Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the very first episode of HSK 2 HSKR Master Class podcast by Hanyu Chinese School. I'm Melanie, your old friend, and I'm here with our old friend Emily.
How are you today, Emily?
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Hi, Melanie. I'm doing fantastic. I'm so excited to kick off this new season with you all.
So we are here to take your Chinese to the next level and practice grammar, useful vocabulary, and of course, some fun facts about Chinese cultures too.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Oh, absolutely. And today we're starting with a very handy structure.
Blah, blah, soy, blah blah. Perfect for expression, cause and effect.
[00:00:59] Speaker B: Exactly. With this structure, you will be able to say things like, because I'm hungry, I'm going to eat. Because I love Chinese, I'm studying it.
This is one of the most common structures that you will hear in the daily conversation.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: And that's not all. All. For today's cultural segment, we'll dive into some real Internet memes.
Why Chinese people say they are eating dirt when they're.
And what it means when someone says says I don't want to go to work.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: So have you ever seen emojis of sand, crying bears, or comments about eating dirt online?
Stay tuned. Today we are going to talk about it all.
[00:01:55] Speaker A: All right, let's get started with today's fictional dialogue.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: Okay, so let's jump into a realistic dialogue. This time Melanie and I are catching up in a cafe after some shopping. Ready, Melanie?
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Ready. Let's go.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: Ah, okay, great.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Okay, so.
Oops.
Let's look at our grammar.
[00:03:30] Speaker B: Okay, so let's do. Let's break down to the grammar that we just heard.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: And today we will focusing on how to talk about causes and effects clearly in Chinese by using and we will start with why.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: So it means.
It means why. And it goes at the beginning of a question.
So the structure is why, subject, verb, and then object. For example, why do you learn Chinese?
[00:04:20] Speaker A: And there are some tips for advanced learners. So sometimes in Carol speech, Chinese speakers drop the subject if it's obvious. Like so we can drop the subject.
Why not Come.
[00:04:40] Speaker B: Perfect.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: So we got the second part expressing cause and effect with.
We use because, therefore for.
To clearly show a reason and result.
The structure is because plus reason plus therefore plus result.
So we have an example from the dialogue.
Because I bought too many things things, so now I'm broke.
[00:05:25] Speaker B: And very. Another extra tip is that in a very casual speech, Chinese people sometimes drop the. Drop out the.
But for exam and formal setting, we always use it. So it's better to remember the whole structure.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: Yes, very good. Point.
Let's continue.
So we got a sad challenge for you.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: So now it's your turn. How would you say this in Chinese? I didn't go to the park because I was tired.
Write your answer down in the comment section down below and we will check it.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: So please take your time. Review the examples we gave and try to build your own sentence. We'd love to see your answers.
Okay, so let's try to go back to the dialogue and review the grammar we have talked about.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: So the dialogue we had today, I go first.
I said today's shopping was amazing.
I bought lots of clothes and they were really cheap.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: Really?
How much did you spend?
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Maybe around a thousand yen.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Wow.
Wow. That much?
[00:07:33] Speaker B: What's going wrong?
Why do you look so weird?
[00:07:49] Speaker A: Because I bought too many things, so now I'm eating dirt and broke.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: Eating dirt? Are you seriously eating dirt?
[00:08:15] Speaker A: So not really. In China, eating dirt means you're broke. So watch your tool.
Okay. So do you remember what we have talked about? The grammars in this dialogue? Did you review what we have talked about?
[00:08:34] Speaker B: So we used.
So if you. If you remember it, we. You can write it in the question that we just gave you as well.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Yeah, have a try.
And if you are enjoying this episode and finding it helpful, please don't forget to give us a like and subscribe. It really help us to keep creating content for you.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: And if you want to boost your Chinese even more, Visit our website hanyechinese.com you can book a free trial class and explore all of our resources.
We even have completed HSK1 and HSK2 courses ready just for you.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: Yes. So have a try on our website and let's continue.
So we have talked about some Chinese slang like.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: And.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: So this is the time for today's Culture Spotlight. And trust me, it's going to be really fun.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: So today we are diving into two in Internet memes that everyone uses here in China, which literally means eating dirt and means don't want to go to work.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So first, let's start with it sounds strange, right?
Eating dirt. But in China, if someone says they're eating dirt, it simply means they spent too much money and they are broke.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: So exactly. There's like saying like, I'm so broke I can only eat dirt.
You don't really get to like imagine that when you don't even have the money, you spend too much and then you cannot afford food.
So then what do we do? We think about that. In the park, there is a lot of plants. There's a lot of grass, dirt. And then they see for free. Right.
And they look pretty healthy.
That's why we thought about, we say it like this, like so you can go eat the dirt for free, then you will be full.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: Yeah. You find whatever you can eat, right?
[00:11:13] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So there's a good example. If someone spends all their salary on shopping, they might post this month, I'm eating dirt.
[00:11:30] Speaker B: That is, that is really correct.
And so this is, I would say this is like really something like we use really naturally.
Even like my friends, they sometimes tell me like, oh, if you don't want to eat dirt, you can eat for example, tree instead or a plant. Like we have so many around us, so that is a joke that we make once in a while.
But you can even see people stand sending like little emojis about desert or plants, something like that, when they think that they're broke.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: Yeah. So you can remember this very useful slang, eating dirt and broke. Okay, now let's on to the second meme.
But I don't want to go to work.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: So every Monday, Chinese social media is full of people complaining about going back to work after the weekend. They send sticker with panda dogs or anything. Any character crying and saying that.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Don'T want to go to work. So it's like the Chinese version of Monday Blues but even stronger. And it's very common to hear people say, because today is Monday, I don't want to go to work.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: So these kind of expressions shows how painful the Chinese people can be online with playful and humorous.
And so if you use them yourself, you will sound more natural and connect more with the Chinese culture.
[00:13:34] Speaker A: Yes.
Okay everybody, so let's answer the question.
So earlier we asked you, how would you say I didn't go to the park because I was tired in Chinese? The answer is.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: So the correct answer is.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: So if you got it right, fantastic, congratulations. And if not, no worries. The more you practice, the easier it gets.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: Exactly.
So now it's your turn.
We have another question for you. Write a sentence in the comments using as in homework.
Yeah.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: For example, because it's so hot today, I drank a lot of water.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: So we can't wait to see what you come up with. We will read all of your. All of your given feedback.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: Yeah. So please leave us your comments.
And so what did we learn for today?
[00:15:04] Speaker B: So today we learned how to express using the effect effect in Chinese with and.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: And we also explore some of the funniest and most popular memes in modern Chinese culture like Zhi Tu eat dirt and don't want to go to work.
And in the next episode, what we gonna learn, Emmeline?
[00:15:36] Speaker B: We will learn how to say together in Chinese using the verb, which is super, super useful, super, super basic.
And explore even more practical Chinese for everyday life.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: Yes. Thank you, Emily. So if you're ready to take your Chinese to the next level, please also Visit our website, hanyuchineschool.com and book a free trial class. And we gonna see you next time.
See you next time.
Sa.
