Dee's Mandarin Tea

这期节目聊聊两个特别容易搞混的中文表达，顺便记住三个词。第一个词，形容词 (xíng róng cí) adjective。中文里说累、忙、饿这些词，都是形容词。我的学生说，我今天一点累，其实是有点累。一点用在名词前面，有点用在形容词前面。比如，有点累，有点忙。第二个词，名词 (míng cí) noun。东西、咖啡、衣服，都是名词。一点经常放在名词前面，比如吃一点东西，喝一点咖啡。第三个词，得体 (dé tǐ) decent。穿和戴怎么分？我的小方法，不穿就不能得体出门的，用穿，比如衣服、鞋子。可以不戴照样出门的，用戴，比如帽子、眼镜。In this episode, I talk about two pairs of words that often trip up learners. First, 一点 and 有点. A student of mine said 我今天一点累, but the natural way is 我今天有点累. Second, 穿 and 戴. English just says wear, but Chinese splits it. If it's something you need to be decent in public, use 穿. If it's something extra like a hat or glasses, use 戴.Want to take one-on-one lessons with me? Find me on italki: https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/4038266?lv=1If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe or leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. See you next time.几个标题供你选。一点累，有点累，穿衣服还是戴衣服外国学生最容易搞混的两组词你今天一点累了吗？帮我取个播客的标题。

Why Your Chinese Sounds Like Translated EnglishEver heard yourself say "我是饿" or "关眼睛" and wondered why it sounds off? Your English brain is sneaking into your Chinese. In this episode, I break down the most common mistakes English speakers make when translating directly from English into Chinese, and what those mistakes teach us about how Chinese really works.Mentioned in this episode:Why adjectives don't need 是 in ChineseThe "close your eyes" mix-up and what it reveals about Chinese verbsHow "if" in English creates confusion in Chinese sentencesWant to take lessons with me? Find me on italki:https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/4038266?lv=1Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, leave a review or share it with someone learning Chinese.

[HSK 4] Why Do Chinese People Ask Such Personal Questions?Three questions that feel rude in the West but are actually a form of care in China — and three magic phrases to answer them.本期关键词：您 (nín) — the polite "you"你猜 (nǐ cāi) — "guess!" Use this when someone asks your age.人生时间表 (rén shēng shí jiān biǎo) — the traditional life timeline. Graduate by 22, married by 30, kids by 32.随缘吧 (suí yuán ba) — "leave it to fate." Use this when someone asks about marriage.隐私 (yǐn sī) — privacy关心 (guān xīn) — care, concern📚 Study Chinese with Dee:Book a trial lesson on italki: https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/4038266?lv=1🎙️ Dee's Mandarin TeaSearch on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Your HSK textbook will teach you how to order food and ask for directions. It won't teach you what to say when your boss makes another empty promise, or when your coworker blames you for something you didn't do, or when you're scrolling your phone under your desk looking very busy and very productive.In this episode, I break down three words Chinese office workers use every single day — and none of them are in any textbook.This one goes out to my student in Toronto, who interrupted her lesson to ask me how to say "bullshit job" in Chinese. She's an accountant. I understood immediately.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━本期关键词：摸鱼 (mō yú) — to slack off while looking busy. Literally "to touch fish." Comes from the idiom 浑水摸鱼 (hún shuǐ mō yú): fishing in troubled waters. Your boss is the murky water, your phone is the fish. 背锅 (bēi guō) — to be wrongly blamed. Literally "to carry a cooking pot on your back." From a dialect expression: if you accidentally get black soot from the bottom of a wok on yourself, you look dirty and can't clear your name. At work, you're carrying the wok. Everyone sees it. You can't put it down.甩锅 (shuǎi guō) — to shift the blame, pass the buck. Literally "to throw the pot." The other half of 背锅. If you're carrying the wok, you want to throw it at someone else. An office survival skill.画饼 (huà bǐng) — empty promises, usually from your boss. Literally "to draw a cake." From the idiom 画饼充饥 (huà bǐng chōng jī): drawing a cake to satisfy your hunger. Your stomach is empty, the cake is just a drawing, you can't eat it. "马上要涨工资了" (you're getting a raise soon) — that's a 画饼. "下个季度肯定给你升职" (you'll definitely get promoted next quarter) — also a 画饼. Chinese young people say 我老板天天画饼，我天天吃饼 — my boss draws a cake every day, I eat cake every day. You stop believing. Five o'clock, you go home.黑话 (hēi huà) — insider slang, words only understood by people inside a certain group.吐槽 (tǔ cáo) — to vent or complain, usually half-jokingly.冤枉 (yuān wang) — to be wrongly accused.承诺 (chéng nuò) — a promise.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎧 往期相关：Ep.17 — 班味、内耗、没福硬享📚 Study Chinese with Dee:Book a trial lesson on italki: https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/4038266?lv=1🎙️ Dee's Mandarin TeaSearch on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

Can watching Chinese TV actually teach you Chinese? I asked this on Reddit last week and woke up to 68 replies from learners all over the world. In this episode I break down what they told me: which shows they actually enjoy (not the ones their teachers recommend), why variety shows might work better than dramas for intermediate learners, and the great subtitle debate that nobody seems to agree on. I also came away with a starter pack of shows my students will be hearing about for the next year.Reddit 推荐的 Starter Pack：都挺好 (All Is Well) — A modern family drama about three adult siblings and their difficult father. Real, messy, and painfully relatable. The everyday dialogue is exactly the kind of Chinese people actually speak.去有风的地方 (Meet Yourself) — A burnt-out Beijing professional moves to a tiny village in Yunnan to heal. Slow, warm, visually beautiful. Think "therapy in the form of rural China." Easy-paced dialogue.三十而已 (Nothing But Thirty) — Three women approaching 30 in Shanghai, dealing with career pressure, relationships, and the gap between the life they imagined and the one they're living. Sharp, modern, and very quotable.隐秘的角落 (The Bad Kids) — A tense crime thriller told through the eyes of three children. Only 12 episodes. Tightly written, no filler. Proof that Chinese dramas don't have to be 40 episodes long.开端 (Reset) — A time-loop thriller set on a bus that's about to explode. Groundhog Day meets a murder mystery. The same conversations keep repeating, which weirdly makes it great for picking up sentence patterns.创造营 2021 (Produce Camp 2021) — A survival show where international contestants compete to debut in a Chinese boy band. You get non-native speakers using basic Chinese, Chinese contestants simplifying their language for them, and a lot of repeated vocabulary about performing, crying, and chasing your dreams.本期词汇：- 字幕 (zìmù) — subtitles- 综艺 (zōngyì) — variety show- 古装剧 (gǔzhuāng jù) — historical/costume drama- 现代剧 (xiàndài jù) — modern drama- 狗血 (gǒuxiě) — literally "dog blood," slang for overly melodramatic / soapy plot twists📚 跟我学中文：Book a trial lesson on italki: https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/4038266?lv=1🎙️ Dee's Mandarin TeaSearch on Apple Podcasts or Spotify