Learn how to check into a hotel room in China
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to ChineseClass101. I’m David. |
| Echo: Hi. Da jia hao! 我是(Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: We are here with Lesson 42 today in our Beginner series. |
| Echo: 第四十二课。(Dì sìshí'èr kè.) |
| David: Yeah. This is our progressive series teaching you Chinese if you have not studied Chinese before. We’ve got a great lesson. It’s all about checking into a hotel. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: So if you haven’t done this before by the end of this lesson, you’re going to be an exper I bet. |
| Echo: Okay. |
| David: Okay. So we’ve got the dialogue for you. Before we talk you there, we want to remind you. There are some hotels in China without internet access. |
| Echo: Exactly. |
| David: Many of which are [*]. If you get into that hotel, there’s nothing better than having our lessons printed out on paper beside you. Right, Echo? |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: But to do that, you’re going to need a premium subscription. So if you haven’t picked one up, give it some thought. But now, let’s listen to the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 甲: 请问，这儿一天多少钱？(JIǍ: Qǐngwèn, zhèr yī tiān duōshǎo qián?) |
| 乙: 您几位？(YǏ: Nín jǐ wèi?) |
| 甲: 就我自己。(JIǍ: Jiù wǒ zìjǐ.) |
| 乙: 您想要单人间还是标准间？(YǏ: Nín xiǎng yào dānrén jiān hái shì biāozhǔn jiān?) |
| 甲: 我要标准间。(JIǍ: Wǒ yào biāozhǔn jiān.) |
| 乙: 标准间250元一天。(YǏ: Biāozhǔn jiān èrbǎi wǔshí yuán yì tiān.) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 甲: 请问，这儿一天多少钱？(JIǍ: Qǐngwèn, zhèr yī tiān duōshǎo qián?) |
| 乙: 您几位？(YǏ: Nín jǐ wèi?) |
| 甲: 就我自己。(JIǍ: Jiù wǒ zìjǐ.) |
| 乙: 您想要单人间还是标准间？(YǏ: Nín xiǎng yào dānrén jiān hái shì biāozhǔn jiān?) |
| 甲: 我要标准间。(JIǍ: Wǒ yào biāozhǔn jiān.) |
| 乙: 标准间250元一天。(YǏ: Biāozhǔn jiān èrbǎi wǔshí yuán yì tiān.) |
| 甲: 请问，这儿一天多少钱？(JIǍ: Qǐngwèn, zhèr yī tiān duōshǎo qián?) |
| David: Excuse me, how much for a day here? |
| 乙: 您几位？(YǏ: Nín jǐ wèi?) |
| David: How many people? |
| 甲: 就我自己。(JIǍ: Jiù wǒ zìjǐ.) |
| David: Just myself. |
| 乙: 您想要单人间还是标准间？(YǏ: Nín xiǎng yào dānrén jiān hái shì biāozhǔn jiān?) |
| David: Would you like a single or standard room? |
| 甲: 我要标准间。(JIǍ: Wǒ yào biāozhǔn jiān.) |
| David: I’d like a standard room. |
| 乙: 标准间250元一天。(YǏ: Biāozhǔn jiān èrbǎi wǔshí yuán yì tiān.) |
| David: The standard room is 250 RMB per day. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: Okay. So… |
| David: I think the wording in China is a bit confusing. Like, what’s the difference between a standard room and a single room? |
| Echo: For a standard room, you will have two single beds but for single room, you only have one single bed. |
| David: Yeah. So why not they call the standard room a double room and make the single room standard room? |
| Echo: I don’t know. |
| David: I caught confusing. This is confusing. |
| Echo: Because I think they expect that… |
| David: You’re Chinese, Echo. Answer this. I don’t understand the hotels in China. |
| Echo: I can’t. |
| David: See, Echo can’t answer it. It’s illogical. |
| Echo: Also, actually I would like to introduce you one more type of the rooms. It’s 大床房.(Dà chuáng fáng.) |
| David: I’ve rented that big bedroom. |
| Echo: Yes, you have. |
| David: Well, I may have used one but… |
| Echo: It’s very useful. I think usually people don’t want to have a small or single bed so they can go for 大床房.(Dà chuáng fáng.) |
| David: Okay. Echo, you were straying into new vocab, so why don’t we just go to the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now, the vocab section. |
| Echo: 请问(qǐngwèn) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Excuse me. |
| Echo: 请问(qǐngwèn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 请问(qǐngwèn)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 一天(yìtiān) [natural native speed]. |
| David: One day. |
| Echo: 一天(yìtiān)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 一天(yìtiān)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 您几位 (nín jǐ wèi)[natural native speed]. |
| David: How many people? |
| Echo: 您几位(nín jǐ wèi)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 您几位(nín jǐ wèi)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 就(jiù) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Just. |
| Echo: 就(jiù)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 就(jiù)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 自己(zìjǐ) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Oneself. |
