Lesson 137 In the Office (1)

Cam: It’s time to perfect Chinese your way in only five minutes a day – welcome to Chinese Studio on CRI.  Wo shi Cam.
YJ:  And wo shi Yajie.  Cam, you can be really disorganized sometimes.
Cam:  I know… I need to start putting things in filing cabinets and keeping track of my appointments.  And I might get some help with that this week on Chinese Studio.
YJ:  Right. We are going to look at work, and staying organized.
Cam:  Let’s Check Key Words of the Day.

Key Words of the Day
office.办公室。(ban4gong1shi4) computer. 电脑。(dian4nao3) desk. 办公桌(ban4gong1zhuo1)。pen笔 (bi3). pencil. 铅笔(qian1bi3)。paper. 纸 (zhi3) My computer isn’t working. 我的电脑坏了。(wo3 de dian4nao3 huai4 le.) All in today’s Chinese Studio.

Cam: The first word I want to learn is how to say office in Chinese.
YJ: Ok. It’s办公室。(ban4gong1shi4)
Cam: 办公室。(ban4gong1shi4)
YJ: 办公(ban4gong1) means to work
Cam: 办公(ban4gong1)
YJ: 办公室。(ban4gong1shi4), office.
Cam: 办公室。(ban4gong1shi4)
YJ: Now let’s get to the appliances in 办公室。(ban4gong1shi4). I have to say the most commonly used one is computer. In Chinese you can say电脑。(dian4nao3)
Cam: 电脑。(dian4nao3),
YJ: which literally means “electronic brain”. 电脑。(dian4nao3)
Cam: that’s interesting to know. 电脑。(dian4nao3) Yajie, how do the Chinese say desk? 
YJ: It’s 办公桌(ban4gong1zhuo1)。
Cam: 办公桌(ban4gong1zhuo1)。
YJ: 桌(zhuo1) alone means desk. But since here we are talking about the office, so we put 办公(ban4gong1) in front. 办公桌(ban4gong1zhuo1)。
Cam: I see. 办公桌(ban4gong1zhuo1), desk.

Conversation1:
（1） A：这是我的办公室。
B：嗯, 挺不错的！
（2） A：电脑放哪？
B：就放在那张办公桌上吧。
（3） A：你的手提电脑在哪呢？
B：哎呀，我忘在办公室了。

Cam: Sometimes I can’t find my pen, and need to borrow one from my fellow colleagues. Could you please tell me how to say that in Chinese?
YJ: you can just say 笔 (bi3), the third tone, it’s also a generic name.   
Cam: That’s easy, 笔 (bi3). Then what if I need to borrow a pencil?
YJ: it’s 铅笔(qian1bi3), 铅 （qian1）means lead in Chinese. I guess because it used to be made of lead.
Cam: could be. 铅笔(qian1bi3), pencil. And also I need to borrow some “paper”…hehe?
YJ: Cam, it’s 纸 (zhi3), z-h-i, the third tone.
Cam: 纸 (zhi3). Easy.

Conversation2:
(1) A: 你好，能借一支铅笔和一张纸吗？
B: 没问题。给你。
A：谢谢。

Cam: Yajie, unfortunately my computer isn’t working. And I need help from the technical guys. But first I need to tell them that in Chinese.
YJ: ok, you can say我的电脑坏了。(wo3 de dian4nao3 huai4 le.)
Cam: 我的电脑坏了。(wo3 de dian4nao3 huai4 le.)
YJ: 我的(wo3 de), my.
Cam: 我的(wo3 de
YJ: 电脑(dian4nao3), as we mentioned just now, it means computer.
Cam: 电脑(dian4nao3), “electronic brain”, I remember.
YJ: hehe, 坏了(huai4 le) here it means the machine can’t work.
Cam: 坏了(huai4 le)
YJ: 我的电脑坏了。(wo3 de dian4nao3 huai4 le.)
Cam: 我的电脑坏了。(wo3 de dian4nao3 huai4 le.) My computer isn’t working.

Conversation3:
（1）A: 我的电脑坏了。能帮我修一下吗？
B: 没问题。

Cam:  Well Yajie, this was a good starter lesson.  I’m looking forward to learning more about working in an office.
YJ: Good. And we have our lucky listener for this week, he is…
Cam: Mr. Jo?o Mc Loures from Brazil! Congrats!
YJ: Congratulations, Mr. Mc Loures! You are going to have a special prize from us.