Minisode: Play It By Ear

Chinese Language Convo Club

In today's minisode, we meet with a doctoral student of civil engineering at UNCC to discuss 2 new expressions about making plans: 边走边看 and 见机行事。。。 Useful words and phrases discussed in this episode: 土木 (Tǔmù)- Building, construction 土木工程(tǔmù gōngchéng) - Civil Engineering 大兴土木(dàxīngtǔmù) - （idiom）to be busy putting up buildings, to carry out large scale construction A: 我还没想好中午要吃什么。。(Wǒ hái méi xiǎng hǎo zhōngwǔ yào chī shénme..) I still haven't decided what I want to eat for lunch.. B： 其实，我也不知道要吃什么。不然，我们去外面逛逛，然后边走边看。 (Qíshí, wǒ yě bù zhīdào yào chī shénme. Bùrán, wǒmen qù wàimiàn guàng guàng, ránhòu bian zǒubiān kàn) Actually, I don't know either. Why don't we just head out and play it by ear? A：好啊 (Hǎo a) Ok 边走边看(biān zǒubiān kàn) - Play it by ear 边。。。边。。。(Biān... Biān)To do one thing while doing something else Example: 我一边听音乐，一边吃东西。。( Wǒ yībiān tīng yīnyuè, yībiān chī dōngxī..) I’m eating something while listening to music. 见机行事 - To see the opportunity and act, to act according to circumstances