Learn how to ask where things are located
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone! |
| Echo: Da jia hao! |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 3 in our Beginner series. I'm your host, Frank Fradella, and I'm joined in the studio by the exceptionally talented Echo. |
| Echo: I’m so flattered. |
| Frank: Well, you deserve it. Today we've got a lesson just chockfull of great new vocabulary, probably the most important lesson you're ever going to learn. What are we teaching of? |
| Echo: Very important. We're going to tell you how to ask for the bathroom. |
| Frank: Exactly. This is a dialogue between a native speaker and a non-native speaker, and fairly formal. So let's go and get into the dialogue and we'll be right back and translate it for you. |
| Echo: But before we do…. |
| Frank: All right, before we go, there was one thing we wanted to tell. If you're an iPod user and you're a premium subscriber, you can actually follow along with the transcript right on your iPod. |
| Echo: Yeah. Isn’t that convenient? |
| Frank: It's very convenient, and you're actually doubling your learning speed. So it doesn't get any better than that. Let's go ahead and listen to that dialogue and we'll be right back. |
Lesson conversation |
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| 张飞:请问，洗手间在哪儿？(Zhāng fēi: Qǐngwèn, xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| 张飞:在哪儿？看不见！(Zhāng fēi: Zài nǎ'er? Kàn bùjiàn!) |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| 张飞:哦，谢谢。(Zhāng fēi: Ó, xièxiè.) |
| 马丽:不客气。(Mǎ lì: Bù kèqì.) |
| Frank: Now let's listen to that a bit more slowly. |
| 张飞:请问，洗手间在哪儿？(Zhāng fēi: Qǐngwèn, xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| 张飞:在哪儿？看不见！(Zhāng fēi: Zài nǎ'er? Kàn bùjiàn!) |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| 张飞:哦，谢谢。(Zhāng fēi: Ó, xièxiè.) |
| 马丽:不客气。(Mǎ lì: Bù kèqì.) |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Frank: Echo, if there's a more important phrase in Chinese, I can't think of it. This is it. The number one most important phrase, “Where's the bathroom?” |
| Echo: And the second most important phrase is, “Over there”. |
| Frank: “It's over there”. That's right. We've got them both in this dialogue, so we're going to walk you right through it. Echo, kick us off. |
| 张飞:请问，洗手间在哪儿？(Zhāng fēi: Qǐngwèn, xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: Excuse me, where is the washroom? |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: It's over there. |
| 张飞:在哪儿？看不见！(Zhāng fēi: Zài nǎ'er? Kàn bùjiàn!) |
| Frank: Over where? I can't see it. |
| 马丽:在那儿。(Mǎ lì: Zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: It's over there. |
| 张飞:哦，谢谢。(Zhāng fēi: Ó, xièxiè.) |
| Frank: Oh, thanks. |
| 马丽:不客气。(Mǎ lì: Bù kèqì.) |
| Frank: You are welcome. |
| Echo: Hey, I really like this dialogue. What do you think? |
| Frank: I thought it was great. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: They're really, really useful too. A matter of fact, we're going to take you through the vocab right now. When we do, we want you to pay attention to those tones. |
| Echo: You got to get the tones right here. |
| Frank: Yeah. Because if you want to find the restroom, you're going to need this stuff? Let's go and do it. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Male: Now, the vocab section. |
| Echo: 请问(Qǐngwèn) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: May I ask you a question? |
| Echo: 请问(Qǐngwèn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 请问(Qǐngwèn)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 洗手间(Xǐshǒujiān) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Washroom. |
| Echo: 洗手间(Xǐshǒujiān)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 洗手间(Xǐshǒujiān)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 在(Zài) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: To be located at. |
| Echo: 在(Zài)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 在(Zài)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 哪儿(Nǎ'er) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Where. |
| Echo: 哪儿(Nǎ'er)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 哪儿(Nǎ'er)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 那儿(Nà'er) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: There. |
| Echo: 那儿(Nà'er)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 那儿(Nà'er)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 看不见(Kàn bùjiàn) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Can’t be seen. |
| Echo: 看不见(Kàn bùjiàn)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 看不见(Kàn bùjiàn)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 谢谢(Xièxiè) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Thank you. |
