Learn Chinese with ChineseClass101.com! You are in China vacationing with your friend and he is taking you to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. You have no idea what to order, seeing as it is your first time in China and you’re not used to authentic Chinese food. Your friend tells you in Chinese, “I am going to have the special today, and YOU are going to order for us.” You look at him skeptically as the waiter comes over. The waiter asks to take your order and you nervously reply in Chinese, “We will both have the special.” When the waiter leaves the table, your friend asks in Chinese, “Do you even know what the special is?” You look at your friend and say in perfect Chinese, “No.” He laughs and replies in Chinese, “You will like it, but you also have to learn how to act and speak in Chinese restaurants while you are here.” You thank him for his wonderful hospitality, sarcastically of course. After you really do enjoy the special, you wait for your check, but it never comes. You look at your friend and ask him in Chinese, “Do you know something I don’t?” He smiles and replies in Chinese, “You have to call the waiter over when you are ready to get the check.” You think to yourself that you will definitely learn the Chinese customs with your friend just throwing you out into the Chinese culture the way he is.
Learning Chinese with ChineseClass101.com is the most fun and effective way to learn Chinese. In this Chinese Absolute Beginner lesson, we will teach you important Chinese adverbs, question words, and vocabulary for Chinese restaurants. When you have finished filling-up your plate, come back to ChineseClass101.com for more exciting Chinese lessons. Leave us a message while you’re there.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Absolute Beginner Season 1 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
18 Responses to “Absolute Beginner #8 - Eating - Ordering Noodles”
Monday at 6:30 pm
What is your favorite noodle dish?
Tuesday at 12:21 am
Hey, good to hear Amber again. This is Amber from Chinesepod, right?
Tuesday at 1:04 am
Hi Kelin,
Yup.
–david
Tuesday at 6:43 pm
四川担担面!
–Echo
Wednesday at 12:58 pm
云南过桥米线!
Wednesday at 12:45 pm
Hi, question:
why is it when the waiter asked what they wanted to order, the word ‘xiang3′ was not used anymore?
Thursday at 2:32 am
HI Mei,
Good question! In this dialogue, the waiter didn’t use 想. I guess it is for the reason to not complicate the conversation too much. But there are several ways to ask the same question though. To list a couple:
您想点什么?
nín xiǎng diǎn shénme?
您要吃点儿什么?
nín yào chī diǎnr shénme?
What would you like to eat? (Note here dian with the er sound does not mean to order, but a little bit)
Best,
Jane
Thursday at 10:39 am
ah ok.. so it’s implied then.. thanks jane!
Sunday at 5:51 am
Thanks for another lesson!
I could actually understand most of the dialogue, without looking at the translations this time! It was great to have a lesson recap on the previous ones like this. Gives me the feeling that I’m actually learning something
我们都喜欢中文!
Monday at 2:23 am
@Natascha,
Great! 加油!
–Echo
Saturday at 9:40 pm
我正在想吃面条!
Sunday at 9:21 am
@Andreas,
我也很想吃
Thursday at 2:25 am
Hello,
I have been very excited about learning Chinese.
I am a Captian of a Search & Rescue cell on Long Island , NY.
My question is how do I say my name JOHN in Chinese ?
I am very thankful for your program and the technique used to teach beginners like me. Its great.
I thank you for your time.
PS: I bought the full APP on my I-pad. So far I love it…..
John Re
East Hampton, NY
Friday at 8:19 pm
@John Re,
Glad to hear from you and thanks for all your kind words about the site!
John’s translation is 约翰 yue1han4.
–Echo
Saturday at 3:22 am
HI,
THANKS SO MUCH. THIS IS VERY EXCITING. I LOVE IT.
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK.
CAPT. JOHN RE
Thursday at 1:13 am
@John Re,
谢谢!
–Echo
Wednesday at 5:53 pm
hello..
i’m a new member here, and i’ve read that it has a 7 day free trial..
so i thought that i can access all of the pdfs and audio..
but is there a limit for 7 day trial?? coz now i can’t access to this lesson’s pdf after i download the audio..
Monday at 12:33 pm
Hi Jane,
Thank you very much for your support!!
You’re right, the 7-day free trial should allow you to access all of the lesson materials. Please kindly give us your user name and we’ll follow up on this matter.
And sorry for the confusion
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