Elementary | Handsome Foreign Student

Hello ChinesePod listeners, you're listening to an elementary lesson in my name's Thibuk.

Hey guys, I'm John. So what do we have here today? Today we have a very special lesson for all of our good looking foreign students out there. Why? Because this dialogue is between a foreign student and a local.

Oh, we have a handsome student. Yep, and one of the things that we emphasize in this lesson is where things happen. What do you mean?

Well, you as you might imagine, where you study, where you work, but we want to focus on the word order in Chinese.

So if you're talking about where you do something and what you're doing, there's a specific word order you need to use.

Hmm, so maybe we should listen to the dialogue three times first and then talk about that.

All right, here we go.

Hey, handsome, where are you from?

I'm from Australia, where are you from?

I'm from Australia, where are you from?

Where are you from?

Hey, Shai Ge, where are you from?

I'm from Australia.

Oh, where are you from?

I'm from留學生.

留學生?

Where are you from?

I'm from Beijing University.

Wow, you're so awesome.

Third place.

Hey, Shai Ge, where are you from?

I'm from Australia.

Oh, where are you from?

I'm from留學生.

留學生?

Where are you from?

And now the translation.

Hey, Handsome, where are you from?

Hi, Handsome, where are you from?

I'm an Australian.

Shai Ge, where are you from?

I'm an Australian.

I'm Australian.

Oh, where do you work?

Oh, where do you work?

I don't work.

I'm a foreign student.

I don't work.

I'm a foreign student.

A foreign student at which university do you study?

I study at Beijing University.

I study at Beijing University.

Peking University?

Wow, that's really impressive.

Peking University?

Wow, you're pretty awesome.

Okay, so we'll be talking about just how厲害 this guy really is later on.

But first, let's take it from the top.

Okay, now this girl addresses the guy as...

So that's a fourth tone and a first tone, right?

Okay, now literally it means Handsome Big Brother, right?

Yes, but it's more like Handsome or...

Like a cute guy?

Cute.

Yeah, cute guy.

So often women use this for men?

Mostly, but guys will address guys the same way.

Okay, but this girl doesn't know the guy, right?

It doesn't seem they know each other well.

Okay, because her question is...

So you are where person?

Ah, just where are you from?

Okay, you are Narren.

So Nar being third tone, Ren second tone.

Right.

Now in the south, we could say the different way, right?

You are Narri人.

You are Narri人.

Okay, both are okay.

Mm, okay.

Okay, so where is he from?

Okay, so Australia, this word has four fourth tones.

Oh, right.

Australia.

Yeah, I got to say I'm a little envious when I was learning to say May.

There was kind of hard with that third tone followed by the second tone.

You Australians get four fourth tones in a row.

That's nice.

That's amazing.

Oh, Daliya.

Oh, Daliya, Ren.

I'm Daliya, Ren.

Okay, now here's where the word order question comes into play.

What's her next question?

Oh, then where are you from?

你在哪工作?

你在哪工作?

Okay, so在哪 means at where?

And then comes the verb meaning to work.

對,工作,工作, first and fourth.

First and fourth.

Okay, so we want to ask, where do you work?

The order is 你在哪工作?

Okay, now just to be totally clear, I cannot say 你工作在哪?

不可以.

All right, so remember to get the word order right.

There's going to be two other cases where we're going to practice the correct word order

later on in this dialogue.

But next up, what do we have?

我不工作,我不工作.

So I don't work.

我是留學生,我是留學生.

Okay, so here's the key word, this means a foreign student, right?

對,留學生, two seconds and one first.

Okay,留學生.

Now this學生, that just means student, right?

是的,留學生 means the student study abroad.

Okay, student studying abroad, an exchange student, a foreign student,

these are all留學生.

是的,我是留學生.

So two to first.

All right, and then the girl seems slightly surprised, right?

留學生,你在哪各大學學習?

Okay, so literally, you at which university study?

So again, we have the在 telling us the place and then the verb.

是的.

So in this case, it's a question, right?

對.

But it still follows exactly the same order.

在哪各大學學習?

你在哪各大學學習?

So you at which university study?

嗯, which university do you study?

Okay, remember in Chinese, you can't mess with that order.

So then the answer uses the same order, which is?

對,我在北京大學學習.

Okay, so at Peking University, how do we say that?

在北京大學,在北京大學.

Okay, and remember the tones are北京, third, first,

and then大學, fourth, second, right?

是的,北京大學,北京大學.

Okay, and once again, she is surprised, right?

北京大學,哇,你真厲害!

So,哇, is the Chinese equivalent of wow!

對.

Okay, so wow, that's first tone, is that right?

對, WA,哇,第一聲.

Okay, and her final comment again.

你真厲害,你真厲害.

Okay, so you're really impressive.

嗯, you're pretty awesome.

對,厲害,第四聲和清聲.

厲害, all right, I think we're ready to hear the dialogue three more times.

But remember to pay attention to the word order

and the place something is happening followed by the verb.

是的, here we go.

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對話,第一遍.

嘿,帥哥,你是哪人?

我是澳大利亞人.

那你在哪工作?

我不工作,我是留學生.

留學生,你在哪個大學學習?

我在北京大學學習.

北京大學,哇,你真厲害.

嘿,帥哥,你是哪人?

我是澳大利亞人.

那你在哪工作?

我不工作,我是留學生.

留學生,你在哪個大學學習?

我在北京大學學習.

北京大學,哇,你真厲害.

我在北京大學學習.

嘿,帥哥,你是哪人?

我是澳大利亞人.

那你在哪工作?

我不工作,我是留學生.

留學生,你在哪個大學學習?

我在北京大學學習.

北京大學,我在北京大學學習.

我在北京大學學習.

北京大學,哇,你真厲害.

So, Zhang, shall we remind our parties the structure again?

OK, so first comes the subject, then comes the place

which begins with 災, right?

災,飽飽飽.

Right, and then finally the verb.

好.

So, let me ask you a question actually.

Where do you work?

你在哪工作?

你在哪工作?

OK, and your answer is?

我在ChinesePod工作.

OK, or bigger?

我在上海工作.

OK, bigger.

我在中国工作.

Alright, that's big enough.

How about a different verb?

How about studying?

OK.

你在哪學習?

你在哪學習?

我在澳大利亞學習.

You're studying Australia?

Yeah, you didn't know that.

I didn't know that.

OK, I'm lying, we're just making sentences here.

Alright, let me ask you a question now.

好.

今天你在哪吃饭?

今天我在KFC吃饭.

So healthy.

I don't got a lot of chance to, you know,

to enjoy your food.

好.

OK, but anyway, after that practice,

I also want to ask you a question about

the reputation of Peking University.

好.

First tell me your impression of this university.

北京大學, everyone says it's really good.

為什麼呢?

It's like ranked number one in China, right?

Yes, for Chinese students,

it's really difficult to get enrolled in that university

and you have to be outstanding.

OK, so the question is,

is it really difficult for a foreign student

to study at Beijing University and study Chinese?

I'm not sure, but I heard for a little學生.

It's more like you paid money

and you pretty much get a chance to, you know, study there.

But I don't know if it's true or not.

So there must be somewhat selective,

but probably not quite as selective as

Beijing University is for the Chinese students, right?

Anyway, if you study there as a留學生,

you can still benefit from the reputation of this school.

Yeah, we want to hear what you have to say about that.

So come to ChinesePod.com and set us straight.

OK, then we'll see you next time.

再见.

再见.

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Slash 1634.

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