Posted by Andrew
If your company needs seed funding to make it to the next step, you need to understand the process of 筹款 (fundraising). Investors are going to be vigilant in their questioning of your 市场定位 (market position), your 目标客户群 (targeted customer group), and their 回报 (return on investment) quantified by 利息 (interest). Your best bet is to 较低 (lay the cards out on the table) and prepare to let a lot of 期权 (stock options) go.
筹款 chou2kuan3 - fundraising
市场 shi4chang3 - market
定位 ding4wei4 - position
目标 mu4biao1 - goal/target
客户 ke4hu4 - client/customer
群 qun2- group
回报 hui2bao4 - return (on investment)
利息 li4xi1 - interest
较低 jiao1di3 - lay the cards out on the table
期权 qi1quan2 - options (like stock options)
Posted by Andrew
Hello readers!
Last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday marked the celebration of 国际劳动节 (International Labor Day). In China, it’s a legally-mandated 节日 (holiday) where people in nearly all non-essential industries are permitted to 放假 (take vacation). The general trend is that people go someplace outside of the city to 度假 (spend the holiday). As for me, 哪里都没有去 (I didn’t go anywhere). This was my first time being someplace where people celebrate this holiday, and people would ask me if people in America 过节 (celebrate the holiday) or not. The only sticking point about this holiday is that two of the “vacation days” are moved on to the 周末 (weekend). It would have been great if Monday were also a holiday- legitimately, it is 青年节 （youth holiday), but alas not this time.
What are some holidays that you celebrate at home that aren’t celebrated elsewhere?
Words
国际 guo2ji4 - international
劳动 lao2dong4 - labor
节 jie2 - holiday
放假 fang4jia4 - go on vacation (can be indefinite)
度假 du4jia4 - go on holiday (refers usually to a defined period)
过节 guo4jie2 - celebrate a holiday
周末 zhou1mo4 - weekend
哪里都没有去 na2(3)li3dou1mei2you3qu4 - [subject] didn’t go anywhere
青年节 qing1nian2jie2 - youth holiday
Posted by Andrew
So you want to start your own 企业 (enterprise), eh? Well you better get to your 办公桌 (desk) and get cracking on your 计划 (plan). No 天使投资者 (angel investor) is going to give you a second look unless you’ve got your 预算 (budget) in order, your 人力资源 (human resources) set out down to the employee (don’t forget your 会计 (accountant)), and your 推销战略 (marketing strategy) planned down to the 传单 (flier). Best of luck to you!
企业 qi3ye4 - enterprise
办工桌 ban4gong1zhuo1 - work desk
计划 ji4hua4 - plan
天使投资者 tian1shi3 tou2zi1zhe3 - angel investor
预算 yu4suan4 - budget
人力资源 ren2li4zi1yuan2 - human resources
会计 kuai4ji4 - accountant
推销 tui1xiao1 - marketing
战略 zhan4lve4 - strategy
传单 chuan2dan1 - flier
Posted by Andrew
Hello Readers!
Today’s topic is the Rooster.
Those who were born in the year of the 鸡 (Rooster) are known to have particularly 敏锐的反应 (keen instincts). They are fond of 开玩笑 (making jokes). They have a particular 天赋 (natural talent) in the arena of 创造 (creation). That is to say that they 擅长 (are good at) anything having to with music or art, although they don’t normally have a 倾向 (tendency) for this to be in their 从事 (undertake[n]) industry. One thing For Roosters to watch out for is that sometimes Roosters set goals which can be impossible to achieve, thus leading them to 遭到 (encounter, see notes) disappointment. Famous Rooster people include Eric Clapton, Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler, Van Morrison, Yoko Ono, and Peter Ustinov.
Years of the Rooster: 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, and 2029.
鸡 ji1 chicken/rooster
敏锐 min3rui4 keen
反应 fan2ying4 reflex/reaction
开玩笑 kai1wan2xiao4 make jokes
天赋 tian1fu4 natural gift
创造 chuang4zao4 create
擅长 shan4chang2 to be good at
倾向 qing2xiang4 tendency
从事 cong2shi4 to engage in
遭到 zao1dao4 encounter (of something bad)
Posted by Andrew
Greetings readers!
I have just come back from 香港(Hong Kong) because of an issue with my 签证(visa). A multi-entry visa will let you 多次入境, but only for 60 days at a time. I went to the 出入境管理局(border entry-exit administration) at Andingmen, where I found that they could not effectively 延(extend) my visa because I didn’t have a 住宿证 (or 暂住证, which means temporary residence certificate) nor did I have proof of assets in China. It’s a simple matter to set up a bank account, but time was running out on my stay and I couldn’t be bothered to do it until I got back. If you’ve never had to go to a visa office, consider the experience to be something like going to the DMV/RMV. How long you must wait on line is determined by how urgently you must get your task completed. Moreover, you need to provide multiple photos which you take on the second floor but pay for and retrieve on the first floor. Since my only option was to leave the country and come back, I had to quickly decide between 蒙古(Mongolia- US citizens need a visa), 韩国(Korea - the boat ride from Tianjin takes 20 hours), or 香港 (acceptable price for the plane ticket- plus I could always make the money back at 澳门/Macau, see next entry!) 香港 it was! Ordered my plane tickets on Friday night and I was out on Saturday morning, free to explore HK/Macau until Tuesday. It was a remarkable experience being in HK. Being able to speak Mandarin was not the advantage that speaking Cantonese could have been, although I’ll write a little more about that in the Macau entry.
Readers, does it work better for you to have me put the pinyin in the text so that the words become contextualized and you can guess at the meaning or does it work better for me to have the explanations there too?
香港xiang1gang3 - Hong Kong
签证qian1zheng4- visa
多次duo1ci4 - multiple times
入境ru4jing4 - enter the borders
出入chu1ru4 - exit-entry
管理局guan3li3ju2 (note that the tone in guan3 becomes 2 here) - administrative office
延yan2- extend
住宿证zhu4su4zheng4 - residential certificate
暂住证zan4zhu4zheng4 - temporary residence certificate
蒙古Meng2gu3- Mongolia
韩国Han2guo2 - South Korea
