There are times when you might be asked to recount past events. It might be to do with your career or other occurrences in your everyday life. So, we’re going to show you how to refer to the time before an event or action and after an event or action. Such Mandarin Chinese phrases will be helpful to explain a sequence of events or clarify something which happened in the past…
In this Podcast, you will learn:
(i) How to explain what you were doing before an event in the past
(ii) To tell someone what you did after such event
Dialogue:
A manager is doing an interview:
（在会议室）
(Zài huì yì shì)
(at the meeting room)
A：你能简单说说你之前的工作经历么？
A: Nǐ néng jiǎn dān shuō shuō nǐ zhī qián de gōng zuò jīng lì me?
Can you briefly talk about your previous work experience?
B:好。我在联想工作了5年，职位是高级工程师。
B: Hǎo. Wǒ zài lián xiǎng gōng zuò le wǔ nián, zhí wèi shì gāo jí gōng chéng shī.
Okay. I worked for Lenovo for five years. My position was senior engineer.
A:那在那之前呢？
A: Nà zài nà zhī qián ne?
How about before that?
B:在那之前，我是中关村一家小软件公司的工程师。在那里干了3年，之后就跳槽到联想了。
B: Zài nà zhī qián, wǒ shì zhōng guān cūn yī jiā xiǎo ruǎn jiàn gōng sī de gōng chéng shī. Zài nà lǐ gàn le sān nián, zhī hòu jiù tiào cáo dào lián xiǎng le.
Before that, I was an engineer in a small software company in Zhong Guan Cun. I worked there for three years. After that, I moved to Lenovo.
A:那个工作是你的第一份工作么？
A: Nà gè gōng zuò shì nǐ de dì yī fèn gōng zuò me?
Was that your first job?
B:对，那是我大学毕业后的第一份正式工作。
B: Duì, nà shì wǒ dà xué bì yè hòu de dì yī fèn zhèng shì gōng zuò.
Yes, that was my first job after my graduating from University.
Chinese words and phrases mentioned in this Podcast:
会议室：meeting room
简单：easy, simple, brief
说说：talk about
之前：previous
工作经历：work experience
联想：Lenovo
职位：job position
高级工程师：senior engineer
中关村：Zhong Guan Cun
软件：software
公司：company
工程师：engineer
干了：worked
三年：three years
之后：after that
跳槽：changed/moved jobs
第一份：first
大学毕业：college graduation
正式工作：first job
份：measuring word for job
正式：formal
Cultural/Grammar note:
- Lenovo (联想) is a top Chinese technology company.
- Zhong Guan Cun (中关村) is the technology hub in Beijing. It is like Silicon Valley in China. Many famous Chinese software companies are based there, such as the Lenovo Group.
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