Learn how to categorize what you are saying
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Anthony: Welcome to chineseclass101, the fastest, easiest and most fun way to learn Chinese. |
| Echo: 大家好， 我是Echo。 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Anthony: And today, we have lesson 13 in our second season of our beginner series titled, My Mouth is on Fire. |
| Echo: Right. China has some of the world’s spiciest food especially in places like Sichuan and Hunan. |
| Anthony: And today’s dialogue takes place in a restaurant. |
| Echo: Between two people who are out enjoying some spicy food. |
| Anthony: And in today’s lesson, we will introduce our listeners to some essential food vocabulary. |
| Echo: Right and in today’s grammar section, we are going to talk about how to express your strong feelings. |
| Anthony: That’s right. So stay tuned for that. Now before we go to the dialogue, if you haven’t made your way over to chineseclass101.com, do it. Sign up for a free lifetime subscription. It only takes your email address. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Anthony: Okay with that let’s go to the dialogue. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 服务员，我要一瓶水。 (Fúwùyuán, wǒ yào yì píng shuǐ.) |
| 我也要一瓶。 (Wǒ yě yào yì píng.) |
| 串儿太辣了。 (Chuànr tài là le.) |
| 也非常好吃。 (Yě fēicháng hǎochī.) |
| Anthony: One more time, a little bit slower. |
| 服务员，我要一瓶水。 (Fúwùyuán, wǒ yào yì píng shuǐ.) |
| 我也要一瓶。 (Wǒ yě yào yì píng.) |
| 串儿太辣了。 (Chuànr tài là le.) |
| 也非常好吃。 (Yě fēicháng hǎochī.) |
| [With English translation] |
| 服务员，我要一瓶水。 (Fúwùyuán, wǒ yào yì píng shuǐ.) |
| A: Waiter, I want a bottle of water. |
| 我也要一瓶。 (Wǒ yě yào yì píng.) |
| B: I also want one. |
| 串儿太辣了。 (Chuànr tài là le.) |
| A: This kebab is so spicy! |
| 也非常好吃。 (Yě fēicháng hǎochī.) |
| B: Also very tasty. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Anthony: So Echo, we have one thing in common. |
| Echo: Eating spicy food. |
| Anthony: That’s right. I think the spicier, the better tasting. |
| Echo: Totally agree with you. |
| Anthony: Now in today’s vocab lesson, we are really going to dive deep into food culture here in China. |
| Echo: Right. A lot of Chinese people like eating spicy food. |
| Anthony: Now if you spend any amount of time in China eating spicy food, you may find yourself in an emergency or you have to get your hands on a cold bottle of water very fast. |
| Echo: 没错, (Méi cuò,) So listen up because we have a lot of great vocabulary words to go over. |
| Anthony: Words you are sure to hear and use the next time you are out eating spicy Chinese food. |
| Echo: Okay 好！ (Hǎo!) Let’s go to the vocab section now. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Echo: 串 (chuàn) |
| Anthony: Kebab. |
| Echo: 串, 串. 瓶 (chuàn, chuàn. píng) |
| Anthony: Bottle. |
| Echo: 瓶, 瓶. 水 (píng, píng. shuǐ) |
| Anthony: Water. |
| Echo: 水, 水. 矿泉水 (shuǐ, shuǐ. kuàngquánshǔi) |
| Anthony: Bottled water, mineral water. |
| Echo: 矿泉水, 矿泉水. 也 (kuàngquánshǔi, kuàngquánshǔi. yě) |
| Anthony: Also. |
| Echo: 也, 也. 辣 (yě, yě. là) |
| Anthony: Hot, spicy. |
| Echo: 辣, 辣. 非常 (là, là. fēicháng) |
| Anthony: Extremely. |
| Echo: 非常, 非常. 太 (fēicháng, fēicháng. tài) |
| Anthony: Too. |
| Echo: 太, 太. 好吃 (tài, tài. hǎochī) |
| Anthony: Tasty. |
| Echo: 好吃, 好吃. (hǎochī, hǎochī.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Anthony: Okay so Echo, let’s take a look at these vocabulary words a little more in depth. |
| Echo: 好！(Hǎo!) The first one 串 (chuàn) |
| Anthony: Kebab. |
| Echo: 串 (chuàn) |
| Anthony: Now what this is, is meat on a stick cooked over an open flame usually outside of a restaurant. |
| Echo: And they are usually very cheap. |
| Anthony: And really tasty. |
| Echo: 没错. (Méi cuò.) So 我爱吃串。 (Wǒ ài chī chuàn.) |
| Anthony: I love eating kebabs. |
| Echo: 我爱吃串。 (Wǒ ài chī chuàn.) |
| Anthony: Now Echo, there is another interesting note about this word. |
| Echo: Right 串 (chuàn) can also be the measure word. So we can say 我要两串 (Wǒ yào liǎng chuàn) |
