Dialogue

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Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Victor: 大家好，我是 Victor。 (Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì Victor.)
Amber: Hey, everybody! This is Amber and this is Gengo Chinese Lesson 19.
Victor: Three Places You Have to See When in China
Amber: Right! The must-sees of China. So today, we’re going to share what a whirlwind tour of Shanghai is like, Victor; what’s there to see, what’s there to do.
Victor: Yeah. Shanghai is a very interesting city to visit.
Amber: Yes, and I mean… I think personally, I lived there for three years. I could tell everyone a few lesser-known spots, but we better tell people the must-sees, to begin with.
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: But before we do that, we’ll do a little review. Now, likely on our tour of Shanghai, Shanghai is known for its beautiful girls, so we should remind you of the word we learned last lesson for a beautiful girl.
Victor: 漂亮的女孩 (piàoliàng de nǚhái)
Amber: Yeah, and hopefully, for the women’s sake, we will also see some handsome men.
Victor: 帅的男孩 (shuài de nánhái)
Amber: Right! “Handsome boys.” Okay, but the different word than 不 (bù), we learned the word…
Victor: 没 (méi)
Amber: And we learned that if you have the verb 有 (yǒu) “to have,” you cannot say 不有 (bù yǒu), if you want to make it negative. You have to say…
Victor: 没有 (méiyǒu)
Amber: Yes, for “don’t have” or “not have.” We also learned a couple of words, sort of little words that are going to become handy later. The first one was the word for “all.”
Victor: 都 (dōu)
Amber: Which is a 1st tone, and then we also learned the word for “furthermore” or “plus.”
Victor: 而且 (érqiě)
Amber: Good. So, back to today’s lesson. We’re on a trip, we’re having fun. We’re going to learn about some tourist sites in Shanghai.
Victor: The conversation is between Mike and his colleague, Mr. Ma.
Amber: Right. So, let’s listen in to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Mike: 太谢谢了。 (Tài xièxiè le.)
Mr. Ma: 迈克，这个星期你有什么计划？ (Màikè, zhè gè xīngqī nǐ yǒu shénme jìhuà?)
Mike: 我也不知道。我有三天时间。第一天我想去外滩。 (Wǒ yě bù zhīdào. Wǒ yǒu sān tiān shíjiān. Dì yī tiān wǒ xiǎng qù wàitān.)
Mr. Ma: 外滩？太棒了！顺便去博物馆看看吧。 (Wàitān? Tài bàng le! Shùnbiàn qù bówùguǎn kànkan ba.)
Mike: 好。 (Hǎo.)
Mr. Ma: 对了，你一定要去玉器市场看看。 (Duì le, nǐ yídìng yào qù yùqì shìchǎng kànkan.)
Mike: 远吗？ (Yuǎn ma?)
Mr. Ma: 不远。在那儿你可以买很多礼物。 (Bù yuǎn. Zài nàr nǐ kěyǐ mǎi hěn duō lǐwù.)
Mike: 哦，好啊。请帮我写一下那个地方的名字, 好吗？ (O, hǎo ā. Qǐng bāng wǒ xiě yíxià nàgè dìfāng de míngzì, hǎo ma?)
Victor: 重复一次, 慢速。 (Chóngfù yīcì, màn sù.)
Amber: One more time, a little slower.
Mike: 太谢谢了。 (Tài xièxiè le.)
Mr. Ma: 迈克，这个星期你有什么计划？ (Màikè, zhè gè xīngqī nǐ yǒu shénme jìhuà?)
Mike: 我也不知道。我有三天时间。第一天我想去外滩。 (Wǒ yě bù zhīdào. Wǒ yǒu sān tiān shíjiān. Dì yī tiān wǒ xiǎng qù wàitān.)
Mr. Ma: 外滩？太棒了！顺便去博物馆看看吧。 (Wàitān? Tài bàng le! Shùnbiàn qù bówùguǎn kànkan ba.)
Mike: 好。 (Hǎo.)
Mr. Ma: 对了，你一定要去玉器市场看看。 (Duì le, nǐ yídìng yào qù yùqì shìchǎng kànkan.)
Mike: 远吗？ (Yuǎn ma?)
Mr. Ma: 不远。在那儿你可以买很多礼物。 (Bù yuǎn. Zài nàr nǐ kěyǐ mǎi hěn duō lǐwù.)
