In the second lesson, we taught “How to write business emails in Chinese http://www.meetup.com/Business-Chinese-NYC/events/62539102/. And you can also find the guiding material here:
How to write business emails in Chinese

We are going to continue this Practical Business Chinese Free Lesson Series such as “How to write a cover letter”,”How to promote your service/products” etc. Please feel free to let us know your thoughts or feedback.

Besides this, we conduct “Business Topic Discussions” and “Business Chinese Biweekly for Beginners”. We look forward to meeting you at our lessons. Join and check:http://www.meetup.com/Business-Chinese-NYC/

As the following current business magazines show, especially Japanese businessmen are commonly expected to speak good English and/or Chinese nowadays.

In response to the trend, we came up with an idea of designing a Chinese and English bilingual learning course for Japanese speakers. As a result, it was quite well accepted. We explained some similarities and differences between English and Chinese (Mandarin) and showed the synergistic effect of learning the two languages at the same time.In other words, it is more efficient to learn Chinese by English. For instance, the “r” pronunciation, which is often pointed out as a Japanese weak point, similarly exist in both English and Chinese, as row – 肉(ròu), read -日(rì). One can practice the sound for two or more languages and do not need to do it language by language. Also, food – 父(fù),shoe – 书(shū),choose – 出(chū) are similar examples to brush up English and Chinese together. As for grammar, we might feel happy for that English and Chinese have the same SVO order. We also need to know the different points, such as English is inflectional while Chinese is not inflectional and just uses certain particles to express aspect, tense, etc., e.g.她在学中文 – She is studying Chinese. What is more, there are plenty of Chinese learning materials (text, audio or video) in English to make use of.

All in all, Japanese speakers can certainly try to learn Chinese via English instead of via Japanese so that they would know Chinese and English better and master the two languages more efficiently.

Here’s the slide we used during Saturday’s meeting:
20120114_Chinese_2011_10_big_events

The topics we covered are as follows:

- Self introduction
- China 2011 10 big events from Sina weibo
- Steve Job’s death and the reaction of Chinese internet community

Feel free to join us: http://www.meetup.com/Business-Chinese-NYC/

[Chinese team]
Topic: Some episodes about Zhou Enlai

We watched a historic video about Zhou Enlai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viuj1WjTIT4&feature=youtube_gdata_player and talked about some historic stories related to that period.

[Selected vocabulary]
总理(zǒng lǐ) Premier
荤菜(hūn càì) meat or fish dish
素菜(sù cài) vegetable dish
宴会(yàn huì) dinner party
风度翩翩(fēng dù piān piān) graceful bearing. 指举止文雅优美。
蜂拥而来(fēng yōng ér lái) pour in. 像蜂群似的拥挤着狂奔而来，形容人非常多。
会晤(huì wù) formal meeting. 一般用在政务、外交等公共场合，领导间的会晤
追悼会(zhuī dào huì) memorial meeting

[Japanese team]
Topic: Social Network Services

[Selected vocabulary]
批判(ひはん)- Criticism/criticize (more of a negative attack)
案の定（あんのじょう）- as expected (思った通り、予定通り)
媒体(ばいたい)- Media
匿名(とくめい)- Anonymous
つぶやき- Blurb, muttering (used to describe short blurbs like tweets)
なう- Now (slang that is often used on twitter to describe what some is doing right now. Ex. テレビ見てるなう.)
現に(げんに)- Actually
誹謗中傷 (ひぼうちゅうしょう)- Malicious slander/libel
切り捨てる (きりすてる)- cut off and throw away/cut down
容赦(ようしゃ)- Pardon, mercy
伝播(でんぱ)- Circulation, propagation
軽率(けいそつ)- rash, hasty, thoughtless
露悪(ろあくてき)- self-deprecate, purposefully showing off one’s defects or faults
幼稚(ようち)- Childish, infantile, immature
症状(しょうじょう)- Symptom, condition of sickness
産出(さんしゅつ)- Produce/production
装置(しゅつそうち)-Device, equipment, apparatus
～以上～未満- More than~ less than~ (Ex. “友達以上恋人未満”. However, this is usually used with numbers.)

[Korean team]
Topic: Children’s Education in Korea

We talked about the pressure on children in the Korean education system which is caused by excessive ambition for children’s education in Korea.

[Selected vocabulary]
목걸이: necklace
망년회: year-end party
위협하다: threaten
종목: event /올림픽 정식 종목: official Olympic event
순서: order
예의: politeness
몸무게: weight
더욱: more
과거제도: the highest- level state examination to recruit ranking officials during the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasty
사건: case, incident, affair
망원경: telescope
독서실: reading room

Have a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year!

