Learn different directions and bus taking tips to help get you around China
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Amber: Hey, everybody! This is Amber. Welcome back to Gengo Chinese. |
| Victor: 大家好，我是 Victor。 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Victor.) |
| Amber: And this is Lesson 23… |
| Victor: Take Charge of the Situation Using Your Chinese |
| Amber: Mmm, it sounds interesting. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: Well, last lesson, we heard about something very interesting, which was the amazing street food of China! |
| Victor: Yep, yep. |
| Amber: And today, it is interesting, Victor, coz we’re going to hop on the bus. |
| Victor: Another Chinese experience. |
| Amber: Yes. We’re totally going to do China like a local! |
| Victor: Yeah. So, the memories of last lesson's food items are so good, let's revisit it and review a bit. |
| Amber: Yeah, let’s do that first. Well, we definitely learned a couple of great street food items. |
| Victor: Yeah. Well, my favorite is 羊肉串儿 (yángròu chuànr). |
| Amber: Right. Remember the “lamb kebabs.” |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: And then, of course, there was the 煎包 (jiānbāo), which are pretty good too. Those are the fried buns. |
| Victor: Yep. We learned a couple of meats as well. For example, 猪肉 (zhūròu). |
| Amber: Which is “pork.” |
| Victor: And of course, as we mentioned about the 串儿 (chuànr), 羊肉 (yángròu). |
| Amber: Yeah. Mainly, those are “lamb.” |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: The most popular, I would say. Okay, well, if we keep this up, we're going to be totally Chinafied before we know it. So, today, Mike is going to hop on the bus. |
| Victor: Yeah. I love taking the bus in China. |
| Amber: Yeah. Did you take the bus a lot, Victor? |
| Victor: Not a whole lot, but I did, somewhat. |
| Amber: Yeah. I mean I did too and mainly, every time, it was an experience not to be forgotten. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: Because I think the bus experience can be just as wild as the street food experience. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: Just in a different way. |
| Victor: I agree. |
| Amber: So, in this lesson, you are going to learn how to ask directions. |
| Victor: This conversation takes place on the bus and on the streets. |
| Amber: And it’s between Mike and some strangers, so let’s listen in. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Bus announcement: 下一站是南京路。 (Xià yí zhàn shì Nánjīng lù.) |
| Mike: 对不起，这一站是什么？ (Duìbùqǐ, zhè yí zhàn shì shénme?) |
| Passenger: 南京路。 (Nánjīng lù.) |
| Mike: 下一站呢？ (Xià yí zhàn ne?) |
| Passenger: 福州路。 (Fúzhōu lù.) |
| Mike: 谢谢你。 (Xièxiè nǐ.) |
| Passenger: 不客气。 (Bú kèqì.) |
| Bus announcement: 下一站是福州路。 (Xià yí zhàn shì Fúzhōu lù.) |
| (on the street) |
| Mike: 对不起，请问长城饭店在哪儿？ (Duìbùqǐ, qǐng wèn Chángchéng Fàndiàn zài nǎr?) |
| Passerby: 直走，到红绿灯左转。 (Zhí zǒu, dào hónglǜdēng zuǒ zhuǎn.) |
| Mike: 谢谢你。 (Xièxiè nǐ.) |
| Passerby: 不客气。 (Búkèqì.) |
| Victor: 重复一次, 慢速。 (Chóngfù yīcì, màn sù.) |
| Amber: One more time, a little slower. |
| Bus announcement: 下一站是南京路。 (Xià yí zhàn shì Nánjīng lù.) |
| Mike: 对不起，这一站是什么？ (Duìbùqǐ, zhè yí zhàn shì shénme?) |
| Passenger: 南京路。 (Nánjīng lù.) |
| Mike: 下一站呢？ (Xià yí zhàn ne?) |
| Passenger: 福州路。 (Fúzhōu lù.) |
| Mike: 谢谢你。 (Xièxiè nǐ.) |
| Passenger: 不客气。 (Bú kèqì.) |
| Bus announcement: 下一站是福州路。 (Xià yí zhàn shì Fúzhōu lù.) |
| Mike: 对不起，请问长城饭店在哪儿？ (Duìbùqǐ, qǐng wèn Chángchéng Fàndiàn zài nǎr?) |
| Passerby: 直走，到红绿灯左转。 (Zhí zǒu, dào hónglǜdēng zuǒ zhuǎn.) |
| Mike: 谢谢你。 (Xièxiè nǐ.) |
| Passerby: 不客气。 (Búkèqì.) |
| Victor: 重复一次, 加英文翻译。 (Chóngfù yīcì, jiā yīngwén fānyì.) |
| Amber: One more time, with the English. |
