Possibly the biggest social phenomenon of our time, the advent of social media has brought amazing connectivity to people throughout China, and also throughout the world generally. Are you up-to-date with the latest social media apps and tools? Or can you have a conversation with someone and know how to add them on, for example, WeChat or a similar app?
In this Podcast, you will learn:
(i) How to talk to someone about which social media they use
(ii) To discuss updating and using certain apps
Dialogue:
Two friends are talking about social media apps:
(在饭馆)
(zài fàn guǎn)
(at the restaurant)
A:啊呀，毕业以后咱俩就没见过吧？好像我只有你的微博，可是你已经不用了。
Ā yà, bì yè yǐ hòu zán men jiù méi jiàn guò ba? Hǎo xiàng wǒ zhǐ yǒu nǐ de wēi bó, kě shì nǐ yǐ jīng bù yòng le.
Hey, we haven’t seen each other since our graduation ceremony. Seems like I only have your Weibo, but you don’t appear to use it anymore.
B:啊对对，现在用微信比较多。我加你微信吧！
A duì duì, xiàn zài yòng wēi xìn bǐ jiào duō. Wǒ jiā nǐ wēi xìn ba!
Oh…, right. Now I use WeChat more often. I should add you on WeChat.
A:好，扫一下二维码就行。
Hǎo, sǎo yī xià èr wéi mǎ jiù xíng.
Okay, just scan the QR code.
B:OK啦。……嘿嘿，你朋友圈更新的还挺勤的嘛。
Ōu kèi la. Hēi hei, nǐ péng yǒu quān gēng xīn de hái tǐng qín de ma.
Do you update your moments quite frequently?
A:是啊，哎，你的朋友圈儿呢？
Shì a, ai, nǐ de péng yǒu quān ne?
Yes, what about your moments?
B:哦，我不发朋友圈儿。
Òu, wǒ bù fā péng yǒu quān er.
Oh…, I don’t post anything on moments.
Chinese words and phrases mentioned in this Podcast:
饭馆：restaurant
毕业：graduation
微博：Weibo
微信：WeChat
加：add
扫（描）：scan
二维码：QR code
朋友圈：moments
更新：update
勤（快）：hardworking (here it refers to frequent)
发：post, send, mail
Cultural/Grammar note:
As you may know, China blocks Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. However, we do have our own social media. In the 90s, the most popular social media was called QQ. It is similar to ICQ but, nowadays, another kind of social media called WeChat (微信) is more popular. ‘微信’ is similar to WhatsApp. WeChat and QQ were developed by the same company. Other social media similar to Facebook in China is ‘微博’(Weibo). Most of China’s younger generation have all three social media accounts mentioned above, but gradually QQ has become out of date. Most people think ‘微信’ is more convenient and it is more popular amongst the Chinese younger, and even older, generations. ‘微信’ is used for communication mostly amongst friends. ‘微博’ is used most of time to check celebrities’ updates, cute animals and other things people like. Initially, young people were posting almost everything such as photos of their travels, photos of daily life etc. when ‘微博’ first appeared. But after ‘微信’ started, a new function known as ‘朋友圈’ (moments), which allows users to post pictures, short videos, texts and reposts, the younger generation gradually abandoned ‘微博’, because ‘微信朋友圈’ provides more private settings.
‘发’ is very useful in conversation. You can say ‘发信’ (post mails) (fā xìn), ‘发微博’ (post on Weibo) (fā wēi bó), ‘发朋友圈’ (post on moments).
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