| Echo: 谢谢(Xièxiè)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 谢谢(Xièxiè)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 不客气(Bù kèqì) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: You’re welcome. |
| Echo: 不客气(Bù kèqì)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 不客气(Bù kèqì)[natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Echo… |
| Echo: Yes? |
| Frank: 谢谢.(Xièxiè.) |
| Echo: 不客气(Bù kèqì) |
| Frank: These are two great phrases we heard in today's dialogue. The second one, let's take that first. |
| Echo: 不客气(Bù kèqì) |
| Frank: This means “you're welcome”. But you might recognize one of the sounds here from our previous lesson, 我不好.(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Male: 不。(Bù.) |
| Frank: Means “not”. Let’s hear it again. |
| Echo: 我不好。(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Frank: Last time we heard it is “I'm not good”. |
| Male: 我不好。(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Echo: 我不好。(Wǒ bù hǎo.) |
| Frank: “I'm not good.” Here, when we say “you're welcome”, what are we really saying? |
| Echo: 不客气。(Bù kèqì.) |
| Frank: Now the last part of that is what? |
| Echo: 客气。(Kèqì.) |
| Frank: That means “polite”. So “don't be so polite” is really “no polite”. |
| Echo: Exactly. 不客气.(Bù kèqì.) |
| Frank: Great. Next stop, we've got the twin sisters of location, where and there. Let's hear them both. |
| Echo: 哪儿。(Nǎ'er.) |
| Frank: And? |
| Echo: 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: Okay. Now the first one means “where”, and it's a third tone. Let's hear that again. |
| Echo: 哪儿。(Nǎ'er.) |
| Frank: The second one means “there”, and it's fourth tone. |
| Echo: 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: “Where” and “there”. |
| Echo: 哪儿(Nǎ'er)，那儿(Nà'er). Actually, they can remember it like this. In English, people say “where”. |
| Frank: So that sounds like third tone. |
| Echo: Yeah. 那儿。(Nà'er.) They also say “there”. |
| Frank: Which sounds like fourth tone. |
| Echo: Yeah. 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: It’s exactly the same in Chinese. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: It's a great mnemonic, Echo. Thanks! Now we're going to head over to the grammar section to learn how to ask where things are. |
| Male: It’s grammar time! |
Lesson focus |
| Frank: Last time, we learned how to talk about how we were feeling. Let's have a few example sentences. “I'm very good”. |
| Echo: 我很好。(Wǒ hěn hǎo.) |
| Frank: I’m very tired. |
| Echo: 我很累。(Wǒ hěn lèi.) |
| Frank: I’m not busy. |
| Echo: 我不忙。(Wǒ bù máng.) |
| Frank: This time, we're going to teach you how to ask where something is using the verb… |
| Echo: 在。(Zài.) |
| Frank: Let's just do a few examples. “Where is the washroom?” |
| Echo: 洗手间在哪儿？(Xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: Where are you? |
| Echo: 你在哪儿？(Nǐ zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: Where is he? |
| Echo: 他在哪儿？(Tā zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: The pattern here is the thing that you're looking for, the verb… |
| Echo: 在。(Zài.) |
| Frank: Which means “to be located at”. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: Another word for “where”. |
| Echo: 哪儿。(Nǎ'er.) |
| Frank: And that’s how you ask the question. |
| Echo: 你在哪儿？(Nǐ zài nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: “Where are you?” |
| Echo: To answer this question actually is pretty easy. |
| Frank: Yeah. You just change the word for “where”… |
| Echo: 哪儿。(Nǎ'er.) |
| Frank: …with “there”. |
| Echo: 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: Let's hear some example sentences and drive it home. “You are there”. |
| Echo: 你在那儿。(Nǐ zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: He is there. |
| Echo: 他在那儿。(Tā zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: The restroom is there. |
| Echo: 洗手间在那儿。(Xǐshǒujiān zài nà'er.) |
| Frank: So just remember one of these is a question. |
| Echo: 哪儿？(Nǎ'er?) |
| Frank: That’s third tone. |
| Echo: Yes. |
| Frank: One of them is an answer. |
| Echo: 那儿。(Nà'er.) |
| Frank: That’s fourth tone. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Male: 洗手间在哪儿？(Xǐshǒujiān zài nǎ'er?) |
| Echo: 在那儿。(Zài nà'er.) |
| Male: 在哪儿？(Zài nǎ'er?) |
| Echo: 在那儿！(Zài nà'er!) |
| Frank: Speaking of questions… |
| Echo: Everyone has questions. |
| Frank: Everybody's got them, and we want to hear yours up at ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: And we’ll answer your questions there. |
| Frank: That's right. We want you to comment, comment, comment some more. We want you to comment until your fingers actually melt the keyboard. We'll see you there. From our studios here in Beijing, I'm Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: I’m Echo. |
| Frank: And we’d like to say 再见。(Zàijiàn.) . |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
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