Learn about a holiday that revolves around mountain climbing
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: If you are in Beijing in the mountains, there are stones through away. You can go hiking and see the Great Wall. |
| Sylvia: Definitely. |
| David: Yeah. So our dialogue today doesn’t take place on the mountain though. |
| Sylvia: Well it takes place at home. |
| David: Right. People are deciding what they are going to do this weekend. So it’s casual Mandarin conversation as always. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 周末有什么安排？(Zhōumò yǒu shéme ānpái?) |
| B: 在家呆着。(Zàijiā dāizhe.) |
| A: 去爬山怎么样？(Qù páshān zěnme yàng?) |
| B: 都有谁去？(Dōu yǒu sheí qù?) |
| A: 我，你，还有老王两口子。(Wǒ, nǐ, háiyǒu lǎowáng liǎngkǒuzi.) |
| David: One more time a bit slower. |
| A: 周末有什么安排？(Zhōumò yǒu shéme ānpái?) |
| B: 在家呆着。(Zàijiā dāizhe.) |
| A: 去爬山怎么样？(Qù páshān zěnme yàng?) |
| B: 都有谁去？(Dōu yǒu sheí qù?) |
| A: 我，你，还有老王两口子。(Wǒ, nǐ, háiyǒu lǎowáng liǎngkǒuzi.) |
| David: And now with the English translation. |
| Sylvia: 周末有什么安排？(Zhōumò yǒu shéme ānpái?) |
| David: What's the plan for this weekend? |
| Sylvia: 在家呆着。(Zàijiā dāizhe.) |
| David: Staying at home. |
| Sylvia: 去爬山怎么样？(Qù páshān zěnme yàng?) |
| David: What about going mountain climbing? |
| Sylvia: 都有谁去？(Dōu yǒu sheí qù?) |
| David: Who's going? |
| Sylvia: 我，你，还有老王两口子。(Wǒ, nǐ, háiyǒu lǎowáng liǎngkǒuzi.) |
| David: Me, you, Lao Wang, and his wife. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: So Sylvia how often do you go mountain climbing? |
| Sylvia: Maybe once a year. Not very frequently. |
| David: I guess for us it’s maybe twice a year. |
| Sylvia: Okay. |
| David: Especially spring and fall, summer is too hot. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sylvia: 家 (jiā)[natural native speed] |
| David: home |
| Sylvia: 家 (jiā)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 家 (jiā)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 周末 (zhōumò) [natural native speed] |
| David: weekend |
| Sylvia: 周末 (zhōumò)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 周末 (zhōumò)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 安排 (ānpái)[natural native speed] |
| David: to arrange; arrangements |
| Sylvia: 安排 (ānpái)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 安排 (ānpái)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 呆着 (dāizhe)[natural native speed] |
| David: to sit around |
| Sylvia: 呆着 (dāizhe)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 呆着 (dāizhe)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 爬 (pá)[natural native speed] |
| David: to climb |
| Sylvia: 爬 (pá)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 爬 (pá)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 山(shān) [natural native speed] |
| David: mountain |
| Sylvia: 山 (shān)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 山 (shān)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 两口子(liǎngkǒuzi) [natural native speed] |
| David: a (pair of) couple |
| Sylvia: 两口子 (liǎngkǒuzi)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 两口子 (liǎngkǒuzi)[natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Let’s take a closer look at some of these words and phrases. The most important word here is the word for arrangements 安排,(Ānpái,) arrangements 安排.(Ānpái.) Now in our dialogue, this was a noun… |
| Sylvia: 周末有什么安排？ (Zhōumò yǒu shé me ānpái?) |
| David: On the weekend, are you doing anything? Do you have anything that’s already been arranged but this could also be a verb. |
| Sylvia: For instance, 安排晚饭.(Ānpái wǎnfàn.) |
| David: To make an arrangement for dinner. |
| Sylvia: 安排派对. (Ānpái pàiduì.) |
| David: To arrange a party. So it can either be a noun or verb. The next word we want to call your attention to is the word to climb a mountain 爬山.(Páshān.) This is really two words. First is to climb 爬 (Pá) and this can also mean to crawl. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: So babies, before they learn to walk moves around to 爬.(Pá.) |
| Sylvia: But most of the time you would hear 爬山.(Páshān.) |
| David: Right. |
| Sylvia: Means to climb. |
| David: Meaning to climb and that is a really high frequency word. Let’s hear it again. |
| Sylvia: 爬.(Pá.) |
| David: To climb a mountain… |
| Sylvia: 爬山.(Páshān.) |
| David: Now when we talked about mountain climbing here, for Chinese people we are not talking about ascending vertical rock face. |
| Sylvia: No. |
| David: Right. People are talking more about hiking. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: And it doesn’t even need to be a mountain. |
| Sylvia: Yeah it can be somewhere with steps you know. |
| David: Yeah it could be a park or it could be a small hill. So don’t be intimidated by the word from mountain here. |
| Sylvia: Yes 山.(Shān.) |
| David: And I’ve got a question for you, Sylvia. When westerners think of a mountain, we think of something huge, covered with snow at the top. Now in China, we don’t have those kind of mountains. |
| Sylvia: Right. |
| David: So what would you call a smaller hill? |
| Sylvia: 小山.(Xiǎoshān.) So actually in Chinese, the word mountain and hill are the same one. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Sylvia: So 山(Shān) could mean both. |
| David: Yeah it’s pretty much the same if you want to specifically say although, you should say 小山.(Xiǎoshān.) Small mountain. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: The last word we want to highlight before we get to our grammar section is this word for couple 两口子,(Liǎng kǒuzi,) couple 两口子.(Liǎng kǒuzi.) Literally this means two mouths. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: But we will only here use referring to a husband and wife. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: So boyfriend and girlfriend doesn’t count. |
| Sylvia: No. |
| David: This is a couple. A married couple. |
| Sylvia: Right 两口子.(Liǎng kǒuzi.) So in a dialogue we hear 老王两口子. (Lǎo wáng liǎng kǒuzi.) You can always add your family name. For example, 老张两口子.(Lǎo zhāng liǎng kǒuzi.) |
| David: Right which would be old Mr. Zhang and his wife or 老张两口子. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Sylvia what’s our grammar point today? |
| Sylvia: Today we are going to learn how to make suggestions. |
| David: Specifically suggestions about where to go. In the dialog, we heard the following line. 去爬山怎么样？(Qù páshān zěnme yàng?) How about going climbing? |
| Sylvia: 去爬山怎么样？So 去...怎么样？(Qù páshān zěnme yàng?So qù... Zěnme yàng?) means doing something how about it? |
| David: Right and literally means to go and do something. For instance, how about we go dancing? |
| Sylvia: 去跳舞怎么样？ (Qù tiàowǔ zěnme yàng?) |
| David: How about we go eat food? |
| Sylvia: 去吃饭怎么样？(Qù chīfàn zěnme yàng?) Another example 去唱歌怎么样？ (Qù chànggē zěnme yàng?) |
| David: How about we go out singing? If your friends are KTV fans, you are going to hear this. |
| Sylvia: And 去工作怎么样？(Qù gōngzuò zěnme yàng?) |
| David: If your friends are workaholics right, how about we go work. |
| Sylvia: Together. |
| David: Right. Or maybe they just want you to do all the work. Any way our grammar point stays really simple. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: Again you start with 去 and then you put the activity you want to do, be it 唱歌/工作/吃饭, (Chànggē/gōngzuò/chīfàn,) and then you close by saying 怎么样？(Zěnme yàng?) |
Outro |
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