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| INTRODUCTION |
| Yinru: Hi everyone, I’m Yinru. |
| Brandon: And I’m Brandon. Welcome back to ChineseClass101.com. This is lower intermediate, season 2 lesson 10 - What’s the Best Way to Chat to Your Chinese Friends? In this lesson, you’ll learn about the modal particle... |
| Yinru: 啊, (A,) as in 有啊. (Yǒu a.) The conversation takes place in a classroom. |
| Brandon: It’s between Tom and his classmate David. They’re using informal language |
| Yinru: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Tom: 你上星期的考试得了第一名。太棒了！恭喜你 (nǐ shàng xīngqī de kǎoshì dé le dìyī míng. tài bàng le! gōngxǐ nǐ) |
| David: 谢谢。我运气好。 (xièxiè. wǒ yùnqi hǎo.) |
| Tom: 我要向你学习。对了，你有QQ吗？ (wǒ yào xiàng nǐ xuéxí. duìle, nǐ yǒu QQ ma?) |
| David: 有啊。我现在加你吧。 (yǒu ā. wǒ xiànzài jiā nǐ ba.) |
| Tom: 好的。我QQ上的好友不多。 (hǎo de. wǒ QQ shàng de hǎoyǒu bù duō.) |
| David: 我也是。你是我的第十个QQ好友。 (wǒ yě shì. nǐ shì wǒ de dì shí ge QQ hǎoyǒu.) |
| Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Tom: 你上星期的考试得了第一名。太棒了！恭喜你 (nǐ shàng xīngqī de kǎoshì dé le dìyī míng. tài bàng le! gōngxǐ nǐ) |
| David: 谢谢。我运气好。 (xièxiè. wǒ yùnqi hǎo.) |
| Tom: 我要向你学习。对了，你有QQ吗？ (wǒ yào xiàng nǐ xuéxí. duìle, nǐ yǒu QQ ma?) |
| David: 有啊。我现在加你吧。 (yǒu ā. wǒ xiànzài jiā nǐ ba.) |
| Tom: 好的。我QQ上的好友不多。 (hǎo de. wǒ QQ shàng de hǎoyǒu bù duō.) |
| David: 我也是。你是我的第十个QQ好友。 (wǒ yě shì. nǐ shì wǒ de dì shí ge QQ hǎoyǒu.) |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Tom: 你上星期的考试得了第一名。太棒了！恭喜你 (nǐ shàng xīngqī de kǎoshì dé le dìyī míng. tài bàng le! gōngxǐ nǐ!) |
| Brandon: You got first place in last week's test. That's great! Congrats! |
| David: 谢谢。我运气好。 (xièxiè. wǒ yùnqi hǎo.) |
| Brandon: Thanks. I was lucky. |
| Tom: 我要向你学习。对了，你有QQ吗？ (wǒ yào xiàng nǐ xuéxí. duìle, nǐ yǒu QQ ma?) |
| Brandon: I need to learn from you. By the way, do you have QQ? |
| David: 有啊。我现在加你吧。 (yǒu ā. wǒ xiànzài jiā nǐ ba.) |
| Brandon: Of course I do. Let me add you now. |
| Tom: 好的。我QQ上的好友不多。 (hǎo de. wǒ QQ shàng de hǎoyǒu bù duō.) |
| Brandon: Sure. I don't have many friends on QQ though. |
| David: 我也是。你是我的第十个QQ好友。 (wǒ yě shì. nǐ shì wǒ de dì shí ge QQ hǎoyǒu.) |
| Brandon: Me neither. You're my tenth friend on QQ. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Yinru: If you've ever lived in China and made some Chinese friends, I’m pretty sure that you’ve been asked if you have a QQ. |
| Brandon: It’s instant messaging software like Messenger or Google talk, right? |
| Yinru: That’s right. It's the most popular online chatting tool in China, and it’s free. |
| Brandon: It seems like QQ IDs are unique. They use 5 to 12 digit numbers as QQ user ID’s. How do people remember these numbers? |
| Yinru: Well, people simply save the number on their application on their mobile phones or PC. But it’s better to take note of it, since it can be forgotten easily. |
| Brandon: How do foreigners sign up to the service? |
| Yinru: There’s an international version, so you can introduce this service to people that don’t know very much Chinese. It’s in English. It doesn’t have all the features the original version has, but you can still enjoy the basic functions. |
| Brandon: If you still don’t have QQ, try it out. I think it’s one of the best tools for practicing your Chinese writing with your friends in China. Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Yinru: 考试 (Kǎoshì) [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: exam; test |
| Yinru: 考试 (Kǎoshì) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yinru: 考试 (Kǎoshì) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Yinru: 第一名 (Dì yī míng) [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: first place |