| Echo: 自己(zìjǐ)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 自己(zìjǐ)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 单人间(dānrénjiān) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Single room. |
| Echo: 单人间(dānrénjiān)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 单人间(dānrénjiān)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 标准间 (biāozhǔnjiān)[natural native speed]. |
| David: Standard room. |
| Echo: 标准间(biāozhǔnjiān)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 标准间(biāozhǔnjiān)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 还是(háishì) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Or. |
| Echo: 还是(háishì)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 还是(háishì)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 元(yuán) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Chinese dollar. |
| Echo: 元(yuán)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 元(yuán)[natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: Okay. A lot of great vocab today, especially about checking into a hotel. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Although you know what they missed? They missed the haggling part. |
| Echo: Right. You can always get discount. |
| David: Yeah, because if you use the hotels in China, you walk in and they’ve got this big board behind the desk with a list of the prices, don’t trust that board. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: You’ve always got to go and ask the people how much for a room. |
| Echo: 一个房间多少钱？(Yīgè fángjiān duōshǎo qián?) |
| David: They’re going to give you a price that’s lower. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: If they don’t, you just repeat asking, “how much for a room” until they give you a price that’s lower. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Right. That’s the board of hope. I don’t think anyone ever pays that much. You can normally get, what? You can normally get, at least, 20% off. |
| Echo: Yeah. Definitely. |
| David: Yeah. For the high-end stuff, you can sometimes get 25% or even more. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: We’ve got a lot of interesting vocab. First things first, though. This dialogue is taking place in a hotel. We’ve got three words for hotel. The first is… |
| Echo: 饭店。(Fàndiàn.) |
| David: Which could also be a restaurant. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: The second word is a lot more specific. |
| Echo: 宾馆。(Bīnguǎn.) |
| David: And finally… |
| Echo: 酒店.(Jiǔdiàn.) Yeah. This is a new word. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 酒店。(Jiǔdiàn.) |
| David: So there are three different ways to ask for a hotel. First is, “where is a hotel?” |
| Echo: 饭店在哪儿？( fàndiàn zài nǎ'r? ) |
| David: The second is, “where is a hotel?” |
| Echo: 宾馆在哪儿？ (Bīnguǎn zài nǎ‘r? ) |
| David: The third is, “where is a hotel?” |
| Echo: 酒店在哪儿？(Jiǔdiàn zài nǎ’r?) |
| David: So you ask this question and you get to the hotel. When you walk in, you’re going to want to ask for a room. |
| Echo: Right. 房间.(Fángjiān.) |
| David: Do you have a room? |
| Echo: 你们有房间吗？(Nǐmen yǒu fángjiān ma?) |
| David: Another way to ask that is… |
| Echo: 有没有房间？(Yǒu méiyǒu fángjiān?) |
| David: Right. If you remember the two words we covered in our dialogue were different kinds of rooms. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: There was the single room. |
| Echo: 单人间。(Dān rénjiān.) |
| David: Literally, single person. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: Tiny bed. Really tiny. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Yeah. Don’t be over six feet. Then there’s the standard room. |
| Echo: 标准间。(Biāozhǔn jiān.) |
| David: Where you also should not be over six feet. |
| Echo: So I recommend you guys get a 大床房。(Dà chuáng fáng.). |
| David: Although that is going to be expensive. |
| Echo: A little bit. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: But sometimes, it’s actually cheaper than 标准间.(Biāozhǔn jiān.) I don’t know why. |
| David: Really? |
| Echo: Yes. |
| David: When I ask for the cheap ones, they put in the closet. Anyway, when you get to the front counter, you may want to ask, “Do you guys have Wi-Fi?” |
| Echo: 你们有Wi-Fi吗？(Nǐmen yǒu Wi-Fi ma?) |
| David: Do you have television? |
| Echo: 你们有电视吗？(Nǐmen yǒu diànshì ma?) |
| David: Or do you have the mini-bar? |
| Echo: 你们有小冰箱吗？(Nǐmen yǒu xiǎo bīngxiāng ma?) |
