Intermediate - How did New Year's Come About
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 04:53 AM posted in Transcripts with TalLesson here.
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 10:44 PM
Dilu: 但是新年的第一天就是初一。这一天要去拜年。
John: Got it. These are real traditions, they're not made up.
Dilu: 好。那如果你有什么问题，欢迎到ChinesePod，给我们留言。
John: See you guys on the website.
John and Dilu: 再见。
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 10:40 PM
Dilu: 对。［?］互相问好。
John: Ask how everyone's doing.
Dilu: 如果可能的话呢，也可以去放鞭炮，贴对联。
John: Set off fireworks and put up the rhyming couplets. Hold on a second. Some of those are what you're supposed to do on 除夕.
Dilu: 对对对。
John: And some of them you're supposed to do on 初一.
Dilu: 对。在除夕的时候也就是新年前面的一天要放鞭炮，贴对联，因为要赶走这个怪兽。
John: OK
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 10:33 PM
Dilu: 这个应该是假的故事吧。你真的相信这个故事吗？
John: I don't think its a true story, but the story doesn't even have thousands of years of history to it?
Dilu: 应该没有。
John: But nowadays pretty much everyone knows this story?
Dilu: 应该很多人都知道这个故事。但是我觉得我们的poddies必须要知道的就是你要在新年的时候要去给你的朋友，你的家人去拜年。
John: So 拜年 is a very useful phrase for Chinese New Year.
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 10:25 PM
11:58
John: So Dilu, this story about 过年 and this 年兽, did you hear this when you were really little for the first time?
Dilu: 没有，没有。这个是，这个故事是我读书了以后在书上看到的。但是好像在我小的时候家里人没有跟我说过。可能他们也不知道这个年的故事吧。
John: So you're saying you first heard this story when you were in Elementary school?
Dilu: Maybe high school.
John: Really? So its not a really old story?
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 10:17 PM
Dilu: 原来是这样。
John: 'Oh, so that's why'.
Dilu: 对。
John: 'Oh, that's where it came from'. Something like that.
Dilu: 这个就是过年的故事没有听说过吧。
John: That's the story. We're going to listen one more time, and then we have a few other comments about it.
Dilu: 好的。
10:46 - dialog
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 10:13 PM
10:05
Dilu: 对。还有你的朋友。都是叫拜年。跟大家说＇新年好＇。
John: Got it. Then what is the kid's response?
Dilu: 他说：原来是这样。原来是这样。
John: 原来, two 2nd tones, means 'originally'. So 'originally is like this'. What does that mean?
Dilu: 就是你知道为什么了，之前不知道，然后现在知道了。
John: So you didn't know before and now you know, [and then you say this].
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 10:05 PM
9:29
John: But you can also use 问好 if you want to tell someone "Say hi to so-and-so for me'.
Dilu: 我们可以用一个结构叫：向谁问好。比如说：向你妈妈问好。
John: 'Say hi to your mum ...'
Dilu: 对。
John: '...from me'.
Dilu: 对。向你妈妈问好。
John: So that's pretty useful.
Dilu: 所以以后呢，我们就有这个tradition。除夕要贴红对联，放鞭炮。而且初一的时候要出去拜年。
John: 拜年 - 4th, 2nd - this is a New Year's tradition which is going and visiting relatives?
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 07:57 AM
John: 互相 - 'to each other'.
Dilu: 对。
John: Mutually. 4th tone, 1st tone. And 问好, 'ask good' ?
Dilu: 那因为之前有这个年兽，有者个怪兽，所以第二天大家问"你还好吧？", "你好吗？"
John: Asking if they're OK.
Dilu: 但是现在我们说：问好，就是greet each other，say hi to each other。
John: Say 你好.
Dilu: 对。说＂新年好＂。
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 07:48 AM
John: In this case, the story started on New Year's Eve, so the next day is the first day of the lunar new year.
Dilu: 没有。我们叫初一。初一。就是新年的第一天。
John: CHU 1st tone, YI first tone. 初一. So they came out on the first day of the new year, and the monsters were gone, and what did they do?
Dilu: 人们出去互相问好。人们出去互相问好。
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 07:43 AM
8:04
John: So we see this 被, 4th tone, and you know that the monsters were driven out.
Dilu: 没错。第二天是初一。
John: 第二天 doesn't literally mean the second day.
Dilu: 没有。它说的是the next day。
John: And when we say 第二天, we could be referring to a story in the past or something in the future.
Dilu: 没有。
John: It just means 'the next day'.
Dilu: 对。可以是发生在过去的，也可以是发生在将来的。
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 07:33 AM
7:32
Dilu: 对。而且这个响声是：砰砰啪啪。
John: And that's the onomatopoeia that ... what kind of sound is that? Is that a firecracker noise?
Dilu: 对的。对的。就是很吵的声音。
John: Its really loud.
Dilu: 对。
John: Anyway, in the courtyard he made all kinds of banging noises. How do we say that?
Dilu: 在院子里弄出“砰砰啪啪”的响声。
John: Loud noises. What was the result?
Dilu: 年兽被赶走了。年兽被赶走了。
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 07:26 AM
Dilu: 在院子里弄出“砰砰啪啪”的响声。
John: 弄出. 弄, this word is a kind of 'do', but its vaguer. Often 弄 is used when you don't want to be totally clear how you're doing something.
Dilu: 对。就是你不知道具体要做［深］什么。
John: Specifically what you have to do you don't know. But 弄出, when we see this 出 we know that something was a result, and the result is the sound.
Dilu: 对。弄出响声。弄出响声。
John: 响声, 3rd tone, 1st tone, that means a loud noise.
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 07:17 AM
Dilu: 那还有就是在院子里弄出“砰砰啪啪”的响声。
John: First of all, 院子, this is a place, and this could be a courtyard or some other kind of yard attached to a house.
