Intermediate - Donation Dilemma
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 06:09 AM posted in Transcripts with TalLesson here.
Right-Wingnut
June 07, 2013 at 08:24 AM
12:33
John: Yeah, disgusting.
Vera: 所以现在大家就想去找一些别的慈善机构。
John: So people don't 信任。
Vera: 不信任。
John: So that's the reality. Again if you don't know about these scandals, you can look them up online. Nowadays with the internet, at least these crimes are coming to light. Even if justice is maybe not served all the way. Anyway people are trying to find ways to help people. So if you have any questions or comments, come to ChinesePod.com and we can help you.
Vera: 那我们今天就到这里了。再见。
John: 再见。
Right-Wingnut
June 07, 2013 at 08:16 AM
12:09
Vera: 对。因为这个好像很普遍。很多人都是这样的。就是我们公司在温泉的时候，我们也捐钱了。那个时候是捐给红十字会。
John: Really, you gave to the Red Cross, directly.
Vera: 对，对。
John: Now you regret it?
Vera: 对啊，然后你看到那个新闻，就会［？］我自己也没有钱，为什么我要给钱，就是送给他们，送美女。
Right-Wingnut
June 07, 2013 at 08:06 AM
11:40
John: So Vera, this dialog actually touches on some pretty serious issues in China. I remember talking to a young Chinese person after the 温泉 earthquake, and he was telling me that he actually donated a lot of his own money. This guy is not rich. Then he found out later how the officials in the region just embezzled it all, and it didn't go to helping the people. And he told me, I remember this very clearly, he told me "I'm never going to donate again". That's just terrible.
Right-Wingnut
June 07, 2013 at 07:59 AM
10:31
Vera: ［就］它的名字。
John: One Foundation. 壹基金。基金 is a very useful word if you ever want to study Finance, Economics, that kind of stuff. So it looks like they have an idea for how to give their donations. That's the end of the dialog, let's listen one more time.
10:46 - Dialog
Right-Wingnut
June 01, 2013 at 07:31 AM
10:02
John: Its official, its above board, but its not so connected to the government. You don't have to give 贪官 money to make things happen.
Vera: 对。比如呢，李连杰的“壹基金”。
John: 李连杰, that's Jet Li, the martial arts guy. So his fund is called ...
Vera: 壹基金。
John: 基金 is a fund. A foundation.
Vera: 对。
John: 基金, two 1st tones.
Vera: 对。
John: He calls it 'one fund'.
Right-Wingnut
June 01, 2013 at 06:58 AM
9:29
Vera: 买房买车送美女。
John: Buy homes, buy cars, and give to pretty women. But they still really want to give money, they want to help these people. So what do they say?
Vera: 现在大家比较信任民间的慈善机构。
John: Nowadays people comparatively trust, rather trust, these other kinds of charitable organisations. What are they called?
Vera: 民间的。
John: 民间的。Literally 'among the people'. Its kind of like 'the people'. Anyway, its non-governmental.
Vera: 对。跟官方没有关系。
Right-Wingnut
June 01, 2013 at 06:47 AM
9:01
John: 说不定。What does that mean?
Vera: 这个就是＇可能＇。
John: 'Maybe'.
Vera: 对。
John: So maybe what?
Vera: 我们捐的钱都被他们拿去。
John: So the money we donated was taken away by them. So we have the 被 sentence pattern here.
Vera: 对。Passive.
John: 被他们拿去。The 他们 refers to the ...
Vera: 贪官们。
John: So it was taken away by them, and then they used it to do what?
Right-Wingnut
June 01, 2013 at 06:41 AM
8:59
John: 4th tone, 2nd tone. This basically means 'use'. It can also mean 'application' or 'intended purpose'. Its a little more formal than just 用。
Vera: 对。用途。
John: And 用途 is a noun.
Vera: 是的。名词。
John: So the government does not make public the use of the donations, the funds, so ...
