Learn a phrase to help you make suggestions or get an opinion on something, which you might need since you are not a native
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brendan: You’re listening to ChineseClass101.com. The fastest, easiest and funniest way of learning Chinese. I’m Brendan. |
| Echo: Hi, 大家好，我是Echo. (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Brendan: And we’re coming at you today from Beijing with Lower Intermediate series, season one, lesson 23: “The Joy of Chinese Cell Phones.” |
| Echo: And our conversation today is between two friends. |
| Brendan: They’re in one of China’s ubiquitous electronics mega malls. It’s like 10 stories packed top-bottom with every electronic component you can conceive of. |
| Echo: And they’re speaking casual mandarin, as usual. |
| Brendan: As usual. Now, we’re going to get into the dialogue in just a moment, but before we do that, a reminder. In our premium learning center we’ve got an online flashcard tool. This is a very good way of testing yourself to make sure that you’re really retaining the vocabulary that we’re teaching in this lesson or in any other lesson. Let’s go to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A:我要买一个新手机。(Wǒ yào mǎi yī ge xīn shǒujī.) |
| B:你的预算是多少？(Nǐ de yùsuàn shì duōshǎo?) |
| A:五千左右吧。(Wǔqiān zuǒyòu ba.) |
| B:诺基亚的怎么样？(Nuòjīyà de zěnmeyàng?) |
| A:我不喜欢翻盖的。(Wǒ bù xǐhuān fān gàir de.) |
| B:那索爱的呢？(Nà suǒàide ne?) |
| A:键盘太小了。(Jiànpán tài xiǎo le.) |
| B:那，这个怎么样？(Nà, zhège zěnmeyàng?) |
| A:那个是苹果的吗？(Nà ge shì Píngguǒ de ma?) |
| B:山寨的。(Shānzhàide.) |
| Brendan: Once more, slowly. |
| A:我要买一个新手机。(Wǒ yào mǎi yī ge xīn shǒujī.) |
| B:你的预算是多少？(Nǐ de yùsuàn shì duōshǎo?) |
| A:五千左右吧。(Wǔqiān zuǒyòu ba.) |
| B:诺基亚的怎么样？(Nuòjīyà de zěnmeyàng?) |
| A:我不喜欢翻盖的。(Wǒ bù xǐhuān fān gàir de.) |
| B:那索爱的呢？(Nà suǒàide ne?) |
| A:键盘太小了。(Jiànpán tài xiǎo le.) |
| B:那，这个怎么样？(Nà, zhège zěnmeyàng?) |
| A:那个是苹果的吗？(Nà ge shì Píngguǒ de ma?) |
| B:山寨的。(Shānzhàide.) |
| Brendan: And now, with English translation. |
| A:我要买一个新手机。(Wǒ yào mǎi yī ge xīn shǒujī.) |
| A: I need to buy a new phone |
| B:你的预算是多少？(Nǐ de yùsuàn shì duōshǎo?) |
| B: What's your budget? |
| A:五千左右吧。(Wǔqiān zuǒyòu ba.) |
| A: About 5,000. |
| B:诺基亚的怎么样？(Nuòjīyà de zěnmeyàng?) |
| B: How about the Nokia? |
| A:我不喜欢翻盖的。(Wǒ bù xǐhuān fān gàir de.) |
| A: I don't like the clam shell phones. |
| B:那索爱的呢？(Nà suǒàide ne?) |
| B: What about this Ericsson? |
| A:键盘太小了。(Jiànpán tài xiǎo le.) |
| A: The keypad is too small. |
| B:那，这个怎么样？(Nà, zhège zěnmeyàng?) |
| B: Well...what about this one? |
| A:那个是苹果的吗？(Nà ge shì Píngguǒ de ma?) |
| A: Is that an iPhone? |
| B:山寨的。(Shānzhàide.) |
| B: It's a knockoff. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Echo: So, Brandon you have an iPhone? |
| Brendan: I do and it’s not a knockoff. |
| Echo: 不是山寨。(Bùshì shānzhài.) |
| Brendan: I was very careful about that. And, 山寨 (Shānzhài) is actually an interesting term because it’s been showing up and a lot of these Western media reports and English language reports. So there are all of these debates about how to translate it, you know, is there a knockoff phone, is it a fake phone is it a gather phone and it’s actually an interesting category of product. |
| Echo: 今天我们的这个(Jīntiān wǒmen de zhège)vocabulary section 就是和手机有关系的。(Jiùshì hé shǒujī yǒu guānxì de.) |
