Learn how to check into a hotel room in China
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to ChineseClass101. I’m David. |
| Echo: Hi! 大家好(Dàjiā hǎo)，我是(Wǒ shì)Echo. |
| David: Echo, we are here with Lesson 43 in our first Beginner series. |
| Echo: 没错。第四十三课.(Méi cuò. Dì sìshísān kè.) |
| David: We’ve got a lesson for you guys today, which is all about getting what you want. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: When you stumble into a hotel and it doesn’t have what you expected. So we’ve got a dialogue that’s taking place here between a hotel customer and the front receptionist. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: The customer wants something. We’re going to see if he is able to get that. Before we do though, we wanted to point out, China is not like a lot of countries in Asia. You can’t just get by in English. So if you go to hotel, especially outside Beijing in Shanghai, you’re going to need to speak Chinese. |
| Echo: Right. Yeah. |
| David: So come to the premium learning center we’ve got at CC101 and check out that voice-recording tool. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: With that, let’s get on to the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 甲: 你好，前台。(JIǍ: Nǐhǎo, qiántái.) |
| 乙: 你好，再给我一床被子，好吗？(YǏ: Nǐhǎo, zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi, hǎo ma?) |
| 甲: 您在几号房间？(JIǍ: Nín zài jǐ hào fángjiān?) |
| 乙: 1217号。(YǏ: Yāo èr yāo qī hào.) |
| 甲: 好的。请稍等。我们马上送过去。(JIǍ: Hǎo de. Qǐng shāoděng. Wǒmen mǎshàng sòng guòqù.) |
| David: One more time, a bit slower. |
| 甲: 你好，前台。(JIǍ: Nǐhǎo, qiántái.) |
| 乙: 你好，再给我一床被子，好吗？(YǏ: Nǐhǎo, zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi, hǎo ma?) |
| 甲: 您在几号房间？(JIǍ: Nín zài jǐ hào fángjiān?) |
| 乙: 1217号。(YǏ: Yāo èr yāo qī hào.) |
| 甲: 好的。请稍等。我们马上送过去。(JIǍ: Hǎo de. Qǐng shāoděng. Wǒmen mǎshàng sòng guòqù.) |
| 甲: 你好，前台。(JIǍ: Nǐhǎo, qiántái.) |
| David: Hello. Front desk? |
| 乙: 你好，再给我一床被子，好吗？(YǏ: Nǐhǎo, zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi, hǎo ma?) |
| David: Hello. Can you please give me another blanket? |
| 甲: 您在几号房间？(JIǍ: Nín zài jǐ hào fángjiān?) |
| David: Which room are you in? |
| 乙: 1217号。(YǏ: Yāo èr yāo qī hào.) |
| David: Number 1217. |
| 甲: 好的。请稍等。我们马上送过去。(JIǍ: Hǎo de. Qǐng shāoděng. Wǒmen mǎshàng sòng guòqù.) |
| David: Okay. Please wait. We'll send it over right away. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: A lot of hotels in China actually don’t even have telephones, which makes it easier, although it is tough to my blanket. |
| Echo: Well, more practice. |
| David: Yes. Anyway, our vocab for you today is words you can use once you’ve checked into a hotel. Okay. Let’s get started. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now the vocab section. |
| Echo: 前臺(qiántái) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Front desk. |
| Echo: 前臺(qiántái) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 前臺(qiántái) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 再給我(zàigěiwǒ) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Give me another. |
| Echo: 再給我(zàigěiwǒ) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 再給我(zàigěiwǒ) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 床(chuáng) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Measure word for blankets. |
| Echo: 床(chuáng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 床(chuáng) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 被子(bèizi) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Blanket. |
| Echo: 被子(bèizi) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 被子(bèizi) [natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 馬上(mǎ shàng) [natural native speed]. |
| David: Right away. |
| Echo: 馬上(mǎ shàng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 馬上 (mǎ shàng)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 送(sòng) [natural native speed]. |