| Anthony: I want two kebabs or two sticks. |
| Echo: Right 我要两串。 (Wǒ yào liǎng chuàn.) |
| Anthony: Okay our next vocabulary word is also a measure word. |
| Echo: 瓶 (píng) |
| Anthony: This is a measure word for bottles. |
| Echo: Right 瓶 (píng) or if you are in Beijing, you may hear this 瓶 (píng) |
| Anthony: Yes this is with the Beijing accent. |
| Echo: Yeah 瓶。来一瓶可乐。 (Píng. Lái yī píng kělè.) |
| Anthony: Bring a bottle of cola. |
| Echo: 来一瓶可乐。 (Lái yī píng kělè.) |
| Anthony: So your mouth is on fire from scarfing down a whole plate of spicy kebabs. Now you want a bottle of this at your side. |
| Echo: 水 (shuǐ) |
| Anthony: Water. |
| Echo: 水。有水吗？凉的。 (shuǐ. Yǒu shuǐ ma? Liáng de.) |
| Anthony: Do you have water, cold water? |
| Echo: Yeah if it’s very important, if it’s cold. |
| Anthony: Yeah in the summer, they usually have cold water. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Anthony: But in Beijing, during the winters, they turn off the refrigerators. |
| Echo: Yeah so you have to ask this 有水吗？凉的。 (Yǒu shuǐ ma? Liáng de.) |
| Anthony: Yes cold water. |
| Echo: Next one is also a kind of water 矿泉水 (kuàngquánshǔi) |
| Anthony: Yes this is bottled water or mineral water. |
| Echo: 矿泉水 (kuàngquánshǔi) |
| Anthony: A lot of people drink using bottled water because the water from the tap isn’t quite safe to drink from. |
| Echo: Yeah in China. |
| Anthony: In China. So Echo, let’s hear that word in a sample sentence. |
| Echo: Okay 我的矿泉水不凉。 (Wǒ de kuàngquánshuǐ bù liáng.) |
| Anthony: My bottled water isn’t cold. |
| Echo: 我的矿泉水不凉。 (Wǒ de kuàngquánshuǐ bù liáng.) See we’ve learned 有水吗？凉的 (Yǒu shuǐ ma? Liáng de.) is to ask like to request for cold water. Now you know, how to complain that your water is not cold. 我的矿泉水不凉。 (Wǒ de kuàngquánshuǐ bù liáng.) |
| Anthony: Yeah bring me a cold one. Okay so our next word is an adverb. |
| Echo: 也 (yě) |
| Anthony: This means also. |
| Echo: 也 (yě) |
| Anthony: Third tone. |
| Echo: 我们也要米饭。 (Wǒmen yě yào mǐfàn.) |
| Anthony: We also want rice. |
| Echo: 我们也要米饭。 (Wǒmen yě yào mǐfàn.) |
| Anthony: So if you are eating at a Szechuan restaurant, you are going to be sure to use this next word. |
| Echo: 辣 (là) |
| Anthony: Hot or spicy. |
| Echo: 辣。要辣的吗？ (là. Yào là de ma?) |
| Anthony: Do you want it hot? |
| Echo: 要辣的吗？ (Yào là de ma?) Anthony 要辣的吗？ (Yào là de ma?) |
| Anthony: Of course. Our next word is also another adverb. |
| Echo: 非常 (fēicháng) |
| Anthony: This means extremely. |
| Echo: 非常 (fēicháng) |
| Anthony: And this is first tone, second tone. |
| Echo: 这个菜非常好。 (Zhègè cài fēicháng hǎo.) |
| Anthony: This dish is extremely good. |
| Echo: Right 这个菜非常好。 (Zhègè cài fēicháng hǎo.) |
| Anthony: Now what if it’s extremely bad. |
| Echo: 这个菜非常不好。 (Zhège cài fēicháng bù hǎo.) Okay next one is also an adverb 太 (tài) |
| Anthony: And this means too. |
| Echo: 太 (tài) |
| Anthony: As in extremely. |
| Echo: Yeah 夏天太热了。 (Xiàtiān tài rè le.) |
| Anthony: This summer is too hot. |
| Echo: Yeah that’s true in Beijing 夏天太热了。 (Xiàtiān tài rè le.) Okay the last one 好吃。 (hǎochī.) |
| Anthony: Tasty. |
| Echo: 好吃。 (hǎochī.) |
| Anthony: Yeah you can get away at restaurants after you’ve eaten up a big plate of something and you can just motion to the waiters and say |
| Echo: 好吃。羊肉串好吃。 (hàochī. Yángròuchuàn hàochī.) |
| Anthony: The lamb kebabs are tasty. |
| Echo: Yes they are. 羊肉串好吃。 (Yángròuchuàn hǎochī.) |
| Anthony: I find that the best kebabs are at Xinjiang restaurants. |
| Echo: Yes there are a lot of Xinjiang restaurants in Beijing and if you ever get a chance to come to Beijing, you would definitely want to try it. |
| Anthony: All right. So that does it for our vocab section. Echo, let’s make our way over to the grammar section. |
| Echo: Great. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Anthony: The focus of our grammar lesson today is |
| Echo: Reviewing 太...了。 (Tài...Le.) |
| Anthony: And this is used to modify words or phrases meaning really or extremely. Now for example, we heard this sentence in our dialogue. |
