其实我这次回国 是为了我一个朋友
“Actually, I came back to the country this time for a friend.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
我啊
“Me?”
其实 我这次 回国 是 为了我 一个朋友
“Actually, I came back to the country this time for a friend.”
“She was in a tough spot back then and almost desperate.”
“You were in trouble, and I couldn't just stand by abroad and watch you suffer.”
In Chinese emotional discourse, speakers often refer vaguely to 'a friend' (一个朋友) to avoid direct confrontation of feelings or to test the waters before revealing personal feelings.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
actually; as a matter of fact
Used at the start of a sentence to reveal an underlying truth or dispel an assumption.
return to one's home country
A highly frequent term used by and about overseas Chinese or returnees (海归).
is for the sake of; in order to
Standard syntactic construction explaining the underlying purpose or motive behind an action.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“I was planning to come back for spring break anyway.”
“want to settle down here. That's fine with me.”
“Why didn't I contact you when I came back three months ago? Because I was”
“I wouldn't even come back.”
“I've made up my mind to come back to China.”
“It's kind of last-minute.”