Dialogue

Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Chris: Hi everyone. Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am Chris.
Echo: Hi, 大家好, 我是(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì)Echo。
Chris: And this is lower beginner, season 1, Lesson 3.
Echo: Having a Happy Birthday in China.
Chris: Okay and this dialogue is between three friends, one of them has a problem that we all have, getting older and older and older…
Echo: Well just celebrating her birthday.
Chris: Okay.
Echo: Yeah and of course because they are friends, so they are speaking casual Mandarin as always.
Chris: Exactly. So let’s listen to the dialogue.
DIALOGUE
A: 王姐,生日快乐!(Wáng Jiě, shēngrì kuàilè!)
B: 祝你生日快乐!(Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè!)
A: 谢谢你们。(Xièxiè nǐmen..)
B: 祝你新的一年身体健康。(Zhù nǐ xīn de yì nián shēntǐ jiànkāng.)
A: 还有一切顺利!(Hái yǒu yíqiè shùnlì!)
B: 谢谢,我们切蛋糕吧。(Xièxie, wǒmen qiē dàngāo ba.)
Chris: One more time a bit slower.
A: 王姐,生日快乐!(Wáng Jiě, shēngrì kuàilè!)
B: 祝你生日快乐!(Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè!)
A: 谢谢你们。(Xièxiè nǐmen..)
B: 祝你新的一年身体健康。(Zhù nǐ xīn de yì nián shēntǐ jiànkāng.)
A: 还有一切顺利!(Hái yǒu yíqiè shùnlì!)
B: 谢谢,我们切蛋糕吧。(Xièxie, wǒmen qiē dàngāo ba.)
Chris: Now with the English translation.
Echo: 王姐,生日快乐!(Wáng Jiě, shēngrì kuàilè!)
Chris: Sister Wong, happy birthday.
Echo: 祝你生日快乐!(Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè!)
Chris: Wishing you a happy birthday.
Echo: 谢谢你们。(Xièxiè nǐmen..)
Chris: Thanks everybody.
Echo: 祝你新的一年身体健康。(Zhù nǐ xīn de yì nián shēntǐ jiànkāng.)
Chris: I wish you a year filled with good health.
Echo: 还有一切顺利!(Hái yǒu yíqiè shùnlì!)
Chris: And everything goes smoothly.
Echo: 谢谢,我们切蛋糕吧。(Xièxie, wǒmen qiē dàngāo ba.)
Chris: Thanks. Let’s cut the cake.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Chris: So Echo, when I first came to China, someone told me that Chinese people sometimes celebrate two birthdays.
Echo: You mean the Chinese calendars?
Chris: Yeah the Lunar calendar, yeah. Yeah and said, there are two different calendars.
Echo: Yes well but usually people celebrate the normal one, the common one.
Chris: Okay so they just told me that of course they want some more presents.
Echo: They want more presents. Okay anyway, let’s go to our vocab now.
VOCAB LIST
Echo: 王姐。(Wáng Jiě.)
Chris: Sister Wong.
Echo: 王姐,王姐,生日快乐。(Wáng Jiě,Wáng Jiě,shēngrì kuàilè.)
Chris: Happy birthday.
Echo: 生日快乐,生日快乐,祝。(shēngrì kuàilè,shēngrì kuàilè,zhù.)
Chris: Wishing.
Echo: 祝,祝,新。(zhù,zhù,xīn.)
Chris: New
Echo: 新,新,一年。 (xīn,xīn,yì nián.)
Chris: Year.
Echo: 一年,一年, 身体健康。(yì nián,yì nián,shēntǐ jiànkāng.)
Chris: Good health.
Echo: 身体健康, 身体健康, 一切顺利。(shēntǐ jiànkāng, shēntǐ jiànkāng, yíqiè shùnlì.)
Chris: Everything goes smoothly.
Echo: 一切顺利, 一切顺利。(yíqiè shùnlì, yíqiè shùnlì.)
Chris: Okay great. So let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases in today’s dialogue. And the first word is
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Echo: 王姐。(Wáng Jiě.)
Chris: Sister Wong.
Echo: 王姐。(Wáng Jiě.)
Chris: Sister Wong.
Echo: Actually the speaker is not 王姐(Wáng Jiě) sister yeah but he just say that, it’s because you know, Chinese people like to sound closer to each other.
Chris: Yeah, yeah.
Echo: Yeah so maybe they are just co-workers or they are just friends. Yeah but they say 王姐(Wáng Jiě)
Chris: When I first came to China, someone advised me, they said that I should use big brother when I am talking to people older than me.
Echo: Right 大哥(Dàgē) yeah or if you know like the person’s family name, you can call him like 黄大哥(Huáng dàgē)or 李大哥.(Lǐ dàgē.) That’s even closer.
Chris: Oh! What’s the next one?
Echo: Actually next we are going to have a couple of four character words all about good wishes.
Chris: Okay what’s the first one?
Echo: 生日快乐!(shēngrì kuàilè!)
Chris: This is just happy birthday right?
Echo: Right. 生日快乐!(shēngrì kuàilè!)
Chris: Happy birthday.
Echo: Umm we hear that a lot.
Chris: Twice a year apparently.
Echo: Yeah literally that’s 生日。(Shēngrì.)
Chris: Birthday.
Echo: 快乐。(Kuàilè.)
Chris: Happy. So Chinese people don’t miss an opportunity to give someone good wishes right?
Echo: Yeah especially with 快乐。(Kuàilè.)
Chris: So if it’s Christmas day?
Echo: Yeah we say 圣诞快乐!(Shèngdàn kuàilè!)
Chris: Merry Christmas!
Echo: 圣诞快乐!(Shèngdàn kuàilè!)
Chris: Merry Christmas!
Echo: Or 新年快乐!(Xīnnián kuàilè!)
Chris: Happy New Year.
Echo: 新年快乐!(Xīnnián kuàilè!)
Chris: Happy New Year.
Echo: Or something like 新婚快乐!(Xīnhūn kuàilè!)
Chris: Ah this is one I hope I don’t hear soon. This is happy new marriage.
Echo: 新婚快乐!(Xīnhūn kuàilè!)
Chris: Okay great. So that’s about all the vocab. Let’s move on to some grammar.
Echo: Okay.

