但是如果您说起叶徳公的话
“But if you are speaking of Ye Degong...”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
我无法评判
“...I cannot make a judgment.”
但是如果您说起叶徳公的话
“But if you are speaking of Ye Degong...”
“...there is another matter I must report to you.”
“Since you mentioned him, there is critical information about him you need to know.”
Subordinates in Chinese hierarchical communication often avoid abruptly changing topics; instead, they anchor critical reports onto a subject already broached by the superior ('speaking of...').
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
speaking of / bringing up
A standard conversational pivot used to transition to a new topic sparked by the other party's mention.
if you (polite)
Combines a conditional marker with the deferential second-person pronoun to maintain polite etiquette.
Marks the topic condition, framing the listener's comment as the trigger for the subsequent report.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“Say that in front of my master.”
“There's a saying I once heard from Mr. Wang:”
“Before, out of respect for Master De,”
“But someone once told me—”
“Mentor, you told me”
“I heard Uncle Lei mention it.”