| Bus announcement: 下一站是南京路。 (Xià yí zhàn shì Nánjīng lù.) |
| Amber: Next stop is Nanjing Road. |
| Mike: 对不起，这一站是什么？ (Duìbùqǐ, zhè yí zhàn shì shénme?) |
| Amber: Excuse me, what stop is this? |
| Passenger: 南京路。 (Nánjīng lù.) |
| Amber: Nanjing Road. |
| Mike: 下一站呢？ (Xià yí zhàn ne?) |
| Amber: What about the next stop? |
| Passenger: 福州路。 (Fúzhōu lù.) |
| Amber: Fuzhou Road. |
| Mike: 谢谢你。 (Xièxiè nǐ.) |
| Amber: Thank you. |
| Passenger: 不客气。 (Bú kèqì.) |
| Amber: You're welcome. |
| Bus announcement: 下一站是福州路。 (Xià yí zhàn shì Fúzhōu lù.) |
| Amber: Next stop is Fuzhou Road. |
| (on the street) |
| Mike: 对不起，请问长城饭店在哪儿？ (Duìbùqǐ, qǐng wèn Chángchéng Fàndiàn zài nǎr?) |
| Amber: Excuse me, can you tell me where the Great Wall Hotel is? |
| Passerby: 直走，到红绿灯左转。 (Zhí zǒu, dào hónglǜdēng zuǒ zhuǎn.) |
| Amber: Walk straight, when you get to the traffic light, turn left. |
| Mike: 谢谢你。 (Xièxiè nǐ.) |
| Amber: Thank you. |
| Passerby: 不客气。 (Búkèqì.) |
| Amber: You're welcome. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Amber: Okay. Always an adventure! And I strongly recommend everybody take a bus, at least once. |
| Victor: Yeah, definitely. |
| Amber: You know, the first time I took a bus in China, it was in Suzhou, Victor. |
| Victor: Uh-huh. |
| Amber: And it had wooden wooden seats bolted to the floor. And then every time the bus driver stopped, he would kill the engine. |
| Victor: Oh man. |
| Amber: And just coast and you’d have to jump out, but he wouldn’t even stop all the way. |
| Victor: That’s a pretty sad experience. |
| Amber: But it was kind of fun. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: How about in your hometown? What are the buses like? |
| Victor: Pretty normal, I would say. I’d been having pretty normal experiences with the buses. I mean, of course, it’s crowded. |
| Amber: Normal to you. |
| Victor: They’re always very crowded, but other than that, it’s pretty much the same, you know, as my other experiences. |
| Amber: Yeah, and actually in Shanghai, the buses are really nice. They’re all pretty new and, like, very organized. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: Okay. Well, let’s look at the vocabulary for this lesson to prepare you for your next bus trip. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Victor: 下 (xià) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: down, next, bottom |
| Victor: 下 (xià) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 下 (xià) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 站 (zhàn) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: station |
| Victor: 站 (zhàn) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 站 (zhàn) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 南京 (Nánjīng) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: Nanjing |
| Victor: 南京 (Nánjīng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 南京 (Nánjīng) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 路 (lù) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: road |
| Victor: 路 (lù) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 路 (lù) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 对不起 (duìbùqǐ) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: sorry, excuse me |
| Victor: 对不起 (duìbùqǐ) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 对不起 (duìbùqǐ) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 福州 (Fúzhōu) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: Fuzhou |
| Victor: 福州 (Fúzhōu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 福州 (Fúzhōu) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 直 (zhí) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: straight |
