Learn the Chinese word for "helmet"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Echo: 嗨！大家好，我是Echo. (Hāi! Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: And we are here with the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Chinese. We’ve got intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 18. Don’t Forget the Helmet. |
| Echo: That’s right. |
| David: Right. This is the lesson for you biking enthusiasts out there. It’s going to tell you what it’s like riding a bike here in China. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Okay. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: So we’ve got a dialogue with two friends, one of whom has just purchased a new bike. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: And his other friend is a biking enthusiast. He is going to give him some advice. |
| Echo: Right and they are speaking casual Mandarin as usual. |
| David: Right and speaking of casual Mandarin and speaking of advice, we’ve got some for you. If you haven’t yet, drop by chineseclass101.com and take a look at our premium PDF transcripts. They’ve got a copy of the transcript, they’ve got this grammar write up and they’ve got extra notes on usages and sample sentences. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Great stuff for really, quickly reviewing this lesson in the future. With that though, let’s go to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 你不觉得骑自行车不戴头盔很危险吗？(Nǐ bù juéde qí zìxíngchē bù dàitóukuī hěn wēixiǎn ma?) |
| 什么？你在说什么？(Shénme? Nǐ zài shuō shénme?) |
| 没有头盔，你可能会出事儿。(Méiyǒu tóukuī, nǐ kěnéng huì chū shìr.) |
| 不好意思，我不明白你在说什么。(Bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ bù míngbai nǐ zài shuō shénme.) |
| 我是说，你应该戴头盔。万一你被汽车或摩托车撞了，怎么办？(Wǒ shì shuō, nǐ yīnggāi dàitóukuī. Wànyī nǐ bèi qìchē huò mótuōchē zhuàngle, zěnme bàn?) |
| 头盔...是什么？(Tóukuī ... shì Shénme?) |
| David: One more time, a little bit slower. |
| 你不觉得骑自行车不戴头盔很危险吗？(Nǐ bù juéde qí zìxíngchē bù dàitóukuī hěn wēixiǎn ma?) |
| 什么？你在说什么？(Shénme? Nǐ zài shuō shénme?) |
| 没有头盔，你可能会出事儿。(Méiyǒu tóukuī, nǐ kěnéng huì chū shìr.) |
| 不好意思，我不明白你在说什么。(Bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ bù míngbai nǐ zài shuō shénme.) |
| 我是说，你应该戴头盔。万一你被汽车或摩托车撞了，怎么办？(Wǒ shì shuō, nǐ yīnggāi dàitóukuī. Wànyī nǐ bèi qìchē huò mótuōchē zhuàngle, zěnme bàn?) |
| 头盔...是什么？(Tóukuī ... shì Shénme?) |
| David: And now with the English translation. |
| 你不觉得骑自行车不戴头盔很危险吗？(Nǐ bù juéde qí zìxíngchē bù dàitóukuī hěn wēixiǎn ma?) |
| Don't you think it's really dangerous to ride a bicycle without a helmet? |
| 什么？你在说什么？(Shénme? Nǐ zài shuō shénme?) |
| What? What are you saying? |
| 没有头盔，你可能会出事儿。(Méiyǒu tóukuī, nǐ kěnéng huì chū shìr.) |
| If you don't have a helmet, maybe you'll have an accident. |
| 不好意思，我不明白你在说什么。(Bùhǎoyìsi, wǒ bù míngbai nǐ zài shuō shénme.) |
| I am sorry, I don't understand what you are saying. |
| 我是说，你应该戴头盔。万一你被汽车或摩托车撞了，怎么办？(Wǒ shì shuō, nǐ yīnggāi dàitóukuī. Wànyī nǐ bèi qìchē huò mótuōchē zhuàngle, zěnme bàn?) |
| I am saying you should wear a helmet. On the off case you are hit by a motorcycle, what would you do? |
| 头盔...是什么？(Tóukuī ... shì Shénme?) |
| Helmet? What's that? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: This is a true story. It is really hard to find helmets in China, right helmets. |
| Echo: 对呀，我们都不知道。(Duì ya, wǒmen dōu bù zhīdào.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 我从小骑自行车都没有头盔。(Wǒ cóngxiǎo qí zìxíngchē dōu méiyǒu tóukuī.) |
| David: Yeah. Reckless driving, I found one at a giant store in Shanghai and I picked it up and I was pretty much the only one wearing it. |