| Brendan: So if you, like me, kind of get gadget envy this is a vocabulary that you can use. It’s all about cellphones. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 手机 (shǒujī) |
| Brendan: “Cellphone” |
| Echo: 预算 (yùsuàn) |
| Brendan: “Budget” |
| Echo: 诺基亚 (nuòjīyà) |
| Brendan: “Nokia” |
| Echo: 翻盖儿的 (Fāngài er de) |
| Brendan: “Clamshell style”. You know, one of these phones like the Motorola Razr where it just folds in half. |
| Echo: 价格 (jiàgé) |
| Brendan: “Price” |
| Echo: 充电器 (chōngdiànqì) |
| Brendan: “Charger” |
| Echo: 风格 (fēnggé) |
| Brendan: “Style” |
| Echo: 轻 (qīng) |
| Brendan: “Lightweight” |
| Echo: 键盘 (jiànpán) |
| Brendan: “Keypad” |
| Echo: 键盘 (jiànpán) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Brendan: Okay, so there’s our vocabulary, it’s slightly nerdy. Let’s take a look at some example sentences so we can see how these words behave in context. |
| Echo: Okay, the first word. 手机。(Shǒujī.) |
| Brendan: That is “cellphone”. |
| Echo: 看看这是我的新手机。(Kàn kàn zhè shì wǒ de xīn shǒujī.) |
| Brendan: “Check it out! This is my new cellphone.” |
| Echo: 看看这是我的新手机。(Kàn kàn zhè shì wǒ de xīn shǒujī.) |
| Brendan: And that, of course, is one of the best thing in getting in a new devices. Making other people feel jealous. |
| Echo: Next word. 预算。(Yùsuàn.) |
| Brendan: “Budget” |
| Echo: 我买手机的预算是3000。(Wǒ mǎi shǒujī de yùsuàn shì 3000.) |
| Brendan: “My budget for a new cellphone is 30.000.” |
| Echo: 我买手机的预算是3000。(Wǒ mǎi shǒujī de yùsuàn shì 3000.)Then we have a brand of cellphones. 诺基亚。(Nuòjīyà.) |
| Brendan: “Nokia” |
| Echo: 诺基亚是在中国最畅销的手机。(Nuòjīyà shì zài zhōngguó zuì chàngxiāo de shǒujī.) |
| Brendan: “Nokia is the best selling cellphone in China.” And this is been true for years, I think. |
| Echo: Yeah. 诺基亚是在中国最畅销的手机。翻盖儿的。(Nuòjīyà shì zài zhōngguó zuì chàngxiāo de shǒujī. Fāngài er de.) |
| Brendan: That’s “clamshell” one of the folding style phones. |
| Echo: 诺基亚的手机好像没有翻盖儿的。(Nuòjīyà de shǒujī hǎoxiàng méiyǒu fāngài er de.) |
| Brendan: “Nokia doesn’t seem to have any clamshell phones.” |
| Echo: 诺基亚的手机好像没有翻盖儿的。(Nuòjīyà de shǒujī hǎoxiàng méiyǒu fāngài er de.) |
| Brendan: That is to say the guy in our dialogue was totally wrong. He said he didn’t like the Nokia because it was a clamshell. |
| Echo: 那他可能就是用那个便宜的。(Nà tā kěnéng jiùshì yòng nàgè piányí de) |
| Brendan: Or it may have been a 山寨 (Shānzhài) Nokia. |
| Echo: 价格 (Jiàgé) |
| Brendan: “Price” |
| Echo: 这款手机的价格是多少？(Zhè kuǎn shǒujī de jiàgé shì duōshǎo?) |
| Brendan: “What’s the price of this cellphone?” |
| Echo: 这款手机的价格是多少？充电器。(Zhè kuǎn shǒujī de jiàgé shì duōshǎo? Chōngdiàn qì.) |
| Brendan: “A charger” |
| Echo: 我找不到我手机的充电器了。(Wǒ zhǎo bù dào wǒ shǒujī de chōngdiàn qìle.) |
| Brendan: “I can’t find my cellphone charger.” |
| Echo: 我找不到我手机的充电器了。风格。(Wǒ zhǎo bù dào wǒ shǒujī de chōngdiàn qìle. Fēnggé.) |
| Brendan: “Style” |
| Echo: 这手机不是我喜欢的风格。(Zhè shǒujī bùshì wǒ xǐhuān de fēnggé.) |
| Brendan: “This cellphone is not the style I like.” |
| Echo:这手机不是我喜欢的风格。轻。(Zhè shǒujī bùshì wǒ xǐhuān de fēnggé. Qīng.) |
| Brendan: “Lightweight” |
| Echo: 女孩喜欢轻的手机。(Nǚhái xǐhuān qīng de shǒujī.) |
| Brendan: “Girls are fond of lightweight cellphones.” |
| Echo: 女孩喜欢轻的手机。键盘。(Nǚhái xǐhuān qīng de shǒujī. Jiànpán.) |
| Brendan: “Keypad.” |
| Echo: 这个手机的键盘太小了。(Zhège shǒujī de jiànpán tài xiǎole.) |
| Brendan: “The keypad on this cellphone is too small.” |
| Echo: 这个手机的键盘太小了。(Zhège shǒujī de jiànpán tài xiǎole.) |
