Learn about withdrawing money from ATMs in China and asking where things are
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Right here is the unlucky #13. It means that you have no money. |
| Sylvia: That’s not a coincidence. |
| David: So we’ve got a dialogue about some unfortunate sap who is fresher to cash. |
| Sylvia: Right. |
| David: So he is on the street and he wants to know where he can get more. This dialogue features casual Mandarin as always. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 我没钱了。(Wǒ méi qián huā le 。) |
| B: 走，取点儿钱去。(Zǒu ，qǔ diǎnr qián qù 。) |
| A: 哪儿有提款机？(Nǎr yǒu qǔkuǎnjī ？) |
| B: 去商场里看看。(Qù shāngchǎng lǐ kànkan 。) |
| A: 唉，又要买东西了。(āi ，yòu yào mǎi dōngxi le 。) |
| David: One more time a bit slower. |
| A: 我没钱了。(Wǒ méi qián huā le 。) |
| B: 走，取点儿钱去。(Zǒu ，qǔ diǎnr qián qù 。) |
| A: 哪儿有提款机？(Nǎr yǒu qǔkuǎnjī ？) |
| B: 去商场里看看。(Qù shāngchǎng lǐ kànkan 。) |
| A: 唉，又要买东西了。(āi ，yòu yào mǎi dōngxi le 。) |
| David: And now with the English translation. |
| Sylvia: 我没钱了。(Wǒ méi qián huā le 。) |
| David: I don't have any more money. |
| Sylvia: 走，取点儿钱去。(Zǒu ，qǔ diǎnr qián qù 。) |
| David: Go, take out a bit more. |
| Sylvia: 哪儿有提款机？(Nǎr yǒu qǔkuǎnjī ？) |
| David: Where is an ATM? |
| Sylvia: 去商场里看看。(Qù shāngchǎng lǐ kànkan 。) |
| David: Go look in the shopping center. |
| Sylvia: 唉，又要买东西了。(āi ，yòu yào mǎi dōngxi le 。) |
| David: Oh, and buy even more? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: I think this dialogue is a bit confusing. |
| Sylvia: Oh really? |
| David: Because he wants to take out money and that means he is going to be spending more. |
| Sylvia: Yes that totally makes sense. |
| David: I think you put this together because you can’t resist buying things when you are in a shopping center. |
| Sylvia: And that’s why all the ATMs are in the shopping center, taking more and buying more. |
| David: Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sylvia: 花钱(huāqián) [natural native speed] |
| David: to spend money |
| Sylvia: 花钱 (huāqián)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 花钱 (huāqián)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 取钱 (qǔ qián)[natural native speed] |
| David: to take out money |
| Sylvia: 取钱 (qǔ qián)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 取钱(qǔ qián) [natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 取款机 (qǔ kuǎn jī)[natural native speed] |
| David: ATM |
| Sylvia: 取款机 (qǔ kuǎn jī)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 取款机 (qǔ kuǎn jī)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 商场 (shāngchǎng)[natural native speed] |
| David: shopping center |
| Sylvia: 商场 (shāngchǎng)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 商场(shāngchǎng) [natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 买东西 (mǎi dōngxi)[natural native speed] |
| David: to buy things |
| Sylvia: 买东西 (mǎi dōngxi)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 买东西 (mǎi dōngxi)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 付钱 (fù qián)[natural native speed] |
| David: to pay money |
| Sylvia: 付钱 (fù qián)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 付钱 (fù qián)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia: 又(yòu) [natural native speed] |
| David: again |
| Sylvia: 又(yòu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia: 又(yòu) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: So our dialogues are getting a bit trickier. We are pushing up there and our vocab is a bit tricky too. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: A lot of these words for instance are verb noun combos. |
| Sylvia: Right. |
| David: Commonly used like 花钱(huāqián) To spend money. |
| Sylvia: 花钱.(huāqián.) |
| David: To spend money; or 取钱(qǔ qián) To take out money. |
| Sylvia: 取钱.(qǔ qián.) |
| David: So both of these words, it’s a verb plus the noun money. So you can either use the verbs in isolation or together with word money. |
| Sylvia: Right but people usually use it as a phrase. |