| Victor: 直 (zhí) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 直 (zhí) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 走 (zǒu) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: to walk, to go |
| Victor: 走 (zǒu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 走 (zǒu) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 到 (dào) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: to arrive |
| Victor: 到 (dào) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 到 (dào) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 红绿灯 (hónglǜdēng) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: traffic light |
| Victor: 红绿灯 (hónglǜdēng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 红绿灯 (hónglǜdēng) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 左 (zuǒ) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: left |
| Victor: 左 (zuǒ) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 左 (zuǒ) [natural native speed] |
| Victor: 转 (zhuǎn) [natural native speed] |
| Amber: to turn |
| Victor: 转 (zhuǎn) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Victor: 转 (zhuǎn) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Amber: Okay, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of these words and phrases. |
| Victor: Right. Well, first, we heard the bus announcement. |
| Amber: Yes and if you are a bus-taking adventurer, this is going to come in very handy, because deciphering the bus announcements helps a lot! |
| Victor: Yeah. Yeah, this will help for subway announcements too. |
| Amber: Yeah. So what you’re gonna hear is the announcement for the next stop on most buses in China. |
| Victor: So the word for “station” or “stop” is 站 (zhàn). |
| Amber: Yeah, that’s kind of the short form of the word for a “bus stop.” You say 站 (zhàn). |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: But what’s the full word, Victor? |
| Victor: Yeah, that’s kind of the short form. The full phrase, I guess you can say, 公交车站 (gōngjiāo chē zhàn). |
| Amber: Whoa, it’s long! It’s a “bus stop.” |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: 公交车站 (gōngjiāo chē zhàn) |
| Victor: The full “bus stop,” right. |
| Amber: Okay, good! So, in the bus announcement though, they are telling us what the next stop is. So, in real life, it’s probably going to be like a fuzzy robot recording. So, what we’re gonna do here is Victor is going to decipher it for us, so that when you hear it, your ears will perk up and you’ll probably be able to decipher it better. |
| Victor: Yeah. Well, we know that 站 (zhàn), 4th tone, is a “stop,” and the phrase for “next stop” is 下一站 (xià yí zhàn). |
| Amber: Right. And this is really good to learn because 下 (xià) is the word for “next” in Chinese. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: What does the 一 (yí) mean here, Victor? |
| Victor: 一 (Yí) for “one.” So in Chinese, it’s like the “next one stop,” and then, they say the stop. 下一站 (xià yí zhàn), and then the name. |
| Amber: So kind of like specifying, the next specific stop is (whatever). |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: So you say, 下一站 (xià yí zhàn). |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: Right. So, the bus was announcing the next stop. And then we heard Mike asked, ”What is this stop?” In that case, he used the same way of asking, just using the word “this” rather than “next.” |
| Victor: Right. He said, 这一站 (zhè yí zhàn). |
| Amber: Right, it begs the question, do we have to use the 一 (yí) in there, like could you just say, “this stop” 这站 (zhè zhàn) or “next stop” 下站 (xià zhàn)? |
| Victor: You can, but it’s less formal. So, in an announcement-type format, you will always hear the more formal way of speech. |