Mike: 哦，好啊。请帮我写一下那个地方的名字, 好吗？ (O, hǎo ā. Qǐng bāng wǒ xiě yíxià nàgè dìfāng de míngzì, hǎo ma?)
Victor: 重复一次, 加英文翻译。 (Chóngfù yīcì, jiā yīngwén fānyì.)
Amber: One more time, with the English.
Mike: 太谢谢了。 (Tài xièxiè le.)
Amber: Thank you so much.
Mr. Ma: 迈克，这个星期你有什么计划？ (Màikè, zhè gè xīngqī nǐ yǒu shénme jìhuà?)
Amber: Mike, what are your plans this week?
Mike: 我也不知道。我有三天时间。第一天我想去外滩。 (Wǒ yě bù zhīdào. Wǒ yǒu sān tiān shíjiān. Dì yī tiān wǒ xiǎng qù wàitān.)
Amber: I don't really know. I have three days. The first day, I would like to go to The Bund.
Mr. Ma: 外滩？太棒了！顺便去博物馆看看吧。 (Wàitān? Tài bàng le!)
Amber: The Bund? Awesome!
Mr. Ma: 顺便去博物馆看看吧。 (Shùnbiàn qù bówùguǎn kànkan ba.)
Amber: On the way, you should go look around the museum.
Mike: 好。 (Hǎo.)
Amber: OK.
Mr. Ma: 对了，你一定要去玉器市场看看。 (Duì le, nǐ yídìng yào qù yùqì shìchǎng kànkan.)
Amber: Oh, you definitely need to go to have a look at The Jade Market.
Mike: 远吗？ (Yuǎn ma?)
Amber: Is it far?
Mr. Ma: 不远。在那儿你可以买很多礼物。 (Bù yuǎn. Zài nàr nǐ kěyǐ mǎi hěn duō lǐwù.)
Amber: No, it's not. You can buy a lot of gifts there.
Mike: 哦，好啊。请帮我写一下那个地方的名字, 好吗？ (O, hǎo ā. Qǐng bāng wǒ xiě yíxià nàgè dìfāng de míngzì, hǎo ma?)
Amber: Oh, all right. Could you write down the name of that place for me?
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Amber: Okay. So we have a few ideas here of things to do. Let’s go over the vocab together and see if we can figure out what those things are. Let’s look at the vocab for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Victor: 太 (tài) [natural native speed]
Amber: too
Victor: 太 (tài) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 太 (tài) [natural native speed]
Victor: 星期 (xīngqī) [natural native speed]
Amber: week
Victor: 星期 (xīngqī) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 星期 (xīngqī) [natural native speed]
Victor: 什么 (shénme) [natural native speed]
Amber: what
Victor: 什么 (shénme) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 什么 (shénme) [natural native speed]
Victor: 计划 (jìhuà) [natural native speed]
Amber: plan
Victor: 计划 (jìhuà) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 计划 (jìhuà) [natural native speed]
Victor: 也 (yě) [natural native speed]
Amber: also, too
Victor: 也 (yě) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 也 (yě) [natural native speed]
Victor: 不知道 (bù zhīdào) [natural native speed]
Amber: to not know
Victor: 不知道 (bù zhīdào) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 不知道 (bù zhīdào) [natural native speed]
Victor: 天 (tiān) [natural native speed]
Amber: day
Victor: 天 (tiān) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 天 (tiān) [natural native speed]
Victor: 时间 (shíjiān) [natural native speed]
Amber: time
Victor: 时间 (shíjiān) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 时间 (shíjiān) [natural native speed]
Victor: 第一 (dìyī) [natural native speed]
Amber: first
Victor: 第一 (dìyī) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 第一 (dìyī) [natural native speed]
Victor: 想 (xiǎng) [natural native speed]
Amber: would like, to want
Victor: 想 (xiǎng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 想 (xiǎng) [natural native speed]
Victor: 去 (qù) [natural native speed]
Amber: to go
Victor: 去 (qù) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 去 (qù) [natural native speed]
Victor: 外滩 (wàitān) [natural native speed]
Amber: The Bund
Victor: 外滩 (wàitān) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 外滩 (wàitān) [natural native speed]
Victor: 棒 (bàng) [natural native speed]
Amber: awesome
Victor: 棒 (bàng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 棒 (bàng) [natural native speed]
Victor: 顺便 (shùnbiàn) [natural native speed]
Amber: on the way, while one is at it
Victor: 顺便 (shùnbiàn) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 顺便 (shùnbiàn) [natural native speed]
Victor: 博物馆 (bówùguǎn) [natural native speed]
Amber: museum
