Lesson 14: Occupation
Knowing the right occupation helps one to shape a conversation. This lesson will teach you some basic Chinese dialogs on finding out someone's occupation.
Vocabulary:
| Chinese Character | Pinyin | Pronunciation | English Translation | |
| 好久不见 | hǎo jǐu bú jiàn | a real long time no see | ||
| 好久 | hǎo jǐu | a real long time | ||
| 久 | jǐu | long time | ||
| 哪儿 | nǎer | where | ||
| 哪 | nǎ | which, where, how | ||
| 工作 | gōng zuò | work, profession, job | ||
| 工 | gōng | labor, work; worker, laborer | ||
| 作 | zuò | make; write; act, perform, work | ||
| 一名 | yì míng | a particular (profession) | ||
| 名 | míng | name, rank, title, position | ||
| 一位 | yí wèi | a particular (person/profession) | ||
| 位 | wèi | position, post; rank, status; seat | ||
| 律师 | lǜ shī | lawyer | ||
| 律 | lǜ | statute, principle, regulation | ||
| 师 | shī | teacher, master, specialist | ||
| 哪里 | nǎ lǐ | where | ||
| 里 | lǐ | unit of distance; village; lane | ||
| 学校 | xué xiào | school | ||
| 校 | xiào | school; military field officer | ||
| 老师 | lǎo shī | teacher, instructor | ||
| 老 | lǎo | teacher, master, specialist | ||
| 听说 | tīng shuō | be told; hear; hear of | ||
| 听 | tīng | hear; obey, comply | ||
| 说 | shuō | speak, say, talk; | ||
| 医生 | yī shēng | doctor | ||
| 医 | yī | cure, heal; doctor, medical | ||
| 生 | shēng | life, living, lifetime; birth | ||
| 护士 | hù shì | nurse | ||
| 护 | hù | protect, guard, defend, shelter | ||
| 士 | shì | scholar, gentleman; soldier | ||
Tips:
- Chinese dialogs are often less straight forward due to the culture influence. For example, it is quite rude to ask someone "what do you do for living?" Instead, Chinese people say, "where do you work" (e.g. first sentence in the following dialog) The other party may answer exactly as where does he/she work. Or he/she may simply tells the occupation or employment.
Dialog:
Click to hear the above dialog.
English Translation:
Wang Xiaoming, long time no see! Where are you working now?
I am a lawyer now. How about you?
I am working in a school, I am a teacher.
I heard your wife is a doctor?
No, she is a nurse.
Chinese Calligraphy:
老 同 学 久 哪 名 律 师 里 班 校 师 爱 护 士 位 医 生
Questions and Comments
