Learn how to ask about singers and songs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Frank: Hey, everyone. |
| Frank: Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com, Season 1, Lesson 39 in our Beginner series. |
| Echo: 第三十九课。(Dì sānshíjiǔ kè.) |
| Frank: I’m your host, Frank Fradella, and I’m joined in the studio, as always, by my lovely co-host, Echo. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo |
| Frank: Today’s dialogue is between two friends. |
| Echo: They’re out…? |
| Frank: Maybe in KTV bar. |
| Echo: Yeah. They are speaking casually. |
| Frank: All right. Let’s get on to the dialogue now. |
| Echo: But before we do… |
| Frank: Oh, that’s right. Before we do, if you want to get behind the mic and listen to your deals of tones, there’s no better way the voice-recording tone up at ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: You can record your voice and compare it to native Chinese speakers. |
| Echo: This is such a great way to practice your tones and speak just the way that natives do. |
| Frank: Right. |
| Echo: Nothing better and nothing easier. We’ll see you there. But for now, on to the dialogue. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| 甲: 哎，你听过这首歌吗？(JIǍ: Ai, nǐ tīng guò zhè shǒu gē ma?) |
| 乙: 当然听过。(YǏ: Dāngrán tīng guò.) |
| 甲: 这个歌手是谁？(JIǍ: Zhège gēshǒu shì shéi?) |
| 乙: 不知道。(YǏ: Bù zhīdào.) |
| Frank: One more time, just a bit slower. |
| 甲: 哎，你听过这首歌吗？(JIǍ: Ai, nǐ tīng guò zhè shǒu gē ma?) |
| 乙: 当然听过。(YǏ: Dāngrán tīng guò.) |
| 甲: 这个歌手是谁？(JIǍ: Zhège gēshǒu shì shéi?) |
| 乙: 不知道。(YǏ: Bù zhīdào.) |
| Frank: Okay. Echo, what’s the lesson to be learned from this dialogue? |
| Echo: If you don’t know, just say that. Just say you don’t know. |
| Frank: You think he’s pretending? |
| Echo: Yeah, of course. Even worse, he was caught. |
| Frank: I’m not so sure. I mean, let’s listen again and translate it line-by-line and see what you guys think. |
| 甲: 哎，你听过这首歌吗？(JIǍ: Ai, nǐ tīng guò zhè shǒu gē ma?) |
| Frank: Have you heard this song before? |
| 乙: 当然听过。(YǏ: Dāngrán tīng guò.) |
| Frank: Of course, I've heard this before. |
| 甲: 这个歌手是谁？(JIǍ: Zhège gēshǒu shì shéi?) |
| Frank: Who is the singer? |
| 乙: 不知道。(YǏ: Bù zhīdào.) |
| Frank: I don't know. |
| Echo: See? |
| Frank: All right. So what you do you folks see? Do you still think he’s a bit of poser? I don’t know. Maybe the answer is somewhere in the vocab. |
| Echo: Okay. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Frank: Let’s get on to that section now. |
| Male: Now the vocab section. |
| Echo: 听(tīng) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: To listen. |
| Echo: 听(tīng)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 听(tīng)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 过(guò) [natural native speed] |
| Frank: Ever. |
| Echo: 过(guò)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 过(guò)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 首(shǒu) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Measure word for songs. |
| Echo: 首(shǒu)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 首(shǒu)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 歌(gē) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Song. |
| Echo: 歌(gē)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 歌(gē)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 当然(dāngrán) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Of course. |
| Echo: 当然(dāngrán)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 当然(dāngrán)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 歌手(gēshǒu) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Singer. |