| David: In China, it’s the little fridge. |
| Echo: 小冰箱。(Xiǎo bīngxiāng.) |
| David: Not mini-bar. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: Okay. With that stuff under your belt, you should be able to get a hotel without any problems. Make sure to haggle them down on the price. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: Take at least 20%. With that, let’s go to the grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
| Male: It’s grammar time. |
| David: Echo, how easy is our grammar point today? |
| Echo: Really easy. |
| David: It’s really easy. |
| Echo: 非常简单。(Fēicháng jiǎndān.) |
| David: This is possibly the easiest grammar section we’ve ever given you guys. Our grammar point for today is all about the word for “or”. |
| Echo: 还是。(Háishì.) |
| David: Or. |
| Echo: 还是(Háishì) |
| David: Listen to the tones on that – rising second tone and then a falling fourth tone. |
| Echo: 还是。(Háishì.) |
| David: As in the sentences, “Do you want coffee or tea?” |
| Echo: 你想要咖啡还是茶？(Nǐ xiǎng yào kāfēi háishì chá?) |
| David: Are you American or British? |
| Echo: 你是美国人还是英国人？(Nǐ shì měiguó rén háishì yīngguó rén?) |
| David: Do you want the expensive one or the cheap one? |
| Echo: 您想要贵的还是便宜的？(Nín xiǎng yào guì de háishì piányí de?) |
| David: That’s right. Actually, no one has ever asked that question: do you want the expensive one or cheap one? I have frequently said though, “I want the cheap one.” |
| Echo: Right. 我要便宜的.(Wǒ yào piányí de.) |
| David: Yeah. Anyway, this word for “or”. |
| Echo: 还是。(háishì.) |
| David: As in English, we put it in between the two things that are our choices. |
| Echo: Right.A还是B.(A háishì B.) |
| David: Coffee or tea? |
| Echo: 咖啡还是茶？(Kāfēi háishì chá?) |
| David: American or British? |
| Echo: 美国人还是英国人？(Měiguó rén háishì yīngguó rén?) |
| David: Single room or standard room? |
| Echo: 单人间还是标准间？(Dān rénjiān háishì biāozhǔn jiān?) |
| David: If someone is asking you this question using the word… |
| Echo: 还是(Háishì) |
| David: …makes the choice exclusive. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: So they’re going to be giving you one of the two but not both, although I guess there isn’t any reason you couldn’t say, “I want both”. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: 我都要。(Wǒ dū yào.) |
| Echo: You can say that. 我都要.(Wǒ dū yào.) So a little tip here. Remember when you use 还是(Háishì) to ask a question, don’t add 吗(Ma), our question marker, at the end of the sentence. |
| David: Right. Because we only use that question marker when we’re turning statement into a question. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: It is true. So it’s like, “do you want A or B?” |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: Okay. So let’s review those three questions one more time. “Do you want coffee or tea?” |
| Echo: 您想要咖啡还是茶？(Nín xiǎng yào kāfēi háishì chá?) |
| David: Are you American or British? |
| Echo: 你是美国人还是英国人？(Nǐ shì měiguó rén háishì yīngguó rén?) |
| David: My favorite, “Do you want the expensive one or the cheap one?” |
| Echo: 你想要贵的还是便宜的？(Nǐ xiǎng yào guì de háishì piányí de?) |
| David: If you take nothing else away from this lesson, you can use that in a hotel, too. They ask you, “What kind of room you want?” you can say, “I want the cheap one.” |
| Echo: 我想要便宜的。(Wǒ xiǎng yào piányí de.) |
| David: So that’s a pretty simple grammar point, right? So that’s a really simple grammar point, right, Echo? |
| Echo: Uh-hmm. |
| David: Simple than usual. |
| Echo: 非常简单。(Fēicháng jiǎndān.) |
| David: Speaking of simple, we’ve got a lot of ways to make learning Chinese simple in our premium learning center on ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: Exactly. |
| David: So no matter if you’ve learned for a few days now… |
| Echo: 还是(Háishì), if you have already learned for years. |
| David: And you understand everything Echo was saying in Chinese. There are tools and resources there that are going to help you get this vocab down, get this grammar points down. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: So check it out. With that, we’re at the end of our podcast for today. Thanks for listening. From Beijing, I’m David. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo. |
| David: And we’ll see you guys next week. |
| Echo: 下周见吧。(Xià zhōu jiàn ba.) |
| David: Bye-bye. |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
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