| Echo: 对，大家都觉得，那个老外真奇怪。(Duì, dàjiā dōu juédé, nàgè lǎowài zhēn qíguài.) |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 戴了什么东西。(Dàile shénme dōngxī.) |
| David: Hmm anyway, slowly changing China but we’ve got a lot of vocab here which is about biking and transportation safety. So let’s get to it now. And now the vocab section. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 骑 (Qí) |
| David: To ride. |
| Echo: 骑，骑。自行车 (Qí, qí. Zìxíngchē) |
| David: Bicycle. |
| Echo: 自行车，自行车。戴 (Zìxíngchē, zìxíngchē. Dài) |
| David: To wear. |
| Echo: 戴，戴。头盔 (Dài, dài. Tóukuī) |
| David: Helmet. |
| Echo: 头盔，头盔。危险 (Tóukuī, tóukuī. Wéixiǎn) |
| David: Dangerous. |
| Echo: 危险，危险。出事 (Wéixiǎn, wéixiǎn. Chūshì) |
| David: To have an accident. |
| Echo: 出事，出事。万一 (Chūshì, chūshì. Wàn yī) |
| David: On the off chance. |
| Echo: 万一，万一。千万 (Wàn yī, wàn yī. Qiān wàn) |
| David: Whatever you do. |
| Echo: 千万，千万。撞 (Qiān wàn, qiān wàn. Zhuàng) |
| David: To collide. |
| Echo: 撞，撞。交通 (Zhuàng, zhuàng. Jiāotōng) |
| David: Transportation. |
| Echo: 交通，交通。 (Jiāotōng, jiāotōng.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: So our vocabulary section today is all about transportation safety. |
| Echo: 交通安全。 (Jiāotōng ānquán.) |
| David: Right. And the key word here is of course helmet. |
| Echo: 头盔 (Tóukuī) |
| David: Right. Helmet. |
| Echo: 头盔。我经常忘记拿头盔。 (Tóukuī. Wǒ jīngcháng wàngjì ná tóukuī.) |
| David: I often forget to take my helmet. |
| Echo: 我经常忘记拿头盔。 (Wǒ jīngcháng wàngjì ná tóukuī.) |
| David: I often forget to take my helmet and that was 拿 (Ná) to take. |
| Echo: 对 (Duì) |
| David: Normally you wear a helmet. |
| Echo: 对，戴。 (Duì, dài.) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: 像戴帽子 (Xiàng dài màozi) |
| David: Right. It’s like wearing a hat. |
| Echo: 你头上戴的是什么？ (Nǐ tóu shàng dài de shì shénme?) |
| David: What’s that on your head? |
| Echo: 你头上戴的是什么？(Nǐ tóu shàng dài de shì shénme?) |
| David: What’s that on your head? A question you may encounter if you wear a helmet in China. |
| Echo: 差不多。 (Chàbùduō.) |
| David: Right. We’ve got a couple of other words which you may have run into or may not have. We’ve got the word dangerous. |
| Echo: 危险 (Wéixiǎn) |
| David: Which is what it is to ride a bike without a helmet. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: Yeah. |
| Echo: 不戴头盔骑自行车很危险。 (Bù dài tóukuī qí zìxíngchē hěn wéixiǎn.) |
| David: Right and we’ve got, what’s going to happen to you maybe if you don’t wear a helmet. |
| Echo: 出事儿。(Chūshì er.) |
| David: Right which is literally out come problems. |
| Echo: 出事儿。(Chūshì er.) |
| David: So we translated this before as to have an accident, but it’s really more general. |
| Echo: 对，是这样。比如说，他骑自行车很小心，从不出事儿。(Duì, shì zhèyàng. Bǐrú shuō, tā qí zìxíngchē hěn xiǎoxīn, cóng bù chūshì er.) |
| David: He rides his bike carefully and never has problems, never comes out 事儿(Shì er) and don’t forget that 事儿。(Shì er) |
| Echo: 出事儿。(Chūshì er.) |
| David: There is an 儿 发音 (Er fāyīn) in there and 事儿。(Shì er.) And our last two words are the focus of our grammar section. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 第一个是“万一”。(Dì yī gè shì “wàn yī”.) |
| David: Which means in case of. The second is |
| Echo: 千万，千万。 (Qiān wàn, qiān wàn.) |
| David: Which means whatever you do. These are really easy to confuse. So we are devoting our whole grammar section to them. |
| Echo: 万一 (Wàn yī) |
| David: And |
| Echo: 千万 (Qiān wàn) |
| David: These two words are very easy to confuse, right because they are both… |
| Echo: They look pretty similar. |
| David: And you think they would be used the same way but they are really, really different. |
| Echo: 对，它们有很大的区别。 (Duì, tāmen yǒu hěn dà de qūbié.) |
| David: Right. So the first one again is |
| Echo: 万一 (Wàn yī) |