Victor: 博物馆 (bówùguǎn) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 博物馆 (bówùguǎn) [natural native speed]
Victor: 看看 (kànkan) [natural native speed]
Amber: to take a look
Victor: 看看 (kànkan) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 看看 (kànkan) [natural native speed]
Victor: 一定 (yídìng) [natural native speed]
Amber: definitely, certainly
Victor: 一定 (yídìng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 一定 (yídìng) [natural native speed]
Victor: 玉器市场 (yùqì shìchǎng) [natural native speed]
Amber: jade market
Victor: 玉器市场 (yùqì shìchǎng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 玉器市场 (yùqì shìchǎng) [natural native speed]
Victor: 远 (yuǎn) [natural native speed]
Amber: far
Victor: 远 (yuǎn) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 远 (yuǎn) [natural native speed]
Victor: 在 (zài) [natural native speed]
Amber: at
Victor: 在 (zài) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 在 (zài) [natural native speed]
Victor: 那儿 (nàr) [natural native speed]
Amber: there
Victor: 那儿 (nàr) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 那儿 (nàr) [natural native speed]
Victor: 可以 (kěyǐ) [natural native speed]
Amber: can
Victor: 可以 (kěyǐ) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 可以 (kěyǐ) [natural native speed]
Victor: 买 (mǎi) [natural native speed]
Amber: to buy
Victor: 买 (mǎi) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 买 (mǎi) [natural native speed]
Victor: 多 (duō) [natural native speed]
Amber: many, much
Victor: 多 (duō) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 多 (duō) [natural native speed]
Victor: 礼物 (lǐwù) [natural native speed]
Amber: gift
Victor: 礼物 (lǐwù) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 礼物 (lǐwù) [natural native speed]
Victor: 帮 (bāng) [natural native speed]
Amber: to help
Victor: 帮 (bāng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 帮 (bāng) [natural native speed]
Victor: 写 (xiě) [natural native speed]
Amber: to write
Victor: 写 (xiě) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 写 (xiě) [natural native speed]
Victor: 地方 (dìfāng) [natural native speed]
Amber: place
Victor: 地方 (dìfāng) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 地方 (dìfāng) [natural native speed]
Victor: 名字 (míngzì) [natural native speed]
Amber: name
Victor: 名字 (míngzì) [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Victor: 名字 (míngzì) [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Amber: Okay, let's take a closer look at the usage for some of these words.
Victor: Okay, so we start out with the vocab word for “gratitude.” Mike wants to thank his colleagues for the great day they had.
Amber: Right. And, of course, we all know, 谢谢 (xièxiè) means “thank you,” but sometimes, 谢谢 (xièxiè) alone doesn’t feel like enough, so we can say something a bit more.
Victor: Yeah. So he comes out with 太谢谢了 (tài xièxiè le).
Amber: Right. So this is kind of more like, “Thank you SO much.”
Victor: Yeah, capital S-O.
Amber: Little praise for you.
Victor: Thank you SO much. Now, his colleagues are pretty polite and are ready to help Mike even more.
Amber: Yeah, so being very hospitable, they asked him what are his plans for this week. So there’re two good words to learn here; the first one being “this week.”
Victor: Yes. Well, the word for “week,” we already know from the days of the week.
Amber: Right. Remember we learned 星期 (xīngqī) + (the number of the day of the week) is the way to express the days of the week.
Victor: Yeah. So to say “week,” you just say 星期 (xīngqī) on its own. So, of course, we know the word for “this” is 这个 (zhège).
Amber: Right. So put it altogether, “this week” is…
Victor 这个星期。 (Zhège xīngqí.)
Amber: Right.
Victor: And then, in asking about plans, of course, they say, 这个星期你有什么计划 (zhè gè xīngqī nǐ yǒu shénme jìhuà)?
Amber: Right, and the key word here is the word for “plan.” It is…
Victor: 计划 (Jìhuà). 计 (Jì) is a 4th tone, 划 (huà) is also a 4th tone.
