Learn about verb reduplication
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: So in case you’ve avoided the camera for the first four seasons, we are going to solve your problems today with lesson on Chinese photo etiquette. Right. So miao miao (Sylvia), we’ve got a dialogue here which is really natural. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: Right. So this is casual Mandarin the way it’s spoken. We are going to take you to the dialogue now. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 别动。(Bié dòng。) |
| B: 我没动。(Wǒ méi dòng。) |
| A: 笑一笑。(Xiào yi xiào。) |
| B: 可以了吗？(Kěyǐ le ma?) |
| A: 一，二，三......(Yī, èr, sān......) |
| B: 让我看看。(Ràng wǒ kànkan。) |
| A: 太美了。(Tài měi le。) |
| David: One more time a bit slower. |
| A: 别动。(Bié dòng。) |
| B: 我没动。(Wǒ méi dòng。) |
| A: 笑一笑。(Xiào yi xiào。) |
| B: 可以了吗？(Kěyǐ le ma?) |
| A: 一，二，三......(Yī, èr, sān......) |
| B: 让我看看。(Ràng wǒ kànkan。) |
| A: 太美了(Tài měi le。) |
| David: And now with the English translation. |
| Sylvia: 别动。(Bié dòng。) |
| David: Don't move. |
| Sylvia: 我没动。(Wǒ méi dòng。) |
| David: I didn't move. |
| Sylvia: 笑一笑。(Xiào yi xiào。) |
| David: Smile a bit. |
| Sylvia: 可以了吗？(Kěyǐ le ma?) |
| David: Is this ok? |
| Sylvia: 一，二，三...(Yī, èr, sān......) |
| David: One, two, three... |
| Sylvia: 让我看看。(Ràng wǒ kànkan。) |
| David: Let me take a look. |
| Sylvia: 太美了(Tài měi le。) |
| David: Really beautiful. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Sylvia 动 (dòng) [natural native speed] |
| David to move |
| Sylvia 动 (dòng)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia 动 (dòng)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia 笑一笑 (xiào yi xiào) [natural native speed] |
| David smile a bit |
| Sylvia 笑一笑 (xiào yi xiào)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia 笑一笑 (xiào yi xiào)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia 可以 (kěyǐ)[natural native speed] |
| David can |
| Sylvia 可以 (kěyǐ)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia 可以 (kěyǐ)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia 美 (měi)[natural native speed] |
| David beautiful |
| Sylvia 美 (měi)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia 美 (měi)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia 拍 (pāi)[natural native speed] |
| David to shoot a camera |
| Sylvia 拍 (pāi)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia 拍 (pāi)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia 照片 (zhàopiàn)[natural native speed] |
| David photograph |
| Sylvia 照片 (zhàopiàn)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia 照片 (zhàopiàn)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia 相机 (xiàngjī)[natural native speed] |
| David camera |
| Sylvia 相机 (xiàngjī)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia 相机 (xiàngjī)[natural native speed] |
| Sylvia 茄子(qiézi) [natural native speed] |
| David eggplant |
| Sylvia 茄子 (qiézi)[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sylvia 茄子 (qiézi)[natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: First things first. I think we need to explain the last word on this list. |
| Sylvia: Probably yes. |
| David: Right. We translated it as eggplant because that’s what it is. 茄子(qiézi) but really Sylvia, what’s happening? |
| Sylvia: It means cheers. It’s smile. |
| David: Yeah. It’s the word in Chinese that you say or you will hear said when people are taking photos. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: So Sylvia, give us an example. |
| Sylvia: Okay. 笑一笑，茄子.(Xiào yīxiào, qiézi.) |
| David: Right, Sylvia is gesturing with her arms as she says this. |