Vera: 说不定我们捐的钱都被他们拿去买房买车送美女了。
John: The little phrase in the very beginning is ...
Vera: 说不定。
Right-Wingnut
June 01, 2013 at 06:36 AM
8:06
Vera: 因为他们不公开捐款用途。
John: So we know 捐款, but the verb before that is ...
Vera: 公开。
John: So 公, 1st tone, meaning 'public', and 开 meaning 'open'.
Vera: Open，对。
John: So that means 'make public'.
Vera: 对。公开。
John: So they don't make public the donation ...
Vera: 用途。
Right-Wingnut
June 01, 2013 at 06:31 AM
7:31
Vera: 对。
John: But in this case when they talk about 官方的, they're talking about 'related to the government'.
Vera: 政府的。
John: The government is involved. So its an official what?
Vera: 慈善机构。
John: 慈善， 2nd tone-4th tone, refers to 'charity'. And the next word is ...
Vera: 机构。
John: 1st tone, 4th tone. That means 'an organisation'. So 'charitable organisation' is ...
Vera: 慈善机构。
John: So this person is echoing a lot of the public sentiment. People do not trust these official charities any more.
Right-Wingnut
June 01, 2013 at 06:24 AM
Vera: 信任。
John: 信任, two 4th tones. So start again.
Vera: 现在大家都不信任这些官方的慈善机构了。
John: So they don't trust these 官方的。 So what is 官方？
Vera: '官方的'是指政府的或者是这种 official 的。
John: This is a little confusing because sometimes it just means 'government', but occasionally it means 'official'. So sometimes you'll see 官方网站。 That means 'official website' for a company or an organisation.
Right-Wingnut
June 01, 2013 at 06:18 AM
Vera: 所以你好好学。
John: Talking about 贪官。So this 贪官, does that refer to the government or people in organisations like the Red Cross, or all of them, or ...
Vera: 这里一定是 government official。
John: 贪官 is government official。
Vera: 对。因为官嘛。
John: OK. 官 refers to government. And then what do they say?
Vera: 现在大家都不信任这些官方的慈善机构了。
John: Some hard words in here. So they don't trust - how do we say 'trust'?
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 08:19 AM
John: So 'take the money and donate it to'. So we have this 把 structure.
Vera: 对。
John: Take something and do something with it. Take the money and donate it to who?
Vera: 贪官们。
John: The 们 just makes it plural, kind of in a cutesy way.
Vera: 对。
John: But the word here, the noun is ...
Vera: 贪官。
John: And literally this means 'corrupt official'.
Vera: 对啊。
John: That's exactly what it is.
Vera: 是就是这个。
John: Two 1st tones. And the depressing thing is, this word is very common in modern Chinese society.
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 08:13 AM
5:35
Vera: 对。
John: 郭美美 is a name that you should know related to that scandal. We're not going to go too far into it now, but you can look it up. So the other person agrees - can't give to the red cross.
Vera: 是啊。谁愿意把钱捐给那些贪官们？
John: So let's look at this sentence. Who is willing ... - how do we say 'willing'?
Vera: 愿意。
John: 愿意, two 4th tones. So 'who is willing to ...'
Vera: 把钱捐给。
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 08:02 AM
4:59
John: 反正，that means 'anyway', right?
Vera: 在这里好像比较［像］regardless。
John: 'Anyway', 'regardless'. 反正, what are the tones here?
Vera: 反正。第三声，第四声。
John: 'Regardless, can't do ...' what?
Vera: 捐到红十字会。
John: Literally this is Red Cross Society. So this is the Red Cross.
Vera: 对。
John: But anyway, we can't donate to the Red Cross.
Vera: 是的。
John: If you don't know why they're saying this, then you haven't been following current events in China. There have been some scandals with the Red Cross.
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 07:56 AM
4:31
John: This is the one we talked about before. It means to donate money.
Vera: 对的。
John: So 给什么人捐款。
Vera: 是。
John: In this case, give an area donations.
