Learn how to say, "Lower the price, please"
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| All right. Today’s phrase is related to the phrase 多少钱(Duōshǎo qián?) which is how much in Chinese. 这个多少钱(Zhège duōshǎo qián?) which is how much is this and 那个多少钱(Nàge duōshǎo qián?) which is how much is that. Today’s phrase is used at the liveliest place anywhere in China and that is the Chinese market. China is one big used car lot except there is no men with gel in their hair, cheap [0:01:12] cigars. At the market, if you ever see anything without a price tag if it doesn’t have the price written on it, then you are expected to haggle. You have to haggle. They are going to start at a price that’s way above what it should be and they want you to make them make it lower. They are going to do this to Chinese people. It’s not just because you are a foreigner but because they know you are a foreigner, they are going to make the price as much as 5 times what they make it for Chinese people. So you’ve got to be even more persistent but if you do see a price written on something, you can try to haggle but I won’t guarantee that they are going to budge. If the price is written, that means it is the same for Chinese people as it is for foreigners and a lot of times, even Chinese people don’t haggle on written prices. They might try once but if nobody is budging, then forget about it. The first thing you say when you want to haggle is 太贵啊(Tài guì a!). One more time 太贵啊(Tài guì a!) That means too expensive. 太(tài) is too and 贵(guì) is expensive. So 太贵啊(Tài guì a!), 啊(a) is just added for emphasis. This is the first thing when you get a price, you say 太贵啊(Tài guì a!) The tones are 太(tài) fourth tone and 贵(guì) fourth tone. So you say falling tone, falling tone, 太贵啊(Tài guì a!) Then what you want them to do is, you want them to say a price. They are always going to try to make you say a price but you don’t want to do that. You want to see how low you can make them go before you even say a price because once you say a price, you are going to have to start bargaining up from that price. So you want to push that off as far as you can. After you say 太贵啊(Tài guì a!) they might lower the price or they might not. Then you say 便宜一点儿(Piányi yīdiǎnr!) means a little cheaper. So 便宜(pián yi) means cheap and 一点儿(yī diǎnr) means a little. Now I am from Beijing, so I speak with a Beijing accent and the Beijing accent makes me say 儿(r) at the end of a lot of phrases. The real textbook way to say it is 一点(yī diǎn) but people in Beijing, they say 一点儿(yī diǎnr). Both are right and generally the Beijing dialect is considered to the standard dialect and a lot of people will be really amused and really impressed if you speak with a Beijing dialect or at least that’s what I think. All right, so first let’s talk about that 一点儿(yī diǎnr). 一点儿(yī diǎnr) is first tone and then third tone. So the flat tone 一(yī) and then the falling rising tone 点儿(diǎnr) or remember 一点(yī diǎn). So let’s try a little slower 一点儿(yī diǎnr), then let’s try cheap, 便宜(pián yi) is second tone followed by third tone. So rising tone, then falling rising tone, 便宜(pián yi), 便宜一点儿(Piányi yīdiǎnr!), one more time guys, 便宜一点儿(Piányi yīdiǎnr!). All right guys, one last tip about being in the marketplace. Usually I figure a good rule of thumb is to figure that the right price for something is about 1/8th of what somebody tells you or at least that’s a good place to start. Somebody tells you, this costs a 100 quay. That means you can probably get it for 15 or 25 quay. If you want to get something for 15 or 25 quay, you have to start at 10 quay. This is why I told you to wait as long as you can before saying what price you are willing to pay because if they say 100 and you say 10, that sounds too strange and they might just sort of bark [ph] at the whole thing. So you get them to go down to 75 or something and then you say you know 10 maybe 15. And they say what? 15, no that’s impossible, that’s impossible and then you say well, now it’s your turn. That way you should probably be able to get them to go to 25. There are lots and lots of other strategies for bargaining. Everybody has their own approach, everybody has something that works for them but you got to figure that out yourself. If you have a good store, if you have a good strategy, stop by and leave us a post. We’d love to hear from you. |
| All right, to close our today’s lesson, we’d like you to practice what we’ve just learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of a phrase and you are responsible for shouting it out loud. You will have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So 加油(Jiā yóu!), a little cheaper 便宜一点儿(Piányi yīdiǎnr!), too expensive 太贵啊(Tài guì a!) |
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