Crash Course in Intermediate+ Chinese

[Hobbes828]

So... I know this kind of thread has been done before, but hopefully not exactly like this (if so, well, just tell me I guess)...

Basically I got a new job for a big-ish real estate and investment company as an assistant to upper management / translator. Considering that I would estimate my HSK level to be around 6(?), this may seem a bit absurd to you, but I promise it is more unbelievable to me. The only good news is that I think I have about a month before the job starts (well, it's better than nothing).

I can keep my days pretty much free from morning until dinner time for the next month, so basically I want to advance my Chinese as much as possible in that time period. Basically I would love suggestions on resources, sample schedule, etc. perhaps with some emphasis on business chinese and maybe getting into specific translation stuff.

For reference, I live in China (but will be back in the States for 2 of those weeks, so those resources are also available), and my schedule for now at best includes about an hour+ per day of Skritter, an hour or so of reading (short stories, detective conan), and maybe some textbook work on Taiwan Today or something like that. I was thinking push through that more quickly and then maybe move to 'All Things Considered' which my friend gave me if it is not too advanced.

Any and all help is appreciated

[zhouhaochen]

hey,

If you do not have much time and want to make a good impression at the beginning, I would move from studying general mandarin (you will not be able to make a huge jump in that area in one month only, whatever you do) and go specifically into the area you will work in:

First, I would suggest youcompile a list of 专业词 in real estate you will need and learn those, as that will be your main problem at the beginning, loads of words that you do not use in every day life and probably havent learned at school.

Second, I would suggest to get a private tutor, 2h (4h if you are brave) a day who knows about real estate (a good teacher who can read him/herself into the subject or if you want to save some money for example an architecture student) and talk about real estate, go through your companies webpage (loads of 专业词 there) and brochures. If the tutor is good he/she will be able to create some dialogues for you.

Third, go to the next newspaper stand and I buy whichever real estate related magazine there is (there will be plenty) and read it with your dictionary.

Forth, when you started your job, keep expanding and reviewing your专业词list until you feel comfortable.

The vocabulary and phrases used in a specific industry are often surprisingly few and once you get those in, it is not that hard anymore.

When I was first transferred to my companies Beijing (Chinese only) office and spent 8 hours speaking only Mandarin about real business stuff (not just about how good the gongbaojiding was and what the weather will be like tomorrow) I had such a headache in the evening, I wasnt able to speak in any language anymore to anybody and had to stare at the ceiling from my couch for 6 hours before recovering enough to be able to have a basic conversation with my flat mate again (in English).

But if you really speak Chinese there every day, you will learn very fast, best thing you can do!

[HashiriKata]

Considering that I would estimate my HSK level to be around 6(?), this may seem a bit absurd to you, but I promise it is more unbelievable to me.

But how did you manage to convince them to give you the job? Please tell us the secrets!

I was going to offer some advice but as I now see zhouhaochen's post, which is similar to what I would say, so there's no need for me to repeat. The other thing I'd add is just do what you can, keep it steady and don't get panicked. All'll be settled sooner than you'd think.

[Hobbes828]

Thanks for the quick responses and advice. I had thought of the website thing (nice because of popup dictionaries and such), but real estate magazines is a great one and you are probably right about the tutor though I'm not sure if i can find one on such short notice with such expertise.

I also took a look at the translation as career thread, and it had some good advice but mostly it just scared me more :-)

As for how I got the job, your guess is as good as mine. Basically a friend recommended I go talk to them so I did. I went there, they handed me a Chinese application thing of which I could understand about a fourth, filled out my name, height, weight, education, and ignored the "why do you want to work here and what skills do you have to contribute" short answer questions (my writing is terrible). After that, I was 99.9% sure that when HR lady said, "we'll contact you if we blah blah" that there would be no such contact. One day and a meeting with VP guy that i'll be working with later, seems like I have the job. I'm going to say some combination of them being insanely desperate and maybe not willing to pay someone who is really qualified.

Like zhouhaochen said, if this still happens I assume it will be extremely taxing for at least a good while, and I definitely hope that the part about my mandarin improving quickly is also true

[zhouhaochen]

So, will you tell us where to buy cheap flats once you started?

For the tutor, maybe try one of the private lanuage schools, they might be able to offer you somebody on short notice.

[roddy]

Might be worth having a look at industry websites - there's bound to be something, just stick a description of whatever it is the company actually does into Google and see what pops up. 房地产投资 throws up land163.com, etc, etc. There's one (probably more than one) for every sector imaginable - had reason to look at cnyouzhi.com earlier in the week. Didn't bookmark it.

Anyway, read up on there and you'll likely get plenty of useful vocab, plus maybe even some bluffing material ('what's that you say? The new plot down on the south fourth ring road? Yes, I heard about that.') Some kind of introductory Chinese textbook like this, or any of these will likely come in handy too - they're more designed for Chinese people working in English, but you can make do.

Let us know how you get on.

[Mouseneb]

Congratulations!

[Hobbes828]

Well, though the HR rep implied I would start after my break, my new boss was having none of that, so I will in the office next Monday... so much for a month to improve my Chinese. At least I know how to say real estate and investment now

The worst part is that I found out that I have to work 6 days/week, that probably won't help the headache-on-couch syndrome that zhouhaochen described...

But anyway, I'll update this thread again next week after I start with my impressions and probably some whining Thanks for the encouragement.

[Hobbes828]

Just a little update -

The very first day I was thrown into a meeting with a bunch of Mandarin and Cantonese going on between our company and a design firm that was presenting its layouts for a project... that and the stress definitely made it the most headache-inducing and scary day

Since then it hasn't been too bad, most people still just say "wow you can speak mandarin" to me at lunch and compliment me on my chopstick skills, I get to overhear a lot and have been doing mostly reading and re-translating of their material... after tomorrow I'll be home for a couple weeks for Christmas which is nice.

One thing that irks me though... the word "Harmonious," it's use in every publication ever, and how I can almost never find a good way to translate into English that sounds natural, ie.

"What do you mean a 'harmonious neighborhood starting office' is not a good name?"

The pain.....

[HashiriKata]

Good update, Hobbes828. Sounds good news. You deserve a 3 weeks break now!

[zhouhaochen]

hehe, well done. Your Chinese will be amazing in no time.

Ah...harmonious. Everything has to be of course. I tend to translate it very vaguely or leave it completely away, as in Chinese it is often mainly used to make the name/statement sound nice and agreeable and doesnt have anything to do with the real meaning. In other languages however, it usually makes it sound weird and artificial. So I am rather liberal with leaving it away/changing it.

But you might need to spend some time explaining this to your boss if he doesnt speak English...