Chapter 1 Vocabulary

女士 nǚshì – Ms., Mrs., lady – generally, this is the form of address you should use toward a woman when conducting business matters in Mandarin. In written communication, always use this instead of 小姐 xiǎojiě even if you do not know the marital status of the woman you are writing to. However, if the person you are speaking to has a specific leadership position in the company, such as manager, you should always refer to her by her position title and not gender-specific form of address 

小姐 xiǎojiě – Miss; a form of address you can use toward female coworkers or younger, unmarried business contacts who do not have a specific leadership position title in a company; use this form of address with caution as it may carry different meanings depending on the Mandarin-speaking region you find yourself in. 

稀客 xīkè – “rare visitor;” used as an expression describing someone visiting, whom you have not seen for a long time or do not see very often    

难得 nándé – literally means “hard to come by” but here it means a rare occurrence or chance; you can use this when meeting someone important or a friend you have not seen in a long time

平时 píngshí – usually

专程 zhuānchéng – taking a special trip for a specific purpose or doing something for a specific purpose

近况 jìnkuàng – recent situation

境况 jìngkuàng – circumstances

境况不错 jìngkuàng búcuò – doing well in terms of current circumstances 

神采飞扬 shéncǎi fēiyáng – glowing with energy and in high spirits; used to describe the overall appearance or countenance that a person exudes

气色不错 qìsè búcuò – an alternative way to saying someone looks like he or she is doing well; having a good complexion

混得不错吧 hùn de búcuò ba – If the old friend is a very close friend of yours, perhaps you can be even more casual and say this, indicating that you are supposing that he is doing pretty well. This expression is more likely if used among male peers who, other than having not seen each other for a long time, are still very good and close friends. In many other situations, this would be inappropriate.

彼此彼此 bǐcǐ bǐcǐ – in this situation, you can use this to express that you think the same for the other speaker if you receive a comment or compliment about you; it is more appropriate to use this among speakers of the same gender, especially among men.

你现在在哪里发财？Nǐ xiànzài zài nǎlǐ fācái? - this can be used as an alternative for asking where someone works; 发财 literally means to get rich, but here it is a euphemism for where someone works, where they are “getting rich”  

外企 wàiqǐ (short for 外国企业 wàiguó qǐyè) - foreign enterprise or foreign business/company

高就 gāo jiù – to be promoted or move up in the professional or business field; you should only use this term to refer to the accomplishments of other people and not yourself

累得要死 lèi de yào sǐ – you can use this as a more casual alternative to 挺累的, but 挺累的 may be a better and more graceful-sounding choice for speakers who are woman

累得半死 lèi de bànsǐ – a less dramatic alternative to 累的要死

还凑合 hái còuhé – this is an alternative to 还好 hái hǎo; 凑合 còuhé literally means to gather things and put them together and here it means that you make do or manage to keep up your current situation.  

单位 dānwèi – literally means unit and here it means work unit or place of work; you can use this when asking about where someone works. In this usage, this term is not as common in Taiwan

干活儿 gàn huó er – verb for working; can be used as an alternative to 工作 gōngzuò when speaking with Northern Chinese speakers. When speaking with Chinese speakers, opting for choosing region-specific ways of saying something may help you draw your connection closer to the speakers

另有高就 lìng yǒu gāo jiù – having an accomplishment of his/her own or having another work-related accomplishment; here 高就 gāo jiù is used as a noun instead of a verb to describe someone’s accomplishment. This can include being promoted, moving up to a higher position or a better job.