Careers and promotion
HSK 4 Unit 6: Working life · Lesson 1 of 5 · About 22 minutes
Preview version — Chinese review in progress.
Your mission: By the end of this lesson, you can talk about positions, income, bonuses and promotion, and compare a stable job with a competitive one.
Audio preview uses your device’s Chinese voice. It is not a recording.
Warm-up: do you remember?
Two quick questions from earlier lessons. Recalling before you learn makes the new material stick.
Meaning
What does 爱情 mean?
That is 周围 (zhōuwéi).
That is 之所以 (zhīsuǒyǐ).
Show the answer
Answer: A, love (romantic).
爱情 (àiqíng) means love (romantic).
Characters
Which word means “to hand over, to make (friends)”?
周围 (zhōuwéi) means around, surroundings.
陪 (péi) means to keep someone company.
Show the answer
Answer: A, 交.
“to hand over, to make (friends)” is 交 (jiāo).
New words
Talking about careers
职位 (zhíwèi) is a position; 收入 (shōurù) is income; 奖金 (jiǎngjīn) is a bonus; 升职 (shēngzhí) is to be promoted. 竞争 (jìngzhēng) is competition; 稳定 (wěndìng) is stable.
这个职位的竞争很大。
Zhège zhíwèi de jìngzhēng hěn dà.
There's a lot of competition for this position.
他去年升职了，收入比以前高多了。
Tā qùnián shēngzhí le, shōurù bǐ yǐqián gāo duō le.
He was promoted last year and earns much more than before.
虽然工资不高，但是工作很稳定。
Suīrán gōngzī bù gāo, dànshì gōngzuò hěn wěndìng.
Although the pay isn't high, the job is stable.
Characters
Open a character to see how it is written, stroke by stroke, with its meanings and words.
A new position
Zhang Wei tells Gao Fei about a job opening.
Listen first
Play the whole conversation and answer the questions before you open the transcript.
Helpful words: 报名 bàomíng to sign up, to apply; 三分之一 sānfēnzhīyī one third; 年底 niándǐ end of the year; 挑战 tiǎozhàn challenge
Listening
Listen first. How many people have applied?
Show the answer
Answer: C, more than twenty.
有二十多个人报名.
Listening
What does Gao Fei prefer?
Show the answer
Answer: B, a challenging job.
比起稳定的工作，我更喜欢有挑战的.
Show the transcript
张伟
公司有一个新的经理职位，你想不想试试？
There's a new manager position at the company. Do you want to try for it?
高飞
当然想！可是竞争一定很大吧？
Of course! But the competition must be fierce?
张伟
是啊，听说有二十多个人报名。
Yes, apparently more than twenty people have applied.
高飞
要是升职了，收入会高多少？
If I'm promoted, how much more will I earn?
张伟
工资高三分之一，年底还有奖金。不过压力也会更大。
A third more pay, plus a bonus at the end of the year. But the pressure will be greater too.
高飞
我不怕压力。比起稳定的工作，我更喜欢有挑战的。
I'm not afraid of pressure. Compared with a stable job, I prefer a challenging one.
Speak: listen, record, compare
Listen to each model, record yourself, then play both and compare: the rhythm, the tones, the vowels. No automatic score: your ear is the judge.
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Recording is not available in this browser. Listen, then repeat aloud and compare by ear.
要是升职了，收入会高多少？
Yàoshi shēngzhí le, shōurù huì gāo duōshao?
If I'm promoted, how much more will I earn?
我不怕压力。比起稳定的工作，我更喜欢有挑战的。
Wǒ bú pà yālì. Bǐqǐ wěndìng de gōngzuò, wǒ gèng xǐhuan yǒu tiǎozhàn de.
I'm not afraid of pressure. Compared with a stable job, I prefer a challenging one.
当然想！可是竞争一定很大吧？
Dāngrán xiǎng! Kěshì jìngzhēng yídìng hěn dà ba?
Of course! But the competition must be fierce?
Practice
Meaning
What does 职位 mean?
That is 信息 (xìnxī).
That is 同意 (tóngyì).
Show the answer
Answer: C, position, post.
职位 (zhíwèi) means position, post.
Characters
Which word means “bonus”?
竞争 (jìngzhēng) means to compete, competition.
幸福 (xìngfú) means happy (deeply), happiness.
Show the answer
Answer: B, 奖金.
“bonus” is 奖金 (jiǎngjīn).
Pinyin
How do you read 升职 (to be promoted)?
Show the answer
Answer: B, shēngzhí.
升职 is read shēngzhí. Check the tone mark on every syllable.
Listening
Listen. What does the word mean?
Cannot listen? Read it instead
竞争 jìngzhēng
That would be 优点 (yōudiǎn).
That would be 如果 (rúguǒ).
Show the answer
Answer: C, to compete, competition.
You heard 竞争 (jìngzhēng): to compete, competition.
Your turn
Recall: type the Chinese for “income” (characters or pinyin).
Show the answer
Answer: 收入
“income” is 收入 (shōurù).
Fill the gap
Complete: He was promoted last year.
他去年＿＿了。
Show the answer
Answer: A, 升职.
他去年升职了: he was promoted.
In context
Your job pays a little but you will never lose it. How do you describe it?
Show the answer
Answer: A, 很稳定.
很稳定: 稳定: stable.
Grammar
Which sentence means Compared with last year, my income is higher?
Show the answer
Answer: A, 比起去年来，我的收入高了。.
比起去年来，我的收入高了。: 比起…来: compared with.
Your turn
Type the Chinese for a lot of competition (competition is big)
Show the answer
Answer: 竞争很大
竞争很大: a lot of competition.
Your career
Talk about your career out loud, in six sentences.
- Your position and whether it is stable.
- What you would like: promotion, a higher income or a new challenge.
- Compare two kinds of job with 比起…来.
Sentence frames
我的职位是＿＿。
Wǒ de zhíwèi shì ＿＿.
My position is ...
比起＿＿来，我更喜欢＿＿。
Bǐqǐ ＿＿ lái, wǒ gèng xǐhuan ＿＿.
Compared with ..., I prefer ...
Record your attempt (three and a half minutes at most) and listen back:
Review and finish
Can you do this? If a line feels shaky, go back to that part before you move on.
- I can talk about positions, income, bonuses and promotion.
- I can compare a stable job with a competitive one.
Review works best spaced out: answer these exercises again tomorrow, then after a few days. Your progress is saved in this browser.
Completing records that you finished the lesson. Mastery is separate: it grows as reviews bring the exercises back and you answer them correctly.