| Brendan: All right. So, now we’ve got these words behind us, let’s go onto grammar time. It’s grammar time! Okay, so our grammar point for today is actually review of something that you know by now. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Echo: 怎么样？(Zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: That’s right. In our dialogue, we have these guys and they’re asking each other questions about their opinion in things, specifically of cell phones. And the way they do that is by saying for example: |
| Echo: 诺基亚的怎么样？(Nuòjīyà de zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: “How about a Nokia?” |
| Echo: 那这个怎么样？(Nà zhège zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: “So, what about this one?” Now, 我怎么样 (Wǒ zěnme yàng) has in common with English phrases like “What about?” or “How about?” is it it’s not always a question. In fact you can use it and people do use it all the time to make suggestions. When they say “How about a Nokia?” they’re not actually necessarily asking you what you opinion is of Nokia, they’re suggesting it. |
| Echo: 诺基亚的怎么样？(Nuòjīyà de zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: So, let’s take a look at some other sentences where people are using 怎么样 (Zěnme yàng) in the same way. |
| Echo: 这个红色的手机怎么样？(Zhège hóngsè de shǒujī zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: “How about this red cellphone?” |
| Echo:这个红色的手机怎么样？来杯咖啡怎么样？(Zhège hóngsè de shǒujī zěnme yàng? Lái bēi kāfēi zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: “How about a cup of coffee?” |
| Echo: 来杯咖啡怎么样？(Lái bēi kāfēi zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: That’s an invitation. That’s not a literal question. |
| Echo: 你觉得这个苹果电脑怎么样？(Nǐ juédé zhège píngguǒ diànnǎo zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: “How do you feel about this Mac?” |
| Echo: 你觉得这个苹果电脑怎么样？1000元怎么样？(Nǐ juédé zhège píngguǒ diànnǎo zěnme yàng?1000 Yuán zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: “What about a thousand.” |
| Echo: It’s very useful when you’re parking. |
| Brendan: Yeah, exactly. You’re making suggestions so you’re just throwing a price out there. |
| Echo: 1000元怎么样？(1000 Yuán zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: Or if you’re asking somebody out to dinner. |
| Echo: 来份牛排怎么样？(Lái fènniúpáizěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: “How about a steak?” |
| Echo: 来份牛排怎么样？(Lái fènniúpáizěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: So this is a slightly more subtle aspect that you know by now. But, it’s good to keep in mind that it’s not always a question. |
| Echo: Right. |
Outro |
| Brendan: That does for today’s lesson. Before we go, a remind. If you want to practice this grammar point or the vocabulary picked up in this lesson or anything from any other lesson, we’ve got trained professionals in our premium learning center, who’re standing by, waiting to help you with your Chinese. |
| Echo: That’s right. |
| Brendan: If you have any questions about this lesson - |
| Echo: - you can always leave a comment in the site or write to us at contactus@chineseclass101.com |
| Brendan: So, how about it? |
| Echo: 怎么样？(Zěnme yàng?) |
| Brendan: So, from Beijing, I’m Brandon. |
| Echo: 我是Echo.(Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Brendan: Good luck, see you on the site. |
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