Business words (throwback)

Note: Dear Reader, we hope that you enjoy this throwback issue of Giant Mandarin. When it comes to language learning, revision is crucial. What’s more, as a passion project, throwback issues help keep the show running. Thanks for reading and we’re looking forward to bringing you new content!

Welcome to this week’s issue of the Giant Mandarin newsletter. This week’s newsletter is about business.

In this week’s issue we focus on essential words for talking about business. In Elementary–Intermediate Words, we include the Chinese words for profit, revenue and cost, as well as quantity. In Advanced Words, we include the Chinese words for product and quality, as well as market share and marketing.

Finally, in Supplementary Reading we suggest taking a look at the outcomes (winner, shortlist and longlist) of the FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2021 award; an article on some of the businesses aiming to make nuclear fusion as a source of energy a reality; and another article on the businesses that make up Afghanistan’s underground “sneakernet.”

Elementary–Intermediate Words

1. 商业 shāngyè - business activity; business (formal and often with a conceptual emphasis)
2. 商务 shāngwù - business affairs; business (formal and often with a conceptual emphasis)

生意 shēngyì - business activity; business (colloquial and often with a practical emphasis)

做生意 zuòshēngyì - to engage in business

(In certain situations, the terms 商业, 商务 and 生意 can all be translated to the English word business, but their usage and meaning are different. This is similar to how the word business has many different applications in the English language.)

1. 公司 gōngsī - company
2. 企业 qǐyè - enterprise
3. 利润 lìrùn - profit
4. 收入 shōurù - revenue (for a business); income (for an individual)
5. 成本 chéngběn - cost
6. 价格 jiàgé - price

数量 shùliàng - quantity; amount; volume

需求量 xūqiúliàng - quantity demanded

供给量 gōngjǐliàng - quantity supplied

Advanced Words

1. 产品 chǎnpǐn - products

推出 tuīchū - to launch

推出产品 tuīchū chǎnpǐn - to launch a product

质量 zhìliàng - quality

高质量 gāozhìliàng - high quality

销售 xiāoshòu - to sell

销售量 xiāoshòuliàng - sales volume

额 é - a specific number

销售额 xiāoshòué - sales revenue

1. 市场份额 shìchǎng fèné - market share

百分之 bǎifēnzhī - percent

百分之一 bǎifēnzhī yī - 1 percent

百分之十 bǎifēnzhī shí - 10 percent

百分之二十五 bǎifēnzhī èrshíwǔ - 25 percent

百分之五十 bǎifēnzhī wǔshí - 50 percent

百分之七十五 bǎifēnzhī qīshíwǔ - 75 percent

百分之百 bǎifēnzhī bǎi - 100 percent 💯

1. 营销 yíngxiāo - marketing
2. 广告 guǎnggào - advertisement

服务 fúwù - service; to serve

服务员 fúwùyuán - waiter; waitress; retail clerk; customer service assistant

服务行业 fúwù hángyè - services industry

Supplementary Reading

1. The winner, shortlist and longlist of the FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year 2021, Financial Times
2. Can Nuclear Fusion put the Brakes on Climate Change?, Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker
3. Can Afghanistan’s underground “sneakernet” survive the Taliban?, Ruchi Kumar, MIT Technology Review

That’s it for this week.

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Thanks for reading and see you next Thursday!

Giant Mandarin (@GiantMandarin) is written by David Wu (@davidwuio).