| Amber: Mm, that makes sense, okay. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: All right. So, stops in China are generally named according to the cross street, would you say, Victor? |
| Victor: Yup, generally, or on a landmark, sometimes. |
| Amber: Okay. So, in Mike’s case here, the first stop we heard was 南京路 (Nánjīng lù), and this is a really famous street, actually, in Shanghai. It’s a good name to know. |
| Victor: Yeah. And 南京 (Nánjīng) is actually a city in China, I guess better known as Nanking to some people. |
| Amber: Yeah, just to the south of Shanghai, but they named the street after it. |
| Victor: Yeah. And 路 (lù) is the word for “road.” |
| Amber: And that’s a 4th tone. Yeah, so 南京路 (Nánjīng lù) is one of, probably, Shanghai’s more famous shopping streets. It’s a pedestrian street and then you can take it and walk right down the The Bund, so just a tip for you all. |
| Victor: And now that we've brought up the word for “road,” how about the word for “street” because you're going to come across both? |
| Amber: Yeah. Most streets in China are either a 路 (lù), like we mentioned, or a… |
| Victor: 街 (jiē) |
| Amber: 街 (Jiē), which is 1st tone, which is the word for “street.” |
| Victor: Correct. So now, Mike gets off the bus and finds himself on a very crowded street. How is he going to get someone, anyone’s attention? Well, he used one of our words for “excuse me” that was 对不起 (duìbùqǐ). |
| Amber: Yeah. So, here, in this kind of a case, there’s a few options you could use to sort of interrupt someone or ask them a question, excuse yourself. You could say, 对不起 (duìbùqǐ). What are the tones on that, Victor? |
| Victor: 对 (Duì) is a 4th tone, 不 (bù) is 4th tone, and 起 (qǐ) is a 3rd tone. |
| Amber: Okay. And then there’s also another one you could say, which is…? |
| Victor: 对不起 (bù hǎoyìsi) |
| Amber: Mm, what are the tones on that? |
| Victor: 不 (bù) is 4th tone, 好 (hǎo) is 3rd tone, 意 (yì) is 4th tone, and 思 (si) is the neutral tone here. |
| Amber: Right! Or, you could even say 请问 (qǐngwèn), which is, “Please, may I ask?” 请 (Qǐng) being a 3rd tone, 问 (wèn) being 4th tone. Or you can use any combination of all three, if you wanna be really polite. |
| Victor: Right, that will work. |
| Amber: You can even put them together. |
| Victor: Really polite. |
| Amber: 对不起对不起请问 (Duìbùqǐ bù hǎoyìsi qǐngwèn). If you’re Canadian, you like to apologize a lot. You can use those. Okay. So, they’re good ways to ask someone a favor or just to interject, whatever. |
| Victor: Right. |
| Amber: Okay, so now, we get to the crucial part. Asking for directions is one thing, but the crucial thing is understanding, in this case. |
| Victor: Yep, mm-hmm. |
| Amber: Otherwise, you’re going to be lost. Now, I find that sometimes, it’s not only language that makes directions difficult to understand, but every culture kind of has their own style of giving directions as well. |
| Victor: Right. And I think for that, we need to go to the grammar section. |
| Amber: Yeah. So, in a minute, we’ll get into that more. But first, we’ll just give you a few direction words for your reference. |
| Victor: Yeah. 直走，到红绿灯左转。 (Zhí zǒu, dào hónglǜdēng zuǒ zhuǎn.) |
| Amber: So that sentence has a lot of key direction words in there. So, let’s start with the end. Like in any city, one point of reference is going to be a traffic light, right? |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: So, in Chinese, how do you say “traffic light”? |
| Victor: It’s 红绿灯 (hónglǜdēng). 红 (hóng) is 2nd tone, 绿 (lǜ) is 4th tone, and 灯 (dēng) is 1st tone. |
| Amber: Yeah, and this is cool because, in Chinese, the word for “traffic light” is actually “red green light,” so you just learned two colors without even trying. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: So the word for “red” is… |