| Echo: 歌手(gēshǒu)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 歌手(gēshǒu)[natural native speed]. |
| Echo: 谁(shéi) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Who. |
| Echo: 谁(shéi)[slowly - broken down by syllable]. 谁(shéi)[natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Frank: Okay, we’re back. |
| Echo: Actually, you know what, Frank? This dialogue make me a little bit nervous. |
| Frank: Why? |
| Echo: Because I’m a bad singer. |
| Frank: Really? |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: Now I find that’s far less of a problem in China because your KTV removes the burden of public humiliation. Well, in America, there’s no private room, which is the way the KTV bars around here. In America, you go into a bar with four of your friends, and then you have to sing in front of 50 strangers. |
| Echo: Oh, my god. That’s bad. I can’t imagine that. |
| Frank: Yeah, it’s so horrible. But here, you get a private room. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: With full control over the machine. Today, we’re going to give you the vocab you need on your next KTV out. If you still can’t sing, well, we really can’t help you. Echo, what are some of the words people will know in a KTV room. |
| Echo: 好听(hǎotīng) [natural native speed]. |
| Frank: Sounds good. |
| Echo: 这首歌很好听。(Zhè shǒu gē hěn hǎotīng.) |
| Frank: This song sounds very good. |
| Echo: 中国歌。(Zhōngguó gē.) |
| Frank: Chinese song. |
| Echo: 我很喜欢中国歌。(Wǒ hěn xǐhuān zhōngguó gē.) |
| Frank: I really like Chinese songs. |
| Echo: 小声。(xiǎoshēng.) |
| Frank: Low volume. |
| Echo: 小声一点儿。(Xiǎoshēng yìdiǎnr.) |
| Frank: Lower the volume. |
| Echo: 大声。(xiǎoshēng.) |
| Frank: Higher volume. |
| Echo: 大声一点儿。(Xiǎoshēng yìdiǎnr.) |
| Frank: “Raise the volume.” In both cases… |
| Echo: 一点儿。(Yīdiǎn er.) |
| Frank: Is making the suggestion to make it a little more of something. |
| Echo: Right. 小声一点儿。(Xiǎoshēng yìdiǎnr.) |
| Frank: Lower the volume. |
| Echo: 大声一点儿。(Dàshēng yìdiǎnr.) |
| Frank: “Raise the volume.” Up next? |
| Echo: 跳舞.(tiàowǔ.) |
| Frank: To dance. |
| Echo: 你想跳舞吗？(Nǐ xiǎng tiàowǔ ma?) |
| Frank: Do you want to dance? Sure, Echo. |
| Echo: That’s sweet. |
| Frank: Just because you’ve asked me. |
| Echo: 麦克风。(màikèfēng.) |
| Frank: We really need to translate that. It’s microphone. |
| Echo: Right. 给他一个麦克风。(Gěi tā yīgè màikèfēng.) |
| Frank: Give him a microphone. |
| Echo: 歌词.(Gēcí.) |
| Frank: Lyrics. |
| Echo: 我不知道歌词。(Wǒ bù zhīdào gēcí.) |
| Frank: “I don’t know the lyrics.” Okay, quick pause here. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: If you check out the PDF on this lesson, you’ll notice that the word lyrics is the word for song… |
| Echo: 歌(gē) |
| Frank: …plus the word for “word”. |
| Echo: 词(Cí) |
| Frank: Song words. |
| Echo: Right. 歌词。(gēcí.) |
| Frank: Lyrics. It’s such a great language. It’s just that easy. Okay. Moving on, our last sentence… |
| Echo: 没听过。(Méi tīngguò.) |
| Frank: To have never heard. |
| Echo: 我没听过这首歌。(Wǒ méi tīng guo zhè shǒu gē.) |
| Frank: I have never heard this song. |
| Echo: 我没听过这首歌。(Wǒ méi tīng guo zhè shǒu gē.) |
| Frank: Actually, we’re cheating we’re cheating a bit here, aren’t we, Echo? |
| Echo: Yeah, we are. 没听过半(Méi tīng guòbàn)is not actually a word by itself. |
| Frank: No, it’s not. But that brings us right to our grammar section where we’ll tell you all about it. |
Lesson focus |
| Echo: It’s grammar time. |
| Frank: Okay. In today’s dialogue, we heard this sentence. |
| Male: 你听过这首歌吗？(nǐ tīng guò zhè shǒu gē ma?) |
