not happened yet, but is about to.

Similarly, compare the following sentences:

a. 学校也就要开始放暑假了.
b. 学校也开始放暑假了.

2. We’ve seen the character before in 提款. Here we see it used in 我想把平常存的钱提一部分出来.

3. Just like how in English, we use synonyms of words to avoid repeating ourselves, and to improve the quality of writing, the same thing happens in Chinese. In this conversation, both 计划 and 打算 have similar meanings, and are used together in the sentence 今年有计划出国旅行打算到处走走看看.

顺便 is used in situations where a person is already doing something else and can add a task without much effort. An example might be buying something on the way home. In the dialogue we hear 打算到处走走看看顺便放松心情. In this example, the speaker gets to relax without any added effort, since he is already out traveling.

We also get an explanation of this concept later in this lesson:

我们为了不浪费时间或让事情更方便在做一件事情的时候可以顺便做别件事情.