[Chinese team]
Topic: “China to Face Severe Challenges in Foreign Trade next year”

We listened to the video news http://www.voanews.com/chinese/programs/tv/59070652.html “中国明年外贸出口将面临挑战” and practiced repeating sentences and comprehension Q&A. You can find the English translation news here: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-06/china-to-face-severe-challenges-in-trade-next-year-mofcom-says.html

[Selected vocabulary]
白皮书(báipíshū) White Paper
国务院(guówùyuàn) the State Council
商务部(shāngwùbù) Ministry of Commerce
外贸司(wàimàosī) Foreign Trade Department
严峻(yánjùn) severe, serious 如：面临严峻的挑战(face severe challenges)
经济体(jīngjìtǐ) economy, economies 如：发展中经济体（developing economies）详细解释见：http://baike.baidu.com/view/2056323.htm
外需(wàixū) external demand
内需(nèixū) domestic demand
依赖(yīlài) rely on
升值(shēngzhí) appreciation 如：人民币升值（yuan appreciation）
竞争力(jìngzhēnglì) Competitiveness 如：提高竞争力；竞争力减弱
失控(shīkòng) (失去控制) out of control
Those who want to know more about China’s State Organizational Structure can refer this page: http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/gov/statestruct.php

[Japanese team]
Topic: Japanese holiday season and end-of-the-year party

We mainly talked about how Japanese people spend the Christmas holiday season, and how Japanese people (mis-)interpret the tradition of Christmas. We also learned some important concepts of
Japanese politeness, especially, where to sit at party.
http://language.tiu.ac.jp/materials/jpn/nemoto/nemoto07.html

[Selected vocabulary]
郊外（こうがい – の） suburb
都会（とかい – の） urban, city
上座（かみざ） the seat of honor, top table (the most important seats your boss/seniors/etc. are supposed to sit on)
幹事（かんじ） party organizer
忘年会（ぼうねんかい） end-of-the-year party
浮つく（うわつく） = 気持ちがうきうきして、落ち着きがなくなる。軽薄な感じがする。
地位階層（ちいかいそう） social status
神父（しんぷ） priest
無秩序（むちつじょ – な） disorganized, chaos
倫理（りんり） ethics
展望（てんぼう）foresight, outlook
不透明（ふとうめい – な） unclear, opaque
悲観的（ひかんてき – な） pessimistic <-> 楽観的（らっかんてき）
情緒（じょうちょ） mood, emotion
敬虔（けいけん – な）devoted, religious

[Korean team]
Topic: The attack on Pearl Harbor and traditional food culture in Korea

December 7 was the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, so we read a Wikipedia article (http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%A7%84%EC%A3%BC%EB%A7%8C_%EA%B3%B5%EA%B2%A9 ) about it in Korean and learned some new words related to the military as well as the historic event itself. We also learned about the traditional food culture in Korea- 이열치열(soothing heat with heat).

[Selected vocabulary]
진주만 Pearl Harbor
해군 navy
육군 the army
공군 air force
해병대 the Marine corps
특공대 special forces, commando unit
기습 raid, ambush (기습공격: a surprise attack)
치욕 humiliation, disgrace
애국심 patriotism
선포하다 declare
배탈 Stomach ache
식욕 appetite
구두쇠 miser
무덥다 extremely hot
따뜻하다 warm
뜨겁다 hot
마늘 garlic
파 scallion
생강 ginger
양념 seasoning

Welcome to join us this week: http://www.meetup.com/East-Asian-Language-Learning-through-Interpretation-Methods/events/43719692/

Here’s the slide we used during today’s meeting:
20111211_Chinese for Beginners1.pptx

The topics we covered today:

• - Chinese character overview, character forms, writing
• - Chinese dialects and Mandarin,
• - Mandarin phonetics, tones, and grammar
• - Simple daily conversation – greetings and self introduction

Feel free to join us: http://www.meetup.com/Business-Chinese-NYC/events/41066062/

[Chinese team]
Topic: Chinese students in America

We discussed some issues on Chinese students in America based on this article :http://fangbolin.blog.caixin.cn/archives/26251. We disagreed with most of the author’s opinions that led to a very active discussion.