| Echo: 你听过这首歌吗？(nǐ tīng guò zhè shǒu gē ma?) |
| Male: “Have you heard this song before?” Echo, what part of the sentence is asking if you would done something before? |
| Echo: 过.(guò.) The word that follows the verb. 你听过这首歌吗？(nǐ tīng guò zhè shǒu gē ma?) |
| Male: 你听过这首歌吗？(nǐ tīng guò zhè shǒu gē ma?) |
| Frank: In this case, that verb is… |
| Echo: 听(tīng) |
| Frank: To listen. |
| Echo: And adding 过(guò), 听过半(Tīng guòbàn)means “to have heard”. |
| Frank: Exactly. So the question now becomes, “can we do this with other verbs too?” |
| Echo: Of course, 当然.(dāngrán.) |
| Frank: Let’s hear some example sentence. |
| Echo: 看过。(Kànguò.) |
| Frank: To have seen. |
| Echo: 我看过那部电影。(Wǒ kàn guò nà bù diànyǐng.) |
| Frank: I have seen that movie before. |
| Echo: 去过。(Qùguò) |
| Frank: To have gone. |
| Echo: 你去过中国吗？(Nǐ qùguò zhōngguó ma?) |
| Frank: Have you gone to China before? |
| Echo: 吃过。(Chīguò.) |
| Frank: To have eaten. |
| Echo: 他吃过饺子。(Tā chīguò jiǎozi.) |
| Frank: He has eaten dumpling before? |
| Echo: 说过。(Shuōguò.) |
| Frank: To have said. |
| Echo: 我说过我不吃香菜。(Wǒ shuōguò wǒ bù chī xiāngcài.) |
| Frank: I said I don’t eat cilantro. |
| Echo: That’s a perfect sentence for you, Frank. |
| Frank: It really is, Echo. This is great stuff, and it’s absolutely essential if you’re trying to get to know someone. |
| Echo: That’s true. |
| Frank: You can ask where they’ve been, what they’ve seen. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| Frank: Let’s hear a few more examples. |
| Echo: 你来过这个地方吗？(Nǐ láiguò zhège dìfāng ma?) |
| Frank: Have you been to this place before? |
| Echo: 你学过中文吗？(Nǐ xuéguò zhōngwén ma?) |
| Frank: Have you learned Chinese before? |
| Echo: 你喝过白酒吗？(Nǐ hēguò báijiǔ ma?) |
| Frank: “Have you drunk 白酒(Báijiǔ) before?” I don’t know why anybody drinks that stuff on purpose. It’s like lighter fluid. Now you notice that these are all questions. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: So Echo, tell us how to answer them. |
| Echo: 好(Hǎo). You can use the same verb to answer it. |
| Frank: Right. So if someone asks if you’ve learned Chinese before…. |
| Echo: 你学过中文吗？(Nǐ xuéguò zhōngwén ma?) |
| Frank: You can just say… |
| Echo: 学过。(Xuéguò.) |
| Frank: If you haven’t… |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: Well, you just go to ChineseClass101.com. |
| Echo: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| Frank: Or you can say… |
| Echo: 没学过。(Méi xuéguò.) |
| Frank: I have not studied before. |
| Echo: 没学过。(Méi xuéguò.) |
| Frank: So this brings us back to the end of the vocab section where we had this sentence. |
| Echo: 没听过。(Méi tīngguò) |
| Frank: I have not heard it before. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: Now, I think it’s important to know here that we’re using… |
| Echo: 没。(Méi.) |
| Frank: Because it’s in the past tense. |
| Echo: Right. So we don’t use 不.(Bù.) |
| Frank: Exactly. That’s all there is it to it. It’s just that easy. We’re out of time. |
| Echo: Yeah. |
| Frank: But before we go, want to remind you folks to head up to ChineseClass101.com and check out the PDF transcript. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: There’s a whole grammar section in there that’s got more examples and digs a little deeper on this stuff. |
| Echo: Right. |
| Frank: There’s absolutely no better way to sink your teeth in and really drive this stuff home. That’s it for us. From Beijing, I’m Frank Fradella. |
| Echo: 我是(Wǒ shì)Echo. |
| Frank: We’ll see you next time. 再见。(Zàijiàn.) |
| Echo: Bye-bye. |
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