Vera: 对。给四川捐款。
John: Then they start talking about where to donate to. What do they say?
Vera: 捐到哪里呢？
John: So you can say 捐到。 Is that to a place or to an organisation?
Vera: 都可以。
John: Then the answer is ...
Vera: 反正不能捐到红十字会。
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 07:51 AM
4:01
Vera: 你不可以。这个人呢经常是 a group of people。
John: Just like in this case 不少人受灾。
Vera: 是的。
John: Got it. So then what happens?
Vera: 我们给灾区捐款吧？
John: So 'we'll give the disaster area'?
Vera: 受灾地区。
John: And the [?] is ...
Vera: 灾区。
John: 灾区。The region affected by the disaster. Give them what?
Vera: 捐款。捐款。
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 07:45 AM
3:33
Vera: 受伤。
John: The 受 - its often to suffer something bad. In this case 灾, 1st tone, refers to a disaster.
Vera: 对的。
John: And we're going to see it in other words as well. Before we move on though, 受灾 - to suffer a disaster, how do we use this?
Vera: 这个呢可以是人，或者是一个地区受灾。
John: So you can say 四川受灾了。
Vera: 对的。这是一个地方。
John: Could I say 'I went to 四川 and I 受灾了。＇？
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 06:38 AM
Vera: 对的。所以你可以说：真悲剧，或者：很悲剧。
John: 'Really tragic'. And the recent earthquake wasn't quite as bad as the earlier one, but ...
Vera: 也有不少人受灾。
John: So 'not few people have also 受灾'. What is this?
Vera: 受呢就是suffer，灾呢就是一个disaster。
John: To 'suffer disaster'. 受灾。
Vera: 对。
John: 4th tone, 1st tone. This 受 as a 4th tone word, you might have learned in some other phrases - how do you say 'to get hurt'?
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 06:31 AM
2:32
John: 悲剧, 1st tone-4th tone. If you look this up, you'll find the word 'tragedy', in the sense of Greek tragedy.
Vera: 是个名词。
John: Its a noun. But 真悲剧，this way they use 真 makes it seem like an adjective.
Vera: 对。它是一个名词，但是现在呢很多人都会用它做一个形容词。
John: So it used to just be a noun, but its been converted into an adjective, largely by people on the internet.
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 06:25 AM
2:10
John: So right in the beginning we have 又地震了。So there has been another earthquake.
Vera: 对。因为四川经常有地震。
John: So this 又地震了, this 地震 is like a verb.
Vera: 对。地震了。就是因为＇了＇就发生改变。
John: And what's the next line?
Vera: 是啊。四川真悲剧。
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 06:18 AM
0:40
Vera: 捐款。捐款。
John: 1st tone, 3rd tone.
Vera: 对。
John: Literally that means 'donate money'. The 款 part means 'money'.
Vera: 是的。
John: Could we say 捐钱？
Vera: 也可以呀。
John: So we're going to hear those words in the dialog. It is going to get a little bit complicated, because we're talking about organisations, managing funds. So this isn't the easiest Intermediate dialog in the world, but this is being talked about a lot in Chinese society. So if you want to engage with your friends on this topic, this is the lesson for you.
Right-Wingnut
May 31, 2013 at 06:12 AM
Vera: 大家好。欢迎来到今天ChinesePod的中级课。我是Vera。
John: Hey guys, I'm John. This is an Intermediate lesson. Today we have a lesson related to some recent events, so we have a key word.
Vera: 地震。
John: 地震, two 4th tones, that means 'earthquake'. There have been several big earthquakes in 四川 lately, and this caused a lot of Chinese people and people abroad to really want to help the victims. And so there's this whole discussion of donations and organisations controlling the donations that are given to them. And that's what we are going to touch on today. So first we'd like to know the word for 'to donate'.
Right-Wingnut
December 29, 2013 at 10:29 PMPDF of transcript here.