| David: To deliver. |
| Echo: 送(sòng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]. 送(sòng) [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| David: A lot of useful vocab. In the rest of our vocab section, we want to highlight words that you might find yourself needing to ask for. |
| Echo: Like被子.(bèizi.) |
| David: Blanket. |
| Echo: 被子.(bèizi.) |
| David: Give me another blanket. |
| Echo: 再给我一床被子。(Zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: Yeah. Pay attention to the measure word there. |
| Echo: 床。 再给我一床被子。(Chuáng. Zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: As we’ve taught you in our earlier lesson, all of these objects have their own measure words. “One blanket”. |
| Echo: 一床被子。(Yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: A lot of more upscale hotels will also have little soaps and toothbrush and a toothpaste and stuff. So you might say, “I need soap”. |
| Echo: 我要香皂.(Wǒ yào xiāngzào.) |
| David: In a lot of hotels, you might only have hot water at certain times of the day. |
| Echo: Yeah. That’s really bad. 我要热水。马上。现在。(Wǒ yào rè shuǐ. Mǎshàng. Xiànzài.) |
| David: There’s probably not much they’re going to do for you. |
| Echo: Well, they can buy the water. |
| David: For a bath? Hello? |
| Echo: Just say… |
| David: We’ve got shampoo. |
| Echo:洗发水。(xǐfàshuǐ) |
| David: Really useful not to pack that stuff. |
| Echo: 洗发水。(xǐfàshuǐ) |
| David: Give me shampoo. |
| Echo: 给我洗发水。(Gěi wǒ xǐ fǎ shuǐ.) |
| David: Other thing you might need to ask for, you might need to ask for a towel. |
| Echo: 毛巾.(máojīn.) |
| David: What’s the measure word for towel. |
| Echo: 条。(Tiáo.) |
| David: So it’s one towel. |
| Echo: 一条毛巾。(Yītiáo máojīn.) |
| David: Give me two towels. |
| Echo: 给我两条毛巾。(Gěi wǒ liǎng tiáo máojīn.) |
| David: We’ve also got the pillow. |
| Echo:枕头。再给我一个枕头。(Zhěntou. Zài gěi wǒ yīgè zhěntou.) |
| David: “Give me another pillow.” We’ve got 个 there. |
| Echo: 一个枕头.(Yīgè zhěntou) |
| David: Yeah. So you can use the common measure word for that, the easiest one. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: Two others we’ve got for you are glass. |
| Echo: 杯子(bēizi) [natural native speed]. |
| David: And paper. |
| Echo: 手纸。(Shǒuzhǐ.) |
| David: Both of these were Echo’s idea. |
| Echo: Yes. It’s necessary. They’re very useful. |
| David: They are very useful. What’s the measure word for “glass”. |
| Echo: 一个杯子。(Yīgè bēizi) |
| David: Yeah. So again, we’ve got the most common one. But for paper, we can’t say 一个纸.(Yīgè zhǐ) |
| Echo: Yeah. This is a little bit complex, 一卷儿.(Yī juàn er) |
| David: J-U-A-N. |
| Echo: Plur R. |
| David: And you’re adding that 儿化音.(Ér huà yīn.) |
| Echo: 一卷儿手纸。(Yī juàn er shǒuzhǐ.) |
| David: So, “give me paper”. |
| Echo: 给我一卷儿手纸。(Gěi wǒ yī juàn er shǒuzhǐ.) |
| David: Tricky. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: But not too tricky for you, guys. |
| Echo: 没错儿。(Méi cuò ér) |
| David: If you get the 儿化音(Ér huà yīn) there, you’re going to sound really native. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| David: It’s going to sound really good. |
| Echo: You will impress people. |
| David: Yeah. They might start speaking to you in high-speed Mandarin, which is what we want. Anyway, that’s our vocab section for today. In the grammar section, we’re going to review how to ask for things. Let’s move on to that now. |
Lesson focus |
| Male: It’s grammar time. |
| David: Okay. Our grammar section for today is all about getting things. |
| Echo: 没错儿。(Méi cuò ér) |
| David: Me, me, me. |
| Echo: Yeah, asking for things. |
| David: Yeah. We’re going to go over a couple of ways. Some we’ve already learned. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: So to start with, we’ve got the most basic one, we tell you, which is “I want”. |
| Echo: 我要。(Wǒ yào.) |
| David: I want a blanket. |