[Selected vocabulary]

固然(gùrán) no doubt; it is true. 承认某个事实，引出下文转折，如：A固然好，B也很好。
不亚于(búyàyú) not second to
障碍(zhàngài) barrier, obstacle
死记硬背(sǐjìyìngbèi) cram up; memorize mechanically
批判性思维(pīpànxìngsīwéi) critical thinking
不屑于(búxièyú) disdain to do sth. 近义词：不值得，成语：不屑于顾（不值得一看）
开明(kāimíng) enlightened 指思想开通，不守旧。
造就(zàojiù) bring up 培养并使其有成就，如：造就人才。
做文章(zuòwénzhāng) to make an issue of 如：他想在这件事上做文章。
煽动(shāndòng) instigate

[Japanese team]
Topic: Polite expressions, mangas and brains

This week we further learned more polite ways of saying verbs and existence, using a conversation between a room clerk and a guest at a Ryokan. We then read an article about mangas and their influence toward brain, citing a famous Japanese neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima.

[Selected vocabulary and expressions]
客室（きゃくしつ） guest room
客室係（きゃくしつがかり）room clerk (of a Ryokan)
非常口（ひじょうぐち）emergency exit
浴衣（ゆかた）Japanese bathrobe (cotton kimono)
館内（かんない）inside (of a building)
敷く（しく）lay (a paper, futon etc.)
いたします a more polite way of saying する (e.g., お茶をお入れいたします)
ございます a more polite way of saying ある (e.g., お風呂は１階にございます)
小言（こごと）nagging word
第一人者（だいいちにんしゃ）top expert in a field
前世（ぜんせ）previous life (<-> 来世（らいせ）next life）

[Korean team]
Topic: Korean neologism and proverbs

This week, we had reading and shadowing practice with a Korean drama script (연애결혼: Marriage for love, KBS2, 2008). Through it, we learned some neologisms which are popular among young people- For example-된장녀(Soybean paste girl). Here is one blog which explains about this new syndrome: http://psycho5728.wordpress.com/category/korean/page/2/
And we also learned famous Korean proverbs and practiced writing them. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Korean_proverbs

[Selected vocabulary]
버티다: endure
과: major
끈적한: sticky
신조어: neologism, new words
뭐니 뭐니 해도: no matter what, after all, when all is said and done
허접하다,후지다: sloppy, lousy
구원하다: save, rescue
아우성: shout, outcry (아우성을 치다: make a outcry)
중매쟁이: matchmaker, marriage broker
모조리: all
혼내다: scold
~ 노릇을 하다: play a role as ~(부모 노릇을 하다:act as parents)
졸부: nouveau riche, upstart
품위: dignity
눈을 버리다: ruin one's eyes
분위기를 띄우다: brighten up the mood
속물: snob, materialistic person

Feel free to join us : http://www.meetup.com/East-Asian-Language-Learning-through-Interpretation-Methods/events/42919232/

[Chinese team]
Topic: Culture Clash Episodes between Chinese and American

We practiced summarizing a paragraph you heard in your words first. And then each participant shared his/her culture clash episodes between Chinese and American through a 2-3 minute short speech. They are supposed to write their episodes down off-meeting and send to Xiaoling for grammar points check. The clash points or situation what we talked are such as, Chinese care food and eating more than American, Chinese will easily ask you to sing a song for fun even if you do not know each other well, Do not hug or kiss your Chinese girl friend’s mother if you just want to show you are a gentleman, etc..

[Selected vocabulary]

文化冲突(wénhuàchōngtū) culture clash
列车员(lièchēyuán) a trainman
磁悬浮列车(cíxuánfúlièchē) Maglev train
录用通知书(lùyòngtōngzhīshū) the offer from the job position you applied for
录取通知书(lùqǔtōngzhīshū) the offer from the school you applied for
年薪(niánxīn) annual salary “薪”指“薪水 salary”，又如月薪、时薪
提议(tíyì) propose, suggest 提出+建议
轮流(lúnliú) take turns 如：大家轮流请客吃饭。
销售代表(xiāoshòudàibiǎo) a sales representative
绅士(shēnshì) gentleman 如：他很有绅士风度。
女性化(nǚxìnghuà) feminine 如：后街男孩的歌走的是女性化路线。
保守(bǎoshǒu) conservative 反义词：开放
自动贩卖机(zìdòngfànmàijī) vending machine或：自动售货机。
个人主义(gèrénzhǔyì) individualism
集体主义(jítǐzhǔyì) collectivism
自私(zìsī) selfish
腻(nì) to be bored with 如：这道菜我吃腻了；这些话我听腻了；玩腻了。

[Japanese team]
Topic: Renting an apartment in Japan

This week we talked about the difficulty in renting an apartment for foreigners in Japan. Japanese landlords are reluctant to rent out apartments to foreigners due to several reasons, which may or may not relate to cultural and/or ethnic discrimination. We also learned several polite expressions used by travel agency staff.