Lesson focus

Chris: It’s grammar time. Our grammar point for today is
Echo: 祝。(zhù.)
Chris: And you can hear this in the dialogue.
Echo: 祝你 生日快乐!(Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè!)
Chris: Wishing you a happy birthday.
Echo: 祝你 生日快乐!(Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè)
Chris: Wishing you a happy birthday.
Echo: That’s how we Chinese people like usually make wishes, usually give wishes.
Chris: In a previous lesson, we learned how to congratulate someone on an achievement. The guy got a promotion and someone said
Echo: 祝贺你。(Zhùhè nǐ.)
Chris: Congratulations.
Echo: Right.
Chris: Now in this lesson, it’s the same
Echo: 祝。(zhù)
Chris: But we are using it to give good wishes to someone on a special event.
Echo: Right. It’s not like okay, I congratulate you on your achievement. It’s not 祝贺(zhùhè), 祝(zhù) is to give or to express your good wishes.
Chris: So we can say on somebody’s birthday
Echo: 祝你 生日快乐!(Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè!)
Chris: Or if it’s Christmas day, we can say
Echo: 祝你 圣诞快乐!(Zhù nǐ Shèngdàn kuàilè!)
Chris: Wish you a merry Christmas.
Echo: 祝你 圣诞快乐!(Zhù nǐ Shèngdàn kuàilè!)
Chris: So you can see, the structure here is
Echo: 祝(zhù) plus 你(Nǐ)or whoever and plus our magic four character words like 生日快乐!(shēngrì kuàilè!) or 圣诞快乐!(Shèngdàn kuàilè!)
Chris: Okay good. Shall we look at some more examples?
Echo: Of course.
Chris: How did we say happy new marriage? A lot of my friends are getting married.
Echo: Usually it’s 祝你们 新婚快乐!(Zhù nǐmen xīnhūn kuàilè!)
Chris: Wishing you a happy new marriage.
Echo: 祝你们 新婚快乐! or 祝你 新年快乐!(Zhù nǐmen xīnhūn kuàilè! or Zhù nǐ xīnnián kuàilè!)
Chris: Wishing you a happy new year.
Echo: 祝你 新年快乐!(Zhù nǐ xīnnián kuàilè!)
Chris: Wishing you a happy new year.
Echo: Yeah or something without 快乐.(Kuàilè.) You can say 祝你 身体健康。(Zhù nǐ shēntǐ jiànkāng.)
Chris: Wishing you good health.
Echo: 祝你 身体健康。(Zhù nǐ shēntǐ jiànkāng.)
Chris: Wishing you good health.
Echo: Right. You can always use it to like older people. Yeah, if you don’t know what to say, you can say 祝你 一切顺利!(Zhù nǐ yīqiè shùnlì!)
Chris: Wishing that everything works out smoothly.
Echo: Right. 祝你 一切顺利!(Zhù nǐ yīqiè shùnlì!)
Chris: It’s something I say it all the time in Beijing.
Echo: Yeah that’s super useful. You know, you don’t know what to say, then just say well, 一切顺利!(Yīqiè shùnlì!)
Chris: It’s just a general kind of – I hope you don’t have any troubles today.
Echo: Yeah.
Chris: Okay so to recap, we have the grammar point.
Echo: 祝。(zhù.)
Chris: So Echo, who can we use this with? Can I use this with my boss?
Echo: Yeah you can use this with anyone.
Chris: My sister.
Echo: Yes.
Chris: My parents?
Echo: Yes.

Outro

Chris: Okay right, good. Before we go, you’ve got one last tip for us.
Echo: That’s right. You don’t always have to say 祝你(Zhù nǐ) or 祝你们(Zhù nǐmen), you can just drop it, you can just keep this magic four-character words like 生日快乐!(shēngrì kuàilè!)or 身体健康!(shēntǐ jiànkāng!) or 一切顺利!(yíqiè shùnlì)or 新婚快乐!(Xīnhūn kuàilè!). Just keep them and drop the 祝你(Zhù nǐ) part. It works as good.
Chris: Okay great. So that’s all we got time for and if it’s your birthday, Echo is going to sing happy birthday for you I think.
Echo: What, I don’t know about that.
Chris: Oh I hear you went in the meeting, okay. Okay and remember that if we went too fast in the podcast, you can always…
Echo: Yeah find our PDFs, transcripts in our premium learning center.
Chris: Thanks for listening. That’s all we’ve got for you today.
Echo: From Beijing, 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo.
Chris: And I am Chris.
Echo: 下次见。(Xià cì jiàn.)
Chris: Bye bye.

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