| David: Right as in the sentence… |
| Sylvia: 我花钱买东西(Wǒ huā qián mǎi dōngxī) |
| David: I spend money to buy things 我花钱买东西(Wǒ huā qián mǎi dōngxī); but money is not the only thing that you can spend. You can also spend time. 花时间(Huā shíjiān) I spend time shopping. 我花时间买东西(Wǒ huā shíjiān mǎi dōngxī). We’ve got another word we’ve added to our vocab list today which is to pay 付钱(Fù qián) to pay, 付钱(Fù qián) and it literally means to handover money. So Sylvia, what’s the difference between 花钱(Huā qián) and 付钱.(Fù qián.) |
| Sylvia: 花(Huā) means you just spend the money. 付(Fù) Actually means you… |
| David: You give it to someone. |
| Sylvia: Give it to someone. |
| David: Yeah so the second is a bit clearer about who is getting paid. |
| Sylvia: Right. |
| David: And if you have a bill for instance, you are going to 付钱(Fù qián). You are going to pay the bill as opposed to just spending money. |
| Sylvia: Right. |
| David: Now the last word we want to highlight here is the word for shopping center 商场(Shāngchǎng). Shopping center 商场(Shāngchǎng). This is sort of new in China. Maybe in the last – last 5 or 10 years. In the 90s, there were lot of department stores. |
| Sylvia: Right, 百货(Bǎihuò.). |
| David: Department stores 百货(Bǎihuò) and before that, there were lot of market places 市场(Shìchǎng). Market places 市场(Shìchǎng). So all of these words are different and they are all somewhat specific about the kind of place you are going. A market 市场(Shìchǎng) has a lot of small stores. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: Usually a lot of the same kind of stores crowded together. |
| Sylvia: And that’s where you can get cheap stuff. |
| David: Right. You can usually haggle in a 市场(Shìchǎng). In the 1990s of course, China introduced a lot of department stores 百货(Bǎihuò) which were these big stores where it’s all owned by the same company. They were popular for a couple of years and then…. |
| Sylvia: Bankrupt. |
| David: And then they were bankrupt yeah and these days though we’ve got the new phenomenon of 商场(Shāngchǎng) which are modern commercial malls. |
| Sylvia: Yes, 商场.(Shāngchǎng.) |
| David: Where the developer leases the space to commercial tenants. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Sylvia, what’s our grammar point today? |
| Sylvia: Well in our grammar point today, we are going to talk about finding things. |
| David: Right specifically asking where things are. In our dialogue, we heard this 哪儿有提款机？(Nǎ'er yǒu tí kuǎn jī?) Where is an ATM? |
| Sylvia: 哪儿有提款机？(Nǎ'er yǒu tí kuǎn jī?) |
| David: Now the word ATM makes that a difficult sentence. |
| Sylvia: Right. |
| David: The good news is we’ve got a sentence pattern here that we can use with almost any noun. For instance, 哪儿有洗手间？(Nǎ'er yǒu xǐshǒujiān?) where is the washroom? |
| Sylvia: 哪儿有洗手间？(Nǎ'er yǒu xǐshǒujiān?) |
| David: Where is the washroom or where is a washroom. |
| Sylvia: Another example, 哪儿有饭店？(Nǎ'er yǒu fàndiàn?) |
| David: Where is a restaurant 哪儿有饭店？(Nǎ'er yǒu fàndiàn?) or that could be where is the hotel. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: Because those two words are interchangeable. |
| Sylvia: Or 哪儿有商场？(Nǎ'er yǒu shāngchǎng?) |
| David: Where is a shopping center? |
| Sylvia: To buy stuff, 哪儿有商场？(Nǎ'er yǒu shāngchǎng?) |
| David: And the answer to those two questions are often the same sensed for some unknown reason. |
| Sylvia: Right. |
| David: Right because the restaurants in China, we don’t know why they like to crowd around the 7th and 8th floors of shopping centers. |
| Sylvia: Of the department stores yes. |
| David: Yeah. Anyway, that’s our lesson for today, a really simple grammar point. 哪儿有(Nǎ'er yǒu) and then the thing you want to find be it an ATM… |
| Sylvia: 哪儿有提款机？ (Nǎ'er yǒu tí kuǎn jī?) |
| David: A restaurant... |
| Sylvia: 哪儿有饭店？ (Nǎ'er yǒu fàndiàn?) |
| David: Or a shopping center... |
| Sylvia: 哪儿有商场？ (Nǎ'er yǒu shāngchǎng?) |
| David: Right. |
Outro |
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