[Selected vocabulary]
札（ふだ） ticket, card (cf. 花札（はなふだ）Japanese old playing cards)
お…になる (polite form of …する) e.g., おタバコをお吸いになる (smoke a cigarette)
お…ください (polite form of asking) e.g., お待ちください (wait for a moment)
ございます (polite form of ある) e.g.,露天風呂は各お部屋にございます
貸し切り（かしきり）charter, reserve for private
露天風呂（ろてんぶろ）open-air bath (cf. 露出（ろしゅつ） expose, 露店（ろてん）street stall)
保証人（ほしょうにん）guarantor, sponsor
礼金（れいきん）key money
敷金（しききん）deposit
占める（しめる）occupy, take up, account for(example:アメリカは全世界のGDPの約20%を占めている)
占領（せんりょう）occupy, take over

[Korean team]
Topic: Cultural Relativity

This week we read a short, but complex text about cultural relativism which says that different cultures have their own existing reason and value, therefore we cannot decide superiority of different cultures. After repeating listening and translation practice,we talked about our own experience about unique culture of various countries, including the topic of different funeral cultures in America, Korea,and Japan.

[Selected vocabulary]

집단: group
특정: specific, particular (특정집단: specific group)
인류학자: anthropologist
느낌: feeling
근본적,본질적: fundamental
~에 비해서: in comparison to
~에 따르면: according to
바: way, what was mentioned before, fact (위에서 말한 바와 같이: as stated above)
살을 빼다: lose weight
문화 상대주의: cultural relativity
아들 선호: preference for sons over daughters
보신탕: dog soup
상가: 1.商街: shopping district 2.喪家: family in mourning
바라보다: look, stare

Happy Thanksgiving and see you Nov. 30th!
http://www.meetup.com/East-Asian-Language-Learning-through-Interpretation-Methods/

[Chinese team]
Topic: Online Shopping in China

We learned some vocabulary and knowledge about online shopping in China using a blog article http://blog.donews.com/jiatian/archive/2011/11/09/1584099. We practiced repeating and summarizing the content of the article.

[Selected vocabulary]
电子商务(diànzǐshāngwù) or 线上购买(xiànshànggòumǎi) e-commerce
综合性购物网站(zōnghéxìnggòuwùwǎngzhàn) general online shopping sites
垂直购物网站(chuízhígòuwùwǎngzhàn) vertical online shopping sites (sell certain categories of goods)
实体店(shítǐdiàn) real store
信誉(xìnyù) credit, reputation 信用 + 名誉
信誉度(xìnyùdù) credibility
拍宝贝(pāibǎobèi) decide to buy the goods online before the actual payment. 拍：确定购买意向，但尚未付款； 宝贝：来源于淘宝上的商品。
淘宝贝(táobǎobèi) panning for precious goods
转账(zhuǎnzhàng) transfer accounts
索赔(suǒpéi) claim, demand compensation
保障(bǎozhàng) assure, guarantee 保障+权利、财产、生命、安全
验货(yànhuò) check the goods 检验货品

[Japanese team]
Topic: Accidents and Natto

We started this week’s meet-up by having speeches on accidents (e.g., the things you lost when you’re traveling etc.), and learned some expressions describing incidents. One participant has kindly provided with a learning material loaded with difficult medical technical terms, which describes how healthy natto is for your body.

[Selected vocabulary]
～てしまう、～ちゃう (accidentally) do something, something happens
染み (しみ) stain
詰まる (つまる) stuck, jammed
気が散る (きがちる) feel distracted
～ばかりか not only …
匹敵する (ひってき-) match, equal to
タンパク質 (-しつ) protein
血液 (けつえき) blood
筋肉 (きんにく) muscle
内臓 (ないぞう) inner parts (of a body)
組織 (そしき) tissue (of a body)
吸収 (きゅうしゅう) absorb
心臓病 (しんぞうびょう) heart disease
糖尿病 (とうにょうびょう) diabetes
肝臓病 (かんぞうびょう) liver disease
大腸菌 (だいちょうきん) coliform bacillus, E. coli.
血栓 (けっせん) blood clot
酵素 (こうそ) enzyme
一躍 (いちやく) instantly
老化 (ろうか) aging
維持 (いじ) maintain

[Korean team]
Topic: Stress and homosexuality

This week, everyone introduced their own ways to relieve stress. And also through discussing about homosexuality, we learned how to express agreement/disagreement and to argue their point of view in Korean. We quoted this article: http://www.hoptechno.com/book58.htm.