| Echo: 串太辣了。 (Chuàn tài làle.) |
| Anthony: The kebab is so spicy or the kebab is extremely spicy. |
| Echo: Right 串太辣了。 (Chuàn tài làle.) and 太...了 (Tài...Le) can be both positive and negative depending on the circumstance. |
| Anthony: That’s right. So Echo, there is a formula that we want to follow when using this grammatical structure right? |
| Echo: Right. The formula for this is noun or we can say the subject plus 太 plus the adjective and plus 了 (Le) |
| Anthony: Okay so to make this clear, let’s go over a few sample sentences. |
| Echo: Right 东西太多了。 (Dōngxī tài duōle.) |
| Anthony: There are too many things. |
| Echo: 东西太多了。你太漂亮了。 (Dōngxī tài duōle. Nǐ tài piàoliangle.) |
| Anthony: You are so pretty. |
| Echo: Yeah I love to hear that. |
| Anthony: Echo, you are so pretty. |
| Echo: 你太漂亮了。 (Nǐ tài piàoliangle.) And if you say that to me, I will say this sentence back 你太好了， (Nǐ tài hǎole,) Anthony. |
| Anthony: You are really nice. |
| Echo: 你太好了。 (Nǐ tài hǎole.) |
| Anthony: Thank you Echo. |
| Echo: 我太累啦。 (Wǒ tài lèi la.) |
| Anthony: I am so tired or I am too tired. |
| Echo: 我太累啦。 (Wǒ tài lèi la.) |
| Anthony: Now Echo, I usually hear you saying this in the mornings around the office. |
| Echo: In the morning, no! |
| Anthony: Oh I am sorry all day, all day long. |
| Echo: What! Anthony 你太不好了。 (Nǐ tài bù hǎole.) |
| Anthony: Oh I am not nice. |
| Echo: Not nice at all. |
| Anthony: Okay that’s negative connotation. |
| Echo: Exactly. |
| Anthony: Let’s hear some more sample sentences using a negative connotation. |
| Echo: 好。今天太冷了。 (Hǎo. Jīntiān tài lěngle.) |
| Anthony: Today is too cold. |
| Echo: That’s true in Beijing, 今天太冷了。 (Jīntiān tài lěngle.) |
| Anthony: Okay so this next example is a little self explanatory. |
| Echo: Yeah well I think Anthony has very special taste. |
| Anthony: Yes I have strong feelings against this next thing. |
| Echo: Okay 臭豆腐太臭了。 (Chòu dòufu tài chòule.) |
| Anthony: Stinky tofu is too stinky. |
| Echo: Right and 臭豆腐太臭了。 (Chòu dòufu tài chòule.) |
| Anthony: And often times, you can find people making this on the side of the streets and you can always tell, actually you can always smell when you are getting close to a stinky tofu stand. |
| Echo: You don’t need to get very close. |
| Anthony: No it smells from mile away. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Anthony: So this next sample sentence is positive. |
| Echo: Very positive. 你的中文太棒了。 (Nǐ de zhōngwén tài bàngle.) |
| Anthony: Your Chinese is awesome. |
| Echo: 你的中文太棒了。 (Nǐ de zhōngwén tài bàngle.) |
| Anthony: Yeah and if somebody gives you this compliment, feel validated because it takes a lot of hard work to earn this compliment. |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
| Anthony: We’ve given you some samples. Let’s review what we’ve learned so far. |
| Echo: 太...了 (Tài...Le) is used to modify a noun. |
| Anthony: And it means really or extremely and it’s used to emphasize a strong feeling towards something. |
| Echo: Right and an adjective is put in between 太 (Tài) and 了. (Le.) |
| Anthony: So we are going to give you one last example that you will be sure to get a lot of use out of. |
| Echo: 这个太贵了。 (Zhège tài guìle.) |
| Anthony: This is too expensive. |
| Echo: Yeah in that way 这个太贵了。 (Zhège tài guìle.) |
| Anthony: But Echo, you know what’s not expensive. |
| Echo: What is not expensive? |
| Anthony: A premium subscription to chineseclass101.com |
| Echo: 没错。 (Méi cuò.) |
Outro |
| Anthony: For just $10 a month, you can get access to an array of tools that will help you learn Chinese faster, easier and in the most fun way possible. |
| Echo: 没错，太棒了。 (Méi cuò, tài bàngle.) |
| Anthony: That’s right. Really awesome, chineseclass101 is awesome. Okay so with that said, from Beijing, I am Anthony. |
| Echo: 我是Echo。 (Wǒ shì Echo.) |
| Anthony: Thanks for listening and we will see you next time. |
| Echo: 下次见吧 ，(Xià cì jiàn ba,) Bye bye. |
| Anthony: Bye bye. |
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