| Victor: 红 (hóng) |
| Amber: And the word for “green” |
| Victor: Is 绿 (lǜ). |
| Amber: And then 灯 (dēng) means “light.” |
| Victor: 红绿灯 (hónglǜdēng), yeah. |
| Amber: “Red green light.” |
| Victor: Right. Do you know, it’s actually a dish? |
| Amber: Oh, is it? |
| Victor: 红绿灯 (Hónglǜdēng), it’s sliced potatoes with pepper, green peppers and tomatoes, stir fried. |
| Amber: Ah, so not, you not only learned colors, you also learned a dish you can order in the restaurant. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: Our minds are always on food, or the Chinese mind, maybe, perhaps. Okay. Okay, so that’s the intro to the directions. Now, let’s head to the grammar section to talk a little bit more about the direction words. |
| Victor: Right. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Amber: Okay, so back to that sentence. |
| Victor: Okay. 直走，到红绿灯左转。 (Zhí zǒu, dào hónglǜdēng zuǒ zhuǎn.) |
| Amber: Right. So first, we heard a word which was the word for straight. |
| Victor: 直 (Zhí) is 2nd tone. |
| Amber: Right. |
| Victor: It means “straight.” |
| Amber: And it was combined with a word right after. What was that? |
| Victor: 走 (Zǒu), which means “to talk” and it’s a 3rd tone. |
| Amber: Right. So, the first instruction is “walk straight ahead.” 直走 (Zhí zǒu) means “walk straight ahead.” |
| Victor: Yeah. Well, remember back in the Lesson 12, in the taxi, when Mike arrived at his destination, the taxi driver said 到了 (dàole). |
| Amber: That’s right and it meant “arrived” or “we have arrived.” |
| Victor: Right. Well, we heard it again here, slightly different context, but here, our direction giver next says 到红绿灯 (dào hónglǜdēng). |
| Amber: So, we know that 到 (dào) means “to arrive” and we know that 红绿灯 (hónglǜdēng) is “traffic light” so… |
| Victor: 到红绿灯 (Dào hónglǜdēng) means “arrive at the traffic light.” |
| Amber: Right. So, when you arrive at the traffic light, when you 到 (dào) the traffic light, what next? |
| Victor: She then says, 左转 (zuǒ zhuǎn). |
| Amber: Right, which are another couple of great words, the first word being the word for “left” as in left hand. |
| Victor: 左 (Zuǒ), 3rd tone, 左 (zuǒ). |
| Amber: And then the word for “to turn.” |
| Victor: 转 (Zhuǎn), 转 (zhuǎn), also 3rd tone. Actually, there are other ways to say “to turn” when giving directions. In some areas, people will just say 拐 (guǎi). |
| Amber: Right. They will say, 左拐 (zuǒ guǎi). |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: Either is okay, right Victor? |
| Victor: Right, yeah. |
| Amber: Okay, so naturally, while we’re at it, we should probably also know the word for “right” as in right hand, just in case. |
| Victor: Yeah. You’re not only gonna take a left turn all the time. It’s 右 (yòu), 4th tone, 右 (yòu). |
| Amber: Right! So, say I’m in a taxi and I want to tell him to turn right, what would I say? |
| Victor: You say, 右转 (yòu zhuǎn) or 右拐 (yòu guǎi). |
| Amber: And left turn, again? |
| Victor: 左转 (Zuǒ zhuǎn) or 左拐 (zuǒ guǎi). |
| Amber: And what if you wanted to tell him to go straight? |
| Victor: Well, even though he’s not “walking,” you can still say 走 (zǒu). It’s a habit. You can just say 直走 (zhí zǒu). |
| Amber: Okay good! |
Outro |
| Amber: Okay. Well, I hope that Mike found his destination. I guess that we will find out next lesson. |
| Victor: Yeah. |
| Amber: Maybe, he’ll be wandering naked and shivering around People’s Park. |
| Victor: I don’t think so. |
| Amber: Let’s hope not. |
| Victor: Let’s hope not. |
| Amber: Not. Not, when he’s been prepared with this lesson. So tune in next time and for now, have another listen to the dialogue and we will say 再见 (zàijiàn) for now! |
| Victor: 再见! (Zàijiàn!) |
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