| Sylvia: Right, 笑一笑，茄子..(Xiào yīxiào, qiézi..) |
| David: And it’s true. It’s impossible to say this without smiling. So you are going to hear this people aren’t ordering food. They are taking photos. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: And the rest of her vocab here is all related to cameras and photography. We have the word camera 相机 (Xiàngjī) camera. |
| Sylvia: 相机.(Xiàngjī.) |
| David: Along with the word for photograph 照片 (Zhàopiàn) photograph. |
| Sylvia: 照片.(Zhàopiàn.) |
| David: And the verb for taking photographs is 拍(Pāi) and this means to shoot. |
| Sylvia: 拍. (Pāi.) |
| David: So people will talk about taking a photograph. |
| Sylvia: 拍照片. (Pāi zhàopiàn.) |
| David: Can I take a photograph? |
| Sylvia: 我可以拍照片吗？(Wǒ kěyǐ pāi zhàopiàn ma?) |
| David: Can I take a photograph? If you are asking someone else to take a photo of you, you change that slightly. |
| Sylvia: 你可以拍照片吗？(Nǐ kěyǐ pāi zhàopiàn ma?) |
| David: Can you take a photo? |
| Sylvia: 你可以拍照片吗？(Nǐ kěyǐ pāi zhàopiàn ma?) |
| David: And that’s another word in our vocab list, can 可以 (Kěyǐ) or to be able. |
| Sylvia: 可以.(Kěyǐ.) |
| David: In our dialogue, we see this in another phrase that’s also incredibly useful. 可以了吗？(Kěyǐle ma?) which really means can I or may I? |
| Sylvia: 可以了吗？(Kěyǐle ma?) |
| David: And this is the most native way to say, is this okay? Can I do this? 可以了吗？(Kěyǐle ma?) So if you are holding a camera, 相机 (Xiàngjī) and you want to take a photo, 拍照片(Pāi zhàopiàn) you can always ask someone 可以了吗？ (Kěyǐle ma?) That’s the easiest way to do it in Chinese. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: Okay meow meow, something crazy is happening in line 3. |
| Sylvia: Yes you hear 笑一笑.(Xiào yīxiào.) |
| David: Which means smile or laugh. |
| Sylvia: Yes 笑一笑.(Xiào yīxiào.) |
| David: And that’s the same verb repeated with number one stuck in the center. 笑一笑 (Xiào yīxiào) and it means laugh a little bit or smile a little bit. So it’s the suggestion but it’s also suggesting someone does something for a little bit of time. |
| Sylvia: Yes exactly. |
| David: You are going to hear this a lot in Chinese with single character verbs. For instance 想一想.(Xiǎng yī xiǎng.) Think about it for a while. |
| Sylvia: 想一想.(Xiǎng yī xiǎng.) |
| David: Think about it for a while. |
| Sylvia: 听一听.(Tīng yī tīng.) |
| David: Listen for a bit. |
| Sylvia: 听一听.(Tīng yī tīng.) |
| David: and you might hear that when someone is not listening and you are urging them, come on, hear this person out or pay attention to what’s being said. 听一听 (Tīng yī tīng) Listen a while, then you will understand. |
| Sylvia: 听一听，你就明白.(Tīng yī tīng, nǐ jiù míngbái.) |
| David: Listen for a bit and then you will understand. |
| Sylvia: 听一听，你就明白.(Tīng yī tīng, nǐ jiù míngbái.) |
| David: Likewise if someone wants you to look at something, they might ask you to 看一看 (Kàn yī kàn)check it out. |
| Sylvia: 看一看.(Kàn yī kàn.) |
| David: Take a look. |
| Sylvia: Right for instance if someone asks you 进来看一看.(Jìnlái kàn yī kàn.) |
| David: They are asking you to come in and take a look 进来看一看(Jìnlái kàn yī kàn) or maybe they will ask you to come in take a look and listen for a while… |
| Sylvia: 进来看一看，听一听.(Jìnlái kàn yī kàn, tīng yī tīng.) |
| David: Right, so this is a really easy grammar point. |
| Sylvia: Yes. |
| David: And it’s super useful when you see single character verbs repeated with a number one in the middle, two things are happening. |
| Sylvia: One, you are making a suggestion. |
| David: Two, you are asking someone to do something for a brief length of time. |
Outro |
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