Amber: Right, 计划 (jìhuà).
Victor: So that being said, what are the 计划 (jìhuà) that Mike has going on?
Amber: Yeah, what are his plans? Well, it sounds like he’s got a few good ones already. He’s done his research. First off, a place that no one can miss when they go to Shanghai, which is...
Victor: 外滩 (Wàitān); 外 (wài) 4th tone, 滩 (tān) 1st tone.
Amber: Yeah. I remember being totally mystified when I got to Shanghai and kept hearing this 外滩 (wàitān). What is that? It’s because the word in Chinese is so different from English, but in English, it’s actually The Bund, 外滩 (wàitān).
Victor: Well in Chinese, it kind means the outer beach or outer harbor.
Amber: Hmm, well, interestingly because in English, the term “The Bund,” it’s actually from an Anglo-Indian term, Victor, and do you know what it means?
Victor: No, I don’t.
Amber: “Muddy embankment.”
Victor: Muddy embankment?
Amber: But it’s because, at the beginning of the 90th Century, Shanghai was still a small seaside town.
Victor: Right.
Amber: On the shore of the river.
Victor: Right.
Amber: And so, at that time, The Bund area was just like a shallow waterfront that had tons of reeds and stuff.
Victor: Right, exactly. Not anymore though.
Amber: It’s much different. So now, if you go to The Bund, maybe some of you know, it’s the riverfront area of Shanghai that they built many, many beautiful European-style buildings, built by the foreigners that were in Shanghai at the time.
Victor: Yeah. It’s really a famous landmark, not just in Shanghai, I think, all over China as well.
Amber: Yeah. It’s like a museum of international architecture.
Victor: Okay. Now, the cool thing is on the way to The Bund, we get to learn the word for “on the way” in Chinese
Amber: That’s right because, remember, Mr. Ma suggests that on the way to The Bund, Mike should hit the museum while he’s at it.
Victor: Yeah and the word for “on the way” or “while you’re at it” is 顺便 (shùnbiàn). 顺 (Shùn) is 4th tone, 便 (biàn) is also a 4th tone.
Amber: Right. So, for example, if I were coming to work, maybe, Victor, you wanna ask me to pick something up on the way.
Victor: Right.
Amber: You could use this word.
Victor: Correct.
Amber: So maybe, you asked me to buy you a coffee to give you the energy to record, so what would you say then?
Victor: 顺便帮我买一杯咖啡。 (Shùnbiàn bāng wǒ mǎi yībēi kāfēi.)
Amber: “On the way, help me to buy a cup of coffee.”
Victor: Right.
Amber: Very good word, 顺便 (shùnbiàn).
Victor: Yes, very useful. Now, what is he supposed to do again, on the way to the 外滩 (wàitān)?
Amber: He needs to go to the museum, which is...
Victor: 博物馆 (Bówùguǎn); 博 (bó) 2nd tone, 物 (wù) 4th tone, and 馆 (guǎn) is a 3rd tone.
Amber: Right, which is located actually in the People’s Park in Shanghai. What other things should Mike see, Victor?
Victor: Well, if he wants to buy some souvenirs, he should definitely go to the old city, the 玉器市场 (yùqì shìchǎng).
Amber: Right, which is “The Jade Market.” So we hear the word for “market” at the end. What was it?
Victor: 市场 (Shìchǎng). It’s 4th tone and 3rd tone.
Amber: And then the first part is the word for “jade.”
Victor: 玉器 (Yùqì), 4th tone and 4th tone.
Amber: Good. So, in English, “The Jade Market.” And what do you there, Victor? Have you been?
Victor: No, I have not.
Amber: Well, I can tell you coz I’ve been.
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: You can buy lots of things.
Victor: Yeah. There are a lot of those kinds of markets all over China.
Amber: Souvenirs and things like that. So, in Chinese, the verb for “to buy” is going to be an important one. What was it again?
Victor: 买 (Mǎi), 3rd tone, 买 (mǎi).
Amber: Right. And if you’re really nice, you will be buying what for other people?
Victor: You will 买礼物 (mǎi lǐwù).
Amber: Which means “to buy gifts.”
Victor: Correct.
