Intermediate - Oil in the Middle East

12:34

John: And remember, now that you have this vocabulary, you can actually go and start conversations with Chinese people, find out what they know about 中东 and what they think.

Dilu: 那美国人也不是很了解，好吧。

John: You can talk to Americans about it. Our listeners [??] Chinese people about it.

Dilu: 好好好。那我们就在ChinesePod.com上见了。

John: 再见。

12:06

John: Iraq and Iran.

Dilu: 还有巴勒斯坦、巴基斯坦。反正就是什么什么坦吧。

John: Honestly this understanding isn't very different from a lot of the average Americans. So no need to be embarrassed for the average Chinese person.

Dilu: 好呢，如果你对中东国家或者是中东地区有一些什么样的问题，或者是有一些什么样的东西可以分享，欢迎你到ChinesePod给我们留言。

11:34

Dilu: 我不敢说 the average people，但是好像我对中东国家就不是很了解。反正在我的脑子里我觉得中东国家就是很有钱，然后有很多很多国家 ... that's it.

John: So lots of rich countries out there in the Middle East, with oil.

Dilu: 还有它门有的地方会打仗。［？］伊拉克和伊朗。我也搞不太清楚。

11:05

John: I think its kind of interesting how in Chinese Pakistan and Palestine can sound so similar.

Dilu: 但是在英文里面听上去也很像了。

John: I guess they're kind of similar, but I never would confuse them but [???No idea when they speak over the top of each other???] in Chinese it sounds much more understandable. Because you have this 'stine' and 'stan' and in Chinese they're the same, in English they're not.

Dilu: 反正就听上去差不多麻。

John: So Dilu, would you say that the average Chinese person knows much about these 中东国家？

Dialog

John: 害 means 'hurt'.

Dilu: 对。或者是 harm。

John: So lots of proper nouns in this lesson. Its a lot to absorb, but go ahead and listen to this one more time before we say a few other things.

Dilu: 好。再听一下对话。

10:13 - Dialog

9:32

John: So it would be great if he had been born there. And what does the girl say?

Dilu: 好什么呀。好什么呀。

John: 'What's so good about that?' 好什么呀。

Dilu: 对。她说这个话其实就是不同意。有什么好的？

John: She doesn't agree. And then she says what?

Dilu: 石油帮了他们，也害了他们。

John: 'Oil helped them, and also hurt them'.

Dilu: 害，第四声。

9:01

John: 卡塔尔。So that's three 3rd tones, and that is Qatar.

Dilu: 对。三个第三声。卡塔尔。

John: What was the comment on all these nations?

Dilu: 个个都很富。个个都很富。

John: 'All very rich'. But what is this 个个？

Dilu: ＇个个＇就是＇每一个＇。每一个国家都很富。

John: So 'each one'. 个个。So 'every one', 个个。

Dilu: 对。这个男的觉得：如果能出生在那里就好了。

8:31

John: You can probably guess that is Kuwait. So the tones are 1-1-4. 科威特。

Dilu: 两个第一声，一个第四声。科威特。然后呢是阿联酋。阿联酋。

John: 1st, 2nd, 2nd. 阿联酋 is the United Arab Emirates, and each character is kind of abbreviating one of those words. So it sounds nothing like the English. 阿联酋。

Dilu: 是的。最后一个是卡塔尔。卡塔尔。

8:05

Dilu: 对。当你要举例子的时候，我们常常会用这个结构。什么，什么什么什么啊，什么什么啊，什么什么啊，什么什么啊。

John: 什么 A 啊，B 啊，C 啊 ...

Dilu: 对对对。

John: OK. So in this case the names are ...

Dilu: ［？］好多国家。第一的是沙特。沙特。

John: 1st, 4th. That is Saudi Arabia.

Dilu: 第二个是科威特。科威特。

John: So they're saying the countries with the 石油，超有钱。So 'super rich'.

Dilu: 就是非常有钱。有钱的另外一种说法就是：富。

John: So you can also say 富，4th tone, meaning 'rich'.

Dilu: 可以说：这些国家超富。

John: Super rich. So then we have another list of Middle Eastern countries. How does it go?

Dilu: 什么沙特啊，科威特啊，阿联酋啊，卡塔尔啊，个个都很富。

John: Wow. So we have lots of 啊s in there in this list. Every time you say one, you add an 啊, because you're thinking of them as you go along.

Dilu: 是的。

John: That sentence is a bit hard for an Intermediate. If you can understand it, you're doing fine.

Dilu: 那再听一边：别看中东地方小，国家倒挺多的。

John: Then we mention 石油，two 2nd tones, that means 'petroleum'.

Dilu: 对。两个第二声。石油。

John: So the word for 'gasoline' was ...

Dilu: 汽油。

John: And the word for 'oil' or 'petroleum' is ...

Dilu: 石油。

John: 'Rock oil'. 石油。

Dilu: Rock oil.

6:29

John: So 地方小 means 'the place is small', its not a large area.

Dilu: 对。

John: So this 别看 kind of means 'although'. Although its a pretty small place ...

Dilu: 对。这个就是一方面，虽然地方小。

John: Although its a small place, there are actually quite a few countries there. How do we say that?