Dilu: 对。只要是你房子周围的地方然后有那个bars栏起来的都算是院子。
John: So they're fenced in.
Dilu: 对。
John: 院子, that's 4th tone, neutral tone.
Dilu: 是的。第四声和轻声。
John: What are you doing in the 院子 again?
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 06:54 AM
Dilu: 没错。房间或者是屋子里面。
John: 点灯 means to 'light a lamp'. So its old fashioned flame lighting.
Dilu: 对。在以前，大家都是点蜡烛或者是油灯。
John: Candles or oil lamps.
Dilu: 对。
John: In any case, you put all the lights on, so you're lighting up everything in the house. So that's ...
Dilu: 点满灯。点满灯。
John: 满 being 'full' - all of them.
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 06:45 AM
5:34
Dilu: 首先，在门上贴上红纸。
John: Hold on - 'on the door you stick up paper'.
Dilu: 没错。在门上贴红纸。
John: That's what we were talking about before - the 贴对联.
Dilu: 对。就是贴对联。
John: So then what?
Dilu: 然后，房间里点满灯。房间里点满灯。
John: 'In the room', or I guess it means 'in the house'.
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 06:38 AM
John: So he has a way to drive away the 'year beast'.
Dilu: 对。我们这里有一个动词：赶走。两个第三声。
John: Two 3rd tones. It means 'drive away', but it doesn't have to be for monsters or animals, right?
Dilu: 你可以赶走人。
John: If you have a friend who's visiting you and they're staying too long ...
Dilu: 你可以把你的朋友给赶走。
John: Or if you're in a store and they want to close then they're going to ...
Dilu: 赶走客人。对。还有老婆可以把老公赶走。
John: Kick the husband out.
Dilu: 对。
John: So that she can get something done. So what was this 办法 to 赶走年兽?
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 06:03 AM
4:32
John: 大年三十. 'Big year thirty'?
Dilu: 对。我也不知道为什么。
John: That's the name - 大年三十. Its also the last day of the lunar year.
Dilu: 没错。［也就是］说New Year's Eve。有两个名字。一个叫除夕，一个叫大年三十。
John: Anyway they have this beast problem every year on the same day, and some old guy thought of a way to deal with it.
Dilu: 他说他有办法赶走“年兽”。
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 05:55 AM
4:03
John: The last evening of the lunar year.
Dilu: 没错。
John: 除夕. What came before that though?
Dilu: 每到除夕。每到。
John: What is 每到?
Dilu: 就是没一次到了除夕这个时候。
John: So every time it gets to the last day of the lunar year. 除夕 - doesn't that have another name?
Dilu: 中国人会用哪个中国的lunar year，所以我们有的时候也叫：大年三十。
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 05:48 AM
3:32
Dilu: 住在海底。
John: 海底, two 3rd tones, and that means 'the bottom of the ocean' ?
Dilu: 对。是一种［骇异］的动物。
John: Some kind of ocean animal. And then what do they do?
Dilu: 每到除夕就出来吃人。
John: So they come out and eat people. When do they do it?
Dilu: 除夕。
John: 除夕 - 2nd tone, 1st tone. That refers to the evening before New Year's Day.
Dilu: 对。除夕就是新年前面的一天。
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 05:35 AM
3:04
Dilu: A monster. 是一种怪兽。
John: 怪兽 is a monster.
Dilu: 对。或者我们也可以说beast。
John: So it could be a mythical beast, or it could be just some kind of mysterious animal.
Dilu: 反正就是你不知道的一种animal。
John: 怪兽 - two 4th tones.
Dilu: 对。很久很久以前＇年＇是一种怪兽。而且它们住在海底。
John: So 它们 - its not just one. And they live ...
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 05:28 AM
2:31
Dilu: 对。你看到过中国人贴的对联吗？一般性都是贴在门的左面和右面。
John: So there's one strip on the right, and one strip on the left. Its usually red paper, right?
Dilu: 对。一定是红色的。
John: Just now when we said firecrackers - set off firecrackers - what are the tones on that?
Dilu: 放-第四声。然后鞭炮是第一声和第四声。
John: 4-1-4.
Dilu: 对。放鞭炮。
John: Then we get into the whole 年, not talking about a year, but talking about what?
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 05:16 AM
John: So which two things are you talking about?
Dilu: 一个是：放鞭炮。放鞭炮。
John: Set off firecrackers.
Dilu: 对。还有一个就是：贴对联。贴对联。
John: 贴, 1st tone, that means 'to stick' something perhaps to a wall.
Dilu: 对。贴在墙上。
John: And what are we sticking?
Dilu: 对联。对联。
John: 4th tone, 2nd tone. We can call this a rhyming couplet. Its two verses of some kind of poem.
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 05:05 AM
0:31
Dilu: 不是啊。不是啊。今天我们的课文就是要告诉你：什么是年。
John: OK, 今天要讲故事，什么?
Dilu: 对。我们会讲一个故事。
John: Let's listen to this story. Here we go.
0:44 - Dialog
Right-Wingnut
February 09, 2013 at 05:00 AM
John: Hey guys, this is ChinesePod. We have an Intermediate lesson for you today.
Dilu: 大家好，我是Dilu。
John: And I'm John. So today what are we talking about?
Dilu: 今天我们说一下中国人过年。
John: 过年 means 'the New Year' or 'spend the New Year'.
Dilu: 对。就是spend New Year。
John: We've had lessons about this before. What exactly are we talking about?
Dilu: 你知道中国人为什么要过年吗？然后年又是什么意思呢。
John: 年 means 'year'. Done.
Right-Wingnut
December 30, 2013 at 10:13 PMPDF of transcript here.