Lesson 12: Work & Colleagues

Talk about your job, workplace, and colleagues in Chinese with natural professional vocabulary.

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Overview

Workplace conversations are a daily reality for most adults, and Chinese has specific vocabulary and patterns for talking about jobs, colleagues, meetings, and salary. This lesson covers how to describe what you do, where you work, and how to use key workplace vocabulary in natural, contextually appropriate ways.

Learning Objectives

  • Use 在公司工作 and 是...的 to describe employment
  • Use key collocations for workplace actions (开会, 出差, 加班)
  • Introduce job titles and describe colleagues naturally
  • Ask and answer questions about work life

Vocabulary

Character Pinyin Type Meaning Example
公司 gōngsī n company 我在一家科技公司工作。
同事 tóngshì n colleague 我的同事都很好。
老板 lǎobǎn n boss, employer 我们的老板很严格。
开会 kāi huì v to have a meeting 今天下午开会。
工资 gōngzī n salary, wages 这份工作工资不高。
职业 zhíyè n occupation, profession 你的职业是什么？
出差 chūchāi v to go on a business trip 下周我要出差。
加班 jiābān v to work overtime 我经常加班。
上班 shàngbān v to go to work, to be at work 我八点上班。
下班 xiàbān v to finish work, to get off work 几点下班？
请假 qǐngjià v to take time off, to request leave 我今天请假了。
面试 miànshì n/v interview; to interview 明天我有面试。
升职 shēngzhí v to get promoted 他升职了，真棒！
辞职 cízhí v to resign 她辞职了，去创业了。

Grammar Focus

Pattern 1: 在 + Place + 工作 and occupation descriptions

Structure: Subject + 在 + Workplace + 工作 or 是 + (一名/一个) + Profession

Chinese Pinyin English
我在一家外资公司工作。 Wǒ zài yī jiā wàizī gōngsī gōngzuò. I work at a foreign-invested company.
她是一名工程师。 Tā shì yī míng gōngchéngshī. She is an engineer.
他在政府部门工作。 Tā zài zhèngfǔ bùmén gōngzuò. He works in a government department.
你是做什么工作的？ Nǐ shì zuò shénme gōngzuò de? What kind of work do you do?

Common mistake: 做什么工作的 is the natural way to ask about someone's job. Do not say 你的工作是什么 directly; while not wrong, 你是做什么的? or 你做什么工作? sounds more natural in conversation.

Pattern 2: Workplace verb collocations

Structure: These verbs all take specific objects and should be learned as fixed collocations.

Chinese Pinyin English
开会 kāi huì to hold/attend a meeting
出差 chū chāi to go on a business trip
加班 jiā bān to work overtime
请假 qǐng jià to request leave
升职 shēng zhí to get promoted
Chinese Pinyin English
今天下午三点开会。 Jīntiān xiàwǔ sān diǎn kāi huì. There is a meeting at 3 p.m. today.
她上周出差去广州了。 Tā shàng zhōu chūchāi qù Guǎngzhōu le. She went to Guangzhou on a business trip last week.
我这周每天都在加班。 Wǒ zhè zhōu měitiān dōu zài jiābān. I have been working overtime every day this week.
他请了三天假。 Tā qǐng le sān tiān jià. He took three days off.

Common mistake: Do not insert an object after 加班 or 开会. They are verb-object compounds and are not followed by additional objects. You cannot say 加班工作 or 开会议.

Pattern 3: Comparing work situations

Structure: Use A比B + adjective and 觉得 to discuss work life

Chinese Pinyin English
这份工作比上一份工资高。 Zhè fèn gōngzuò bǐ shàng yī fèn gōngzī gāo. This job pays more than the last one.
我觉得这家公司文化很好。 Wǒ juéde zhè jiā gōngsī wénhuà hěn hǎo. I think this company's culture is very good.
他的工作比我忙多了。 Tā de gōngzuò bǐ wǒ máng duō le. His job is much busier than mine.

Dialogue

A: 你在哪里工作？做什么的？ Nǐ zài nǎlǐ gōngzuò? Zuò shénme de? Where do you work? What do you do?

B: 我在一家互联网公司工作，是产品经理。你呢？ Wǒ zài yī jiā hùliánwǎng gōngsī gōngzuò, shì chǎnpǐn jīnglǐ. Nǐ ne? I work at an internet company. I'm a product manager. And you?

A: 我是老师，在一所中学教英语。工作比较稳定，但是工资不高。 Wǒ shì lǎoshī, zài yī suǒ zhōngxué jiāo Yīngyǔ. Gōngzuò bǐjiào wěndìng, dànshì gōngzī bù gāo. I'm a teacher, teaching English at a middle school. The work is relatively stable, but the salary is not high.

B: 互联网工作工资高，但是经常加班。上周我每天都加班到十点。 Hùliánwǎng gōngzuò gōngzī gāo, dànshì jīngcháng jiābān. Shàng zhōu wǒ měitiān dōu jiābān dào shí diǎn. Internet jobs pay well, but you often have to work overtime. Last week I worked overtime until 10 every night.

A: 听起来很累。你们老板怎么样？ Tīng qǐlái hěn lèi. Nǐmen lǎobǎn zěnmeyàng? That sounds exhausting. What is your boss like?

B: 还行。有时候很严格，但是对我们的发展很支持。 Hái xíng. Yǒu shíhou hěn yángé, dànshì duì wǒmen de fāzhǎn hěn zhīchí. Not bad. Sometimes strict, but very supportive of our growth.

Practice

Exercise 1: Fill in the Blank

  1. 我 ______ 一家外贸公司 ______。(I work at a foreign trade company.)
  2. 今天下午两点有 ______，别忘了。(There is a meeting at 2 p.m. today. Don't forget.)
  3. 他下个月要 ______ 去北京出差。(He is going to Beijing on a business trip next month.)
  4. 这份工作的 ______ 比我上一份高很多。(This job's salary is much higher than my last one.)
  5. 她 ______ 了，现在换了一家新公司。(She resigned and now works at a new company.)

Exercise 2: Translate to Chinese

  1. My colleague is going on a business trip to Shanghai next week.
  2. How often do you work overtime?
  3. I would like to request two days of leave.
  4. She got promoted. Her new position is department manager.

Exercise 3: Answer in Chinese

  1. 你现在做什么工作？(What work do you do now?)
  2. 你觉得工资和工作兴趣，哪个更重要？(Which is more important: salary or job interest?)
  3. 你喜欢你的工作环境吗？(Do you like your working environment?)

Cultural Note

Work culture in China, particularly in the technology sector, is characterized by the 996 schedule: working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. The term became widely discussed in 2019 when it was publicly debated between tech workers and company founders. While 996 is not universal across all industries, long working hours and strong employer expectations around availability and commitment are common across many sectors. The concept of 拼搏 (pīnbó, to strive and compete relentlessly) is deeply embedded in Chinese professional culture, especially among younger urban workers.