Lesson 054 Asking about Jobs

Cam: Da Jia Hao. Wo shi Cam. Nice to have you again on Chinese Studio on China Radio International.
Yajie: and我是Yajie.Today we’ll learn how to ask about jobs. In fact there are quite a number of ways. But we’ll focus on one way, using the phrase 在哪儿.
Cam: Remember 在哪儿(zai4 nar3) literally means "at wher". We talked about how to use it when asking wher one lives.  But today, we tell you how to ask wher one works.  

Key Words of the Day
你在哪儿工作？wher do you work? 你爸爸在哪儿工作 wher does your father work? 工作 to work. 媒体，media. 银行, bank;  外企, foreign company.  All in today’s Chinese Studio.

Yajie: 你在哪儿工作？ wher do you work? 工作, job, or as a verb, to work.
Cam: 工作, g-ong,. z-u-o,
Yajie: 在哪儿zai nar means at wher, which we learned previously. 你在哪儿工作（ni3 zai4 nar3 gong1 zuo4）？Word for word, You-at wher- work?
Cam: Ni3 zai4 nar3 gong1 zuo4? Yajie, how do I say "I work at China Radio International"?
Yajie: 我在中国国际广播电台工作。中国, China. 国际, International. 广播电台,radio.
Cam: Got it. 我在中国国际广播电台工作(wo3 zai 4 zhong1 guo2 guo2 ji4 guang3 bo1 dian4 tai1 gong1 zuo4) I work at China Radio International.

Conversation1: 

Yajie: Cam, it’s very popular in China to work for media like radio and television.
Cam: Really? I’m lucky. Yajie, can you tell me how to say media in Chinese?
Yajie: It’s 媒体. 媒, m-ei, the second tone. and 体, t-i, the third tone. 
Cam: 媒体 (mei2 ti3) means media. So I can also explain my job as我在媒体工作(wo3 zai4 mei2 ti3 gong1 zuo4)。I’m working for the media.

Conversation2:

Cam: Yajie, I heard a familiar word in the conversation. 银行, bank.
Yajie: Right. 银行, bank.
Cam: Yajie, 你爸爸在哪儿工作 (ni3 ba4 ba zai4 nar3 gong1 zuo4)？Literally, wher does your father work?
Yajie: 他在银行工作。He works at a bank. It’s also ok if the subject ‘he’ is omitted in Chinese.

Conversation3: 

Yajie: 外企, foreign enterprise, or foreign company. 外企 is short for外国企业. 外国, foreign country. 企业, enterprise. 外企. 外, w-ai, the fourth tone,企, q-i, the third tone. Together外企.
Cam: Got it. So with the subject omitted, 在外企工作 (zai4 wai4 qi3 gong1 zuo4) actually means "He works at a foreign company".  
Yajie: Right. Would you like to say it again? 他在外企工作。Or 在外企工作。
Cam: Ta1 zai4 wai4 qi3 gong1 zuo4. In short, zai4 wai4 qi3 gong1 zuo4.
Yajie: Excellent.

Conversation4:

Key Words Reminder:
Today we learned: 你在哪儿工作？wher do you work? 你爸爸在哪儿工作 wher does your father work? 工作 to work. 媒体，media. 银行, bank; and 外企, foreign company.