Amber: The word for “gifts” being…
Victor: 礼物 (Lǐwù), 3rd tone and 4th tone.
Amber: Right, and you come to the right place, if you go to that market.
Victor: And there’s a real authentic Chinese garden there as well, which is cool to experience.
Amber: Yes. That’s something else you can see there.
Victor: And the last vocab word is about “distance.”
Amber: Yes, which is very important in big Chinese cities. You gotta make sure your tourist sites are maybe in the same vicinity.
Victor: Yeah. And the word for “far” is 远 (yuǎn), 3rd tone, 远 (yuǎn).
Amber: Yes. This is a perfect example of how easy Chinese is. To say “Is it far?” like Mike did in the dialogue, all you have to do is add our 吗 (ma), the verbal question mark after the word.
Victor: Right. So Mike asks, 远吗 (yuǎn ma)?
Amber: “So, is it far?” As simple as that. And the answer, fortunately, is...
Victor: 不远 (Bù yuǎn) or “not far.”
Amber: Right. So we use our negator word, 不 (bù), with the word for “far” ~ “Not far.” So, while we’re on the subject, Victor, just so we know, if the word for “far” is 远 (yuǎn), what is the word for “near”?
Victor: 近 (Jìn), 4th tone, 近 (jìn).
Amber: Okay, good. So, if we were saying, “Is it near?” could we just say 近吗 (jìn ma)?
Victor: Exactly.
Amber: Good!

Lesson focus
Victor: So we talked about all these must-see places, but they’re so must-see that there is even a grammar pattern used to urge Mike on.
Amber: Yes. His friends really think he has to see certain things, so they used a vocab word that we learned, actually, in the last lesson. It’s the word for “definitely” or “certainly.”
Victor: 一定 (yídìng)
Amber: Right! Now, the pattern we learned here in this dialogue is how to tell someone “you must do something!”
Victor: Yes, and the pattern goes like 一定要 (yídìng yào) + (the verb).
Amber: Right. So here they said, “You have to go to The Jade Market.” How did they say that?
Victor: 你一定要去 (Nǐ yídìng yào qù)
Amber: “You have to go.”
Victor: So let’s try it with another verb.
Amber: Okay. Let’s just say...you’re at The Jade Market, so I’m gonna tell you, Victor, “You have to buy a gift!”
Victor: Right. You’ll say 你一定要买礼物 (nǐ yīdìng yāomǎi lǐwù).
Amber: Right. “You have to buy a gift.” Okay. Now next, we’re gonna talk about something not as fun as gifts, but still important, and that is ordinal numbers. Now, here’s a thing. Maybe some people don’t know what ordinal numbers are, like I didn’t, but I will tell you, because I learned myself in order to teach it. What they are is a number indicating position in a series or order. So basically, it’s just like when you say 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on.
Victor: So, in our dialogue, we heard Mike say, he had 3 days in Shanghai. Then he talked about what he was going to do on the 1st day. He said,
第一天 (dì yī tiān).
Amber: Okay, so let’s look at that for a minute. What are tones?
Victor: 第 (Dì) is 4th tone, 一(yī) is 1st tone, and 天 (tiān) is also 1st tone.
Amber: Right. So, 一(yī), we know, is the number for “1.” 天 (Tiān) means “day.” 第一天 (Dì yī tiān). Well, the 第 (dì) makes it into the ordinal number. It’s the 1st day.
Victor: Correct.
Amber: So what did he say again he was going to do, wanted to do on the 1st day?
Victor: 第一天我想去外滩。(Dì yī tiān wǒ xiǎng qù wàitān.)
Amber: Right! So, to express an ordinal number like “1st, 2nd, 3rd,” all you do is add the word 第 (dì) in front of the number.
Victor: Yeah. So the “2nd day” would be 第二天 (dì èr tiān).
Amber: Mm-hmm. And the “3rd day”...
Victor: Would be 第三天 (dì sān tiān).
Amber: Very easy. Okay. So now, we know Mike is telling… Okay, so we did hear Mike telling us what he would like to do on the first day and we hear him use the verb for “would like” or when you desire or want to do something.
Victor: Yep, that is 想 (xiǎng), 3rd tone, 想 (xiǎng).
Amber: Yeah. So, 想 (xiǎng) is similar in meaning to 要 (yào), which we’ve learned before, the verb “to want.” But it’s a little bit softer, kind of expresses the desire to do something.