| Yinru: 第一名 (Dì yī míng) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yinru: 第一名 (Dì yī míng) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Yinru: 恭喜 (Gōngxǐ) [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to congratulate |
| Yinru: 恭喜 (Gōngxǐ) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yinru: 恭喜 (Gōngxǐ) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Yinru: 运气 (Yùnqì) [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: luck |
| Yinru: 运气 (Yùnqì) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yinru: 运气 (Yùnqì) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Yinru: 对了 (Duìle) [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: by the way |
| Yinru: 对了 (Duìle) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yinru: 对了 (Duìle) [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Yinru: 不多 (Bù duō) [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: not many; not much |
| Yinru: 不多 (Bù duō) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yinru: 不多 (Bù duō) [natural native speed] |
| : And Last: |
| Yinru: 第十 (Dì shí) [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: the tenth |
| Yinru: 第十 (Dì shí) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yinru: 第十 (Dì shí) [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Yinru: The first word is 恭喜.(Gōngxǐ.) |
| Brandon: It means “congratulations” or “to congratulate”. I think it’s one of the words that you’ll hear often in daily conversation in Chinese. |
| Yinru: That’s right. When you have something to congratulate someone on, you can simply say 恭喜. (Gōngxǐ.) Sometimes people like to say it twice, like 恭喜恭喜, (Gōngxǐ gōngxǐ,) to emphasize it. Also, this word can be used as a verb with a pronoun. For example, 恭喜你! (Gōngxǐ nǐ!) |
| Brandon: “Congratulations to you.” Can you give us some examples for using this word? |
| Yinru: Sure. 这真是一个好消息, 恭喜! (Zhè zhēnshi yīgè hǎo xiāoxī, gōngxǐ!) |
| Brandon: That means “That’s good news. Congratulations!” |
| Yinru: An example of saying 恭喜 (Gōngxǐ) twice is 这真是一个好消息, 恭喜恭喜! (Zhè zhēnshi yīgè hǎo xiāoxī, gōngxǐ gōngxǐ!) and with the pronoun at the end it would be, 这真是一个好消息, 恭喜你! (Zhè zhēnshi yīgè hǎo xiāoxī, gōngxǐ nǐ!) |
| Brandon: They all mean, “This is good news, congratulations!” What’s the next word? |
| Yinru: The next word is 对了. (Duìle.) It means “by the way.” |
| Brandon: When you want to change a topic, you can simply use this word like you would use the English phrase “by the way”. Can you give us some examples? |
| Yinru: 我回家了. 对了, 明天上午在哪开会? (Wǒ huí jiāle. Duìle, míngtiān shàngwǔ zài nǎ kāihuì?) |
| Brandon: “I’m going home. By the way, where is tomorrow morning’s meeting?” |
| Yinru: Before I talk about the meeting, I put the word 对了 (Duìle) meaning “by the way.” |
| Brandon: How about one more example? |
| Yinru: 小刘, 帮我复印一下这些文件. 对了, 再给我泡杯咖啡好吗? (Xiǎo liú, bāng wǒ fùyìn yīxià zhèxiē wénjiàn. Duìle, zài gěi wǒ pào bēi kāfēi hǎo ma?) |
| Brandon: “Liu, please copy these files for me. By the way, could you also make me a cup of coffee?” Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the Chinese modal particle |
| Yinru: 啊. (A.) |
| Brandon: Before we talk about this specific particle, let’s explain what modal particles are. These are particles that are used at the beginning or end of the sentence, to reflect a mood or an attitude. So the particle itself means nothing, but gives the sentence the same feeling as the speaker’s mood or attitude. |
| Yinru: There are quite a few modal particles, but for this lesson we are focusing on just the particle 啊. (A.) This is because it is one of the most common, and has a few