| David: Which is literally 10,001 or 1 in 10,000. |
| Echo: 对，这就像一个特殊情况下的”如果“。(Duì, zhè jiù xiàng yīgè tèshū qíngkuàng xià de” rúguǒ “.) |
| David: Yeah. It’s like the word if. It means in case or in the unlikely event of. |
| Echo: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: For instance, you might say |
| Echo: 万一你出事儿了怎么办？(Wàn yī nǐ chūshì erle zěnme bàn?) |
| David: In the unlikely case you have a problem, what will we do? |
| Echo: 万一你出事儿了怎么办？ (Wàn yī nǐ chūshì erle zěnme bàn?) |
| David: Right. |
| Echo: Or 万一你的摩托车被偷了，怎么办？ (wàn yī nǐ de mótuō chē bèi tōule, zěnme bàn?) |
| David: In the event that your motorcycle is stolen, what will we do? |
| Echo: Or 万一你的摩托车被偷了，怎么办？ (wàn yī nǐ de mótuō chē bèi tōule, zěnme bàn?) |
| David: What will we do if your motorcycle is stolen, and it’s no accident that both of those sentences ended with |
| Echo: 怎么办？ (Zěnme bàn?) |
| David: This is a really common pattern. We’ve got one more sample sentence for you. |
| Echo: 万一他不记得你，你怎么进去？ (Wàn yī tā bù jìdé nǐ, nǐ zěnme jìnqù?) |
| David: In the rare case he doesn’t remember you, how will you get in. |
| Echo: 万一他不记得你，你怎么进去？ (Wàn yī tā bù jìdé nǐ, nǐ zěnme jìnqù?) |
| David: In the rare case he doesn’t remember you, how will you get in. So as Echo said, |
| Echo: 万一 (Wàn yī) |
| David: Can be replaced with |
| Echo: 如果 (Rúguǒ) |
| David: Our second word is very different though. |
| Echo: 千万 (Qiān wàn) |
| David: Means whatever you do. |
| Echo: 对，千万。 (Duì, qiān wàn.) |
| David: Whatever you do. |
| Echo: 比如说，你千万别去。 (Bǐrú shuō, nǐ qiān wàn bié qù.) |
| David: Whatever you do, don’t go. |
| Echo: 你千万别去。 (Nǐ qiān wàn bié qù.) |
| David: So we are using this to stress something. |
| Echo: 对，比如说:骑车，千万要注意安全。 (Duì, bǐrú shuō: Qí chē, qiān wàn yào zhùyì ānquán.) |
| David: When you are riding a bike, you really have to pay attention to safety. |
| Echo: 骑车，千万要注意安全。(Qí chē, qiān wàn yào zhùyì ānquán.) |
| David: When you are riding a bike, you really have to pay attention to safety. Pay attention here to the way we are using |
| Echo: 千万 (Qiān wàn) |
| David: In an imperative case. We are giving people orders or suggestions. |
| Echo: 没错。你千万别再忘戴头盔了。 (Méi cuò. Nǐ qiān wàn bié zài wàng dài tóukuīle.) |
| David: Whatever you do, don’t forget to wear your helmet. |
| Echo: 你千万别再忘戴头盔了。(Nǐ qiān wàn bié zài wàng dài tóukuīle.) |
| David: Whatever you do, don’t forget to wear your helmet. So these two words sound similar but they are really quite different. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: First we have |
| Echo: 万一 (Wàn yī) |
| David: Which means if or in the unlikely case of. As in the sentence, |
| Echo: 万一你出事儿怎么办？ (Wàn yī nǐ chūshì er zěnme bàn?) |
| David: If you have an accident, what will we do? Our second word is |
| Echo: 千万 (Qiān wàn) |
| David: Which means whatever you do. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: It’s more of an order. |
| Echo: 比如说，你千万别去。(Bǐrú shuō, nǐ qiān wàn bié qù.) |
| David: Yeah. Whatever you do, don’t go or don’t go in any case. |
Outro |
| David: So that’s our podcast for today. The grammar point is actually pretty simple. It’s just something a lot of people mix up. Before we go also, we want to remind you, we’ve got a lot of tools in the premium learning center on chineseclass101.com |
| Echo: 对。 (Duì.) |
| David: And don’t forget them. |
| Echo: 千万别忘了。(Qiān wàn bié wàngle.) |
| David: Right. Especially things like our audio review which is designed to help you practice speaking Chinese. |
| Echo: That’s right. |
| David: From Beijing, I am David. |
| Echo: 我是Echo。 (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Echo: Bye bye. |
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