Victor: 要 (Yào), 4th tone, which we learned before is more to the side of “to want” or “to need.”
Amber: Right.
Victor: Okay. So, now all these tourist sites are going to be so awesome that we have to teach you the word for “awesome” in Chinese.
Amber: Yes, one of my personal favorites. And not only are we going to teach you the word for “awesome,” but actually, it’s kind of more like the word for “totally awesome,” Victor.
Victor: Yeah. So the first the word for “awesome” is 棒 (bàng), 4th tone.
Amber: Yeah, and something to add is that you can even say something as 很棒 (hěn bàng), just like we know, we learned 很好 (hěn hǎo) means “very good.” If you wanna up the notch of the 棒 (bàng), of the awesomeness, you can say 很棒 (hěn bàng).
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: But you can also take it up even farther by using today’s grammar pattern used for emphasis
Amber: So, to add even more emphasis, we use the word…
Victor: 太 (Tài), which is 4th tone.
Amber: Fourth tone and it actually kind of means “too,” like T-O-O.
Victor: Yeah.
Amber: And then there is a little ending we put…
Victor: 太棒了 (tài bàngle)
Amber: This is our pattern for emphasis. So basically, what you’re doing is you’re sandwiching an adjective, in this case, “awesome” 棒 (bàng), between the 太 (tài) and the 了 (le) and what you get is...even more awesome.
Victor: 太棒了 (tài bàngle)
Amber: Right! So you can also use it with other adjectives like 好 (hǎo). You could say 太好了 (tài hǎole).
Victor: Right.
Amber: It means “really good, great.”
Victor: Yeah and the pattern can be used to emphasize something that is not so good either. Just use a more negative adjective.
Amber: Right. Like, for example, you, sometimes, you hear people say like 太差了 (tài chàle), right?
Victor: Yeah, 太差了 (tài chàle), which 差 (chà) kind of means like “substandard” or “lacking.” And so, it has the feeling of “so terrible” or “so lame.”
Amber: Sound like “lame,” 太差了 (tài chàle).
Victor: 差 (chà)
Amber: 差 (Chà) is 4th tone.
Victor: Okay. And now, last but not least, we have a sentence that reviews some things we learned before.
Amber: Yeah. It’s something we learned way back when in our Bootcamp series, Bootcamp Number 3.
Victor: In that lesson, we learned how to ask someone to write something down by saying, 请帮我写一下，好吗 (qǐng bāng wǒ xiě yīxià, hǎo ma)?
Amber: Yeah and this phrase, if you learned any phrase by memory, I think this one is a very, very useful one to do because it will help you get in a city. You can always ask people that speak English and Chinese or hotel clerks to help you write down the places you want to go to. Don’t forget, that’s the best tactic to use with the taxi, bring a piece of paper. So this time, the place he got them to write down was a tourist destination.
Victor: So, to be a little more specific, you can say to someone… 请帮我写一下那个地方的名字好吗？(Qǐng bāng wǒ xiě yīxià nàgè dìfāng de míngzì hǎo ma?)
Amber: Right. So, it’s a long sentence, but we know all the words here, almost. Maybe, there’s just one new word and that is the word for “place.”
Victor: 地方 (Dìfāng); 地 (dì) 4th tone, 方 (fang) here is a neutral tone.
Amber: Right. And he says 那个地方 (nàgè dìfāng) which is “that place.”
Victor: So, the rest, if we break it down is 请帮我写一下 (qǐng bāng wǒ xiě yīxià)...
Amber: Which is straight from our bootcamp sentence, “please help me write down…”
Victor: Then, 那个地方的名字 (nàgè dìfāng de míngzì).
Amber: “That place’s name,” basically.
Victor: And then he adds on a little 好吗 (hǎo ma) at the end.
Amber: Right, which sort of expresses, “Okay?” or “Do you mind?” “Could you?”

Outro
Amber: Okay, lots of good stuff in our lesson today, lots of good places for you all to check out in Shanghai when you go, and also, lots of good phrases you can use to find where you want to go. So, have another listen to the dialogue and we will say goodbye for now. We will see you next time on Gengo Chinese.
Victor: 再见! (Zàijiàn!)
Amber: 再见! (Zàijiàn!)

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