INTRODUCTION |
Frank: Hey, everyone. |
Echo: Da jia hao! |
Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 34 in our Beginner series. |
Echo: 第三十四课。(Dì sānshísì kè.) |
Frank: I’m your host, Frank Fradella, and I’m joined in the studio, as always, by my exceptionally cute co-host, Echo. |
Echo: 谢谢。大家好。(Xièxiè. Dàjiā hǎo.) |
Frank: Today’s dialogue is between our good friends. |
Echo: Yes. They are talking about weather. |
Frank: They are talking about the weather, which is actually more interesting than it sounds. Let’s get on to the dialogue now. |
Echo: But before we do… |
Frank: But before we do, we want to remind you guys to head up to ChineseClass101.com. Sign up for that lifetime account. |
Echo: Yes. |
Frank: It only takes a couple of seconds. But for now, let’s go ahead and listen to the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation
|
张颖: 今天天气真好。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Jīntiān tiānqì zhēn hǎo.) |
Bunny: 阳光不错,也很暖和。(BUNNY: Yángguāng búcuò, yě hěn nuǎnhuo.) |
张颖: 打开窗户吧。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Dǎkāi chuānghù ba.) |
Bunny: 好。(BUNNY: Hǎo.) |
Frank: One more time, just a bit slower. |
张颖: 今天天气真好。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Jīntiān tiānqì zhēn hǎo.) |
Bunny: 阳光不错,也很暖和。(BUNNY: Yángguāng búcuò, yě hěn nuǎnhuo.) |
张颖: 打开窗户吧。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Dǎkāi chuānghù ba.) |
Bunny: 好。(BUNNY: Hǎo.) |
Frank: Okay, Echo, we’re back. It’s a beautiful day here in Beijing. |
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò) |
Frank: Not too hot today. A little rainy. |
Echo: Not cold. |
Frank: Not too cold. Well, you got to be happy for that one. When I first got to Beijing, I was freezing. So I was really happy to really see the weather change here. Let’s go ahead and translate this dialogue line-by-line. |
Echo: 好的。(Hǎo de.) |
张颖: 今天天气真好。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Jīntiān tiānqì zhēn hǎo.) |
Frank: Today’s weather today was really good. |
Bunny: 阳光不错,也很暖和。(BUNNY: Yángguāng búcuò, yě hěn nuǎnhuo.) |
Frank: It's sunny, also it’s very warm. |
张颖: 打开窗户吧。(ZHĀNG YǏNG: Dǎkāi chuānghù ba.) |
Frank: Let’s open the window. |
Bunny: 好。(BUNNY: Hǎo.) |
Frank: All right. |
POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
Frank: You know, Echo, it’s almost kind of a cliché to talk about the weather in English because it’s… |
Echo: It’s very useful. |
Frank: It’s very useful for conversation starters. If you see somebody on the subway or on the street, you want to start a conversation. |
Echo: Yes. |
Frank: You can talk about the weather. |
Echo: Yeah. |
Frank: Here’s the vocab to do that. |
Echo: Yeah. 天气不错呀。(Tiānqì bùcuò ya.) |
Frank: There you go. Let’s get on to the vocab section now. |
VOCAB LIST |
Male: Now, the vocab section. |
Echo: 天气 (tiānqì)[natural native speed]. |
Frank: Weather. |
Echo: 天气(tiānqì) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 天气(tiānqì) [natural native speed]. |
Echo: 阳光(yángguāng) [natural native speed]. |
Frank: Sunshine. |
Echo: 阳光(yángguāng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 阳光(yángguāng) [natural native speed]. |
Echo: 暖和(nuǎnhuo) [natural native speed]. |
Frank: Warm. |
Echo: 暖和(nuǎnhuo) |
Echo: 打开(dǎkāi) |
Frank: To open. |
Echo: 打开(dǎkāi) |
Echo: 窗戶(chuānghù) [natural native speed]. |
Frank: Window. |
Echo: 窗戶(chuānghù) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 窗戶(chuānghù) [natural native speed]. |
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
Frank: Okay. In today’s vocab section, we’re going to talk about a lot of words that has to do with the weather. Now, you guys already know a lot of vocabulary that you’re going to need. So we’re going to turn things around a little bit today. Instead of me giving you the English first and then having Echo give you the Chinese, we’re going to play a little game. |
Echo: I love games. |
Frank: We’re going to let Echo give you the Chinese first, give you a second to work it out and see if you can figure out what we’re talking about, and then I’ll come out with the English after. Ready? |
Echo: Sounds great. |
Frank: Let’s do it. |
Echo: 天气不错。(Tiānqì bùcuò.) |
Frank: The weather is not bad. |
Echo: 今天天气非常好。(Jīntiān tiānqì fēicháng hǎo.) |
Frank: Today’s weather is awesome. |
Echo: 昨天天气不好。(Zuótiān tiānqì bù hǎo.) |
Frank: Yesterday’s weather was very bad. |
Echo: 昨天天气不太好。(Zuótiān tiānqì bù tài hǎo.) |
Frank: Yesterday’s weather wasn’t that good. |
Echo: 昨天天气太差了。(Zuótiān tiānqì tài chàle.) |
Frank: Yesterday’s weather was really poor. |
Echo: 听说明天很暖和。(Tīng shuōmíng tiān hěn nuǎnhuo.) |