Dilu: 国家倒挺多的。国家倒挺多的。

John: So this 倒 prefaces something that's unexpected. So there are actually a lot of countries there, even though its a small space.

John: 1st, 1st, 4th. So Iran - 伊朗, and Iraq - 伊拉克。

Dilu: 对。这两个都有＇伊＇，这个字。

John: They both start with 'I' in English too, not too bad. And then we have this comment about there being so many countries in the region. How did that go?

Dilu: 别看中东地方小，国家倒挺多的。

John: 别看，'don't look at'?

Dilu: 它的意思就是：＇虽然＇中东地方小。

5:32

John: 分不清楚。It's like keep them straight??? Confuse them.

Dilu: 对。后面还有一个分不清。分不清。

John: Is that the same?

Dilu: 对。分不清楚和分不清是一样的意思。

John: And what are the two other country names that this person confuses?

Dilu: 一个是伊朗，一个是伊拉克。

John: 伊朗 - 1st tone, 3rd tone.

Dilu: 对。

John: And the other one is ...

Dilu: 伊拉克。伊拉克。

4:59

John: So anyway, that person made the mistake confusing 巴基斯坦 and 巴勒斯坦。Then there was a comment about geography - what was it?

Dilu: 你有没有学过地理啊？有没有学过地理？

John: 'Have you studied Geography'. And the word for Geography is ...

Dilu: 地理。4th and 3rd. 地理。

John: But in this person's defence, these two names are actually quite easy to confuse in Chinese.

Dilu: 对。这两个都是叫斯坦的，我老是分不清楚。

4:32

John: So it means 'often', 'all the time'.

Dilu: 对。经常打仗。

John: Can it sometimes mean 'all day'? Like 'he was watching TV all day long until night'.

Dilu: 他今天一天到晚看电视啊。也可以。但这个词更多［地］会用做＇经常＇。

John: So its more often used to mean 'all the time'.

Dilu: 是的。你怎么一天到晚打游戏啊，John?

John: So 'very often'. [????], very often.

Dilu: ［？？］我知道。

Dilu: ［？］只有一个字是不一样的。

John: So Israel is ...

Dilu: 以色列。以色列。

John: And Palestine is ...

Dilu: 巴勒斯坦。巴勒斯坦。

John: And the comment about them going to war all the time was ...

Dilu: 这两个国家怎么一天到晚打仗啊？一天到晚打仗。

John: So 'one day until night'. That means 'all day long'?

Dilu: 我们经常会用这个词来形容：经常发生的事情。

Dilu: 还有一个是巴基斯坦。巴基斯坦。

John: 巴基斯坦。1st-1st-1st-3rd.

Dilu: 对。

John: And this is the one that is actually a mistake. 巴基斯坦 is Pakistan, but what they meant to say was ...

Dilu: 是巴勒斯坦。巴勒斯坦。

John: 巴勒斯坦。1-4-1-3. And that's Palestine.

2:59

John: 打仗 - 3rd tone, 4th tone. That means to 'go to war'.

Dilu: 对。就是打起来了。可能是几个国家或者是两个国家。

John: As an American living in China for over 10 years, I've heard this phrase quite a few times from the Chinese - 美国又打仗了。

Dilu: 是的。美国事情很多。

John: But continuing. Then we hear two country names.

Dilu: 对。第一个是以色列。以色列。

John: 以色列。3rd-4th-4th. That's Israel.

2:32

John: So its got to be because there's fighting in the Middle East again. How does he refer to the Middle East?

Dilu: 中东。但是这里是：中东地区。中东地区。

John: 地区 is just a 'region'.

Dilu: 是的。或者是 area。

John: 地区 - 4th tone, 1st tone. 中东地区 means 'the Middle East region'.

Dilu: 没错。中东地区又打仗了。又打仗了。

2:03

Dilu: 涨价。涨价。

John: Literally 'rise price'. If you want to say 'the price of X has risen', then you say X涨价了。

Dilu: 是的。什么什么涨价了。

John: The tones for that?

Dilu: 第三声和第四声。涨价。

John: Then the guy says what?

Dilu: 肯定是中东地区又打仗了。肯定是中东地区又打仗了。

1:41

John: So in the first line we started talking about gasoline.

Dilu: 这个女孩子说：汽油又涨价了。汽油又涨价了。

John: So the tones of 汽油 ...

Dilu: 第四声和第二声。汽油。汽油。

John: So the price of gas has risen again. How do we say 'the price has risen'?

Dialog

0:32

Dilu: 没错。今天的对话里面，有很多中东国家的名称。还会讲到汽油啊，什么的。反正就是单词会很多。

John: 汽油 means 'gasoline'.

Dilu: 是的。

John: Let's listen to the dialog now.

0:49 - Dialog

John: Hi guys, this is an Intermediate lesson on Chinese Pod. My name is John.

Dilu: 你好，我是 Dilu。

John: And today we have a lesson related to the Middle East. We haven't really done much on the Middle East before. How do you say Middle East in Chinese?

Dilu: 中东。中东。非常直接的 translation。

John: Very literal. Middle East. And this lesson's a bit harder than the average Intermediate because we go over quite a few country names, we talk a little bit about oil. Not the easiest Intermediate, but for people who want to talk about the Middle East, this is the lesson for you.