| Echo: 我要一床被子。(Wǒ yào yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: I want a towel. |
| Echo: 我要一条毛巾。(Wǒ yào yītiáo máojīn.) |
| David: I want hot water now. |
| Echo: 我要热水。现在。马上。(Wǒ yào rè shuǐ. Xiànzài. Mǎshàng.) |
| David: Right. It’s very, very strong. |
| Echo: Yeah, a bit direct. |
| David: Yeah. Our next one is also pretty direct. It’s, “Give me”. |
| Echo: 给我。(Gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Give me a pillow. |
| Echo: 给我一个枕头。(Gěi wǒ yīgè zhěntou) |
| David: Give me a blanket. |
| Echo: 给我一床被子。(Gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: So, that’s review for us, okay? The new phrases we have in this lesson are… |
| Echo: 再 给我。(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: And… |
| Echo: 再来。再给我。再来。(Zàilái. Zài gěi wǒ. Zàilái.) |
| David: These are pretty close. We already know most of the first one. |
| Echo: Right. 再给我. 再给我一床被子。(Zài gěi wǒ. Zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: Right. So 给我(Gěi wǒ) is “give me another”. |
| Echo: Right. 再给我.(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Give me another blanket. |
| Echo: 再给我一床被子。(Zài gěi wǒ yī chuáng bèizi.) |
| David: Give me another towel. |
| Echo: 再给我一条毛巾。(Zài gěi wǒ yītiáo máojīn) |
| David: Yup. Our next one is… |
| Echo: 再来。(Zàilái.) |
| David: Which literally means, “Again to bring”. |
| Echo: Right. These are pretty easy and very 口语(Kǒuyǔ), very colloquial. |
| David: So Echo, can you give us an example of using 再来?(Zàilái?) |
| Echo: 再来一点儿餐巾纸。(Zàilái yīdiǎn er cānjīnzhǐ.) |
| David: “Can you bring me some napkins?” My favorite is, “Give me another bottle”. |
| Echo: 再来一瓶。(Zàilái yī píng.) |
| David: Give me another bottle of water. |
| Echo: 再来一瓶水。(Zàilái yī píng shuǐ.) |
| David: Right. So we’ve got these two new ones. What’s the difference between 再给我(Zài gěi wǒ)and 再来?(Zàilái?) |
| Echo: 再给我(Zài gěi wǒ) is more like we talk to someone face to face. |
| David: So in the dialogue, we had a conversation on the phone, and he didn’t say, “Bring another”. He said… |
| Echo: 再给我。(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Yup. So to review, we have four ways of asking for something now. We have, “I want”.. |
| Echo: 我要。(Wǒ yào.) |
| David: Or… |
| Echo: 我想要。 |
| David: We’ve got the always useful, “Give me”. |
| Echo: 给我。(Gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Now we’ve got two new ones. |
| Echo: 再给我。(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: And… |
| Echo: 再来.(Zàilái.) |
| David: The first can be used anywhere, but especially over the phone. |
| Echo: Right, 再给我.(Zài gěi wǒ.) |
| David: Right. And the second should be used when you’re in the same room as the person. |
| Echo: 再来。(Zàilái.) |
| David: Face-to-face style. With that, we’re at the end of our lesson for today. |
| Echo: You know David, before we go, I have to say actually most hotel, they’re really nice and they want not to give you a towel. |
| David: Yes. Most hotels in China, we will admit, will give you towels. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: However… |
| Echo: If you can speak Chinese… |
| David: If you can speak Chinese… |
| Echo: They may give you two. |
| David: They may give you two. So, all of the pain, all of the frustration you may be feeling at times, guys, it’s worth it. |
| Echo: It’s worth it. |
| David: Yeah. So stick through to the end, keep practicing, and if you have any questions or if you need any help, you guys can just write us or leave a comment on the site. |
| Echo: Right. |
| David: We’re glad to hear from you. |
| Echo: 没错儿。(Méi cuò ér.) |
| David: From Beijing, I’m David. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì) Echo. |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we’ll see you next week. |
| Echo: 下次见吧。(Xià cì jiàn ba.) |
| David: Bye-bye. |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
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