Frank: I hear it will be warm tomorrow. |
Echo: 今天太冷了。(Jīntiān tài lěngle.) |
Frank: Today’s too cold. |
Echo: 中午很热。(Zhōngwǔ hěn rè.) |
Frank: At noon, it’s really hot. |
Echo: 晚上有点儿凉。(Wǎnshàng yǒudiǎn er liáng.) |
Frank: At night, it’s a little cool. |
Lesson focus
|
Frank: Okay. How did you guys do? Like I said, most of the stuff you use to describe the weather, you already knew. But there are a few new vocab words and we’re going to go over them now. |
Echo: 好。(Hǎo.)The first one, 差.别昨天天气太差了。差。(Chà. Bié zuótiān tiānqì tài chàle. Chà.) |
Frank: It means “poor”. |
Echo: We learned 坏(Huài) before. |
Frank: That’s right, which means “evil”. |
Echo: Evil, bad. |
Frank: Right. |
Echo: Right. |
Frank: But we wouldn’t use this to describe the weather. |
Echo: No we won’t. We never say that. |
Frank: So you would us this instead? |
Echo: You can say 不好(Bù hǎo) or you can say 差。(Chà) |
Frank: Awesome. Next? |
Echo: 冷(Lěng) [natural native speed]. |
Frank: Cold. |
Echo: Yeah. Cold. It’s like what you said in the beginner of the podcast. We first came to Beijing, it’s really… |
Frank: I came in winter. It was so cold. |
Echo: 冷。太冷了。(Lěng. Tài lěngle.) |
Frank: It was the cold that killed the dinosaurs, Echo. Come on. |
Echo: Then we have 热。(Rè.) |
Frank: Hot. |
Echo: Hot. |
Frank: Which I’m also discovering in Beijing. |
Echo: 现在北京很热。(Xiànzài běijīng hěn rè.) |
Frank: That’s right. In Beijing right now, it’s very warm. |
Echo: It’s very hot. |
Frank: Yes. |
Echo: 现在北京很热。(Xiànzài běijīng hěn rè.). But tonight, it’s a little bit 凉.(Liáng.) |
Frank: A little cooler. |
Echo: 凉(Liáng) |
Frank: Because it rained today. So it really helped mellow out that Beijing heat. |
Echo: Yeah, we love it. 晚上有点凉。(Wǎnshàng yǒudiǎn liáng.) |
Frank: Tonight, it’s a little cooler. Awesome. That’s our vocab section. Echo, time for grammar. |
Male: It’s grammar time. |
Frank: Okay, Echo. I’ve got a suggestion for today’s grammar point. It’s about making suggestion. It’s this particle… |
Echo: 吧 .(Ba.) |
Frank: Now this goes at the end of sentences after a verb, and you use this if you want to make a suggestion or if you want to soften a sentence to make it sound more polite. |
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.). 吧(Ba) a neuter tone. |
Frank: Exactly. Really the best way to illustrate this is to show you some example sentences. Let’s do that. |
Echo: 好。(Hǎo.) |
Frank: Let’s go. |
Echo: 走吧。(Zǒu ba.) |
Frank: Let’s eat. |
Echo: 吃吧。(Chī ba.) |
Frank: Let’s drink. |
Echo: 喝吧。(Hē ba) |
Frank: Sit down. |
Echo: 坐吧。(Zuò ba.) |
Frank: Now we’ve taught this before but a way to say that a little more politely would be this way… |
Echo: 请坐。(Qǐng zuò.) |
Frank: Please sit. |
Echo: Yeah. It’s a bit more formal. |
Frank: Exactly. |
Echo: 请坐。坐吧。(Qǐng zuò. Zuò ba.) |
Frank: Really that simple. It’s the verb plus this particle… |
Echo: 吧 (Ba) |
Frank: …makes it a suggestion. Let’s do that thing. Let’s hear some complex sentences now. |
Echo: 好。(Hǎo.) |
Frank: How about we eat Korean food? |
Echo: 我们吃韩国菜吧。(Wǒmen chī hánguó cài ba.) |
Frank: How about we eat Sichuan food? |
Echo: 我们吃四川菜吧。(Wǒmen chī sìchuān cài ba.) |
Frank: Oh, you know what else this particle is good for? Suggesting a date! |
Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
Frank: As opposed to just asking out right, you can say, “Hey, let’s go to the movies together. |
Echo: Yeah. You don’t even have to ask. |
Frank: Exactly. It’s kind of like, “Yeah. Let’s go and do that thing”. |
Echo: Yeah. It’s pretty natural and casual. |
Frank: Right. So how would you say, “Let’s go to the movies?” |
Echo: 我们去看电影吧。(Wǒmen qù kàn diànyǐng ba.) |
Frank: Okay. Our last sentence? A lot of haggling goes on here, in the markets, in the bazaars, in the street fairs and stuff. How do you ask, “Can you make it a little cheaper?” |
Echo: 便宜点吧。(Piányí diǎn ba.) |
Frank: Yeah. Come on, make it a little cheaper. |
Echo: 便宜点吧。太贵了。(Piányí diǎn ba. Tài guìle.) |
Frank: It’s too expensive! |
Echo: 我没有钱。(Wǒ méiyǒu qián.) |
Frank: I don’t have any money. |
Echo: 便宜点吧。(Piányí diǎn ba.) |
Frank: Great. That’s all there is to it. You add… |
Echo: 吧(Ba) |
Frank: To the end of a sentence to make it a suggestion. We’re out of time but we’d like to suggest that you head up to ChineseClass101.c om… |
Echo: 我们去(Wǒmen qù)ChineseClass101.c om |
Frank: …and leave us a comment. |
Echo: 留言吧。(Liúyán ba.) |
Frank: And we’ll see you next time. But for now, from Beijing, I’m Frank Fradella. |
Echo: 我是不是(Wǒ shì bùshì)Echo. |
Frank: We’ll see you next time. |
Echo: 再见吧。(Zàijiàn ba.) |
Frank: 再见吧。(Zàijiàn ba.) |
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