[Selected vocabulary]
스트레스를 받다: suffer from stress
스트레스가 쌓이다: build up stress
스트레스를 풀다: relieve stress
축구: soccer
야구: baseball
헬스클럽: fitness club
이기다: win
지다: lose
동성연애 [dong-sung-yon-ae]: homosexual love
(악기를) 연주하다: play (instrument)
고상한: elegant
무궁화: Mugungwha (Korea national flower)
국화: national flower
카모마일: chamomile (brightly colored garden flower that is shaped like a ball)
여쭙다: ask (polite expression)
(고개를) 끄덕이다: nod
(고개를) 흔들다: shake
(고개를) 돌리다: turn
하느님: god
외무부 장관: foreign minister
보수적인: conservative
개방적인: open minded
입양하다: adopt
연행하다: arrest
평등하다: equal
부득이한: unavoidable
의성어: onomatopoeic word
의태어: mimetic word
냠냠: yum-yum (eating sound)
개구리(frog): 개굴개굴
호랑이(tiger): 어흥
돼지(pig): 꿀꿀

Look forward to seeing you this week!
http://www.meetup.com/East-Asian-Language-Learning-through-Interpretation-Methods/events/38668572/

[Chinese team]
Topic: Chinese independent film
We practiced this week as bellow:
1. Had a dictation of the film related words what we learned last week and checked the answers.
2. Learned the definition of Chinese independent film according to the lecture given by Jian Cheng at China Institute on 10/30.
3. Read and discussed a news article about the Chinese Youth Directors Forum held in Beijing on 11/2 .

[Selected vocabulary]
纪录片(jì lù piàn) documentary 同“记录片”
审查制度(shěn chá zhì dù) censorship system
束缚(shù fù) bind up 近义词：限制(xiànzhì) restrict
核心竞争力(hé xīn jìng zhēng lì) core competence
资金(zī jīn) funds
负面(fù miàn) negative, downside 如：负面题材。反义词：正面。
心得(xīn dé) what one has learned from work, study, etc. 如工作心得，学习心得。
坎坷(kǎn kě) rough, full of frustrations 如：道路坎坷；他经历了许多坎坷。
波折(bō zhé) twists and turns 如：人生难免会遇到一些波折。

[Japanese team]
Topic: Games and Industries

This week we used a varied of materials. We started by making simple speeches regarding:
1) What you do to learn languages every day
2) Your surprise when you are in a foreign country
3) Your own country’s industry
Later we listened to a (usual) recording about how to play a game.
Then, we talked a little bit about TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership;
環太平洋戦略的経済連携協定（かんたいへいようせんりゃくてきけいざいれんけいきょうてい), which happens to be one of the most controversial topics in Japan now.

[Selected vocabulary]
色盲(しきもう) color-blind
盲人(もうじん) a blind person (cf. 盲目(もうもく) being blind)
必殺技(ひっさつわざ) special (literally, 100% killing) technique
ボス(ぼす) boss (character, as in video games)
協定(きょうてい) deal, agreement
関税(かんぜい) tariff
急進的(きゅうしんてき) radical
包括的(ほうかつてき) comprehensive
品目(ひんもく) items (as in products)
初旬(しょじゅん) the beginning (of a month) same as 上旬(じょうじゅん)
開国(かいこく) opening up the country (what happened in japan in 18th
century) (opposite of 鎖国(さこく))
横領(おうりょう) embezzle
農業(のうぎょう) agriculture

[Korean team]
Topic: National holiday and animal cycle
This week, we had a listening and repeating practice about census interview. We talked about national holiday and its traditional games. And we also talked about cycle of animal and sounds of animals in different countries.

[Selected vocabulary]

공명: resonance
독립하다: independent
독립: independence
독립기념일: independence day
자녀분: son and daughter (formal)
아들놈, 아드님: my son, your son (formal)
딸아이, 따님: my daughter, your daughter (formal)
막내 아드님: last son (formal)
초등학교: elementary school
다니고 있다: attending
통근하다: commute
하숙집: boarding house
박사: doctor
석사: master
학사: bachelor
표현하다: express
친밀감: intimacy
동성연애: homosexuality
윷놀이: playing Yut (Korean traditional game, to make 2 teams and throw 4 bars)
줄다리기: tug-of-war
밀고 당기기: pushing and pulling, nudge nudge
경우: case
밤: chestnut
뱀: snake

Feel free to join us! http://www.meetup.com/East-Asian-Language-Learning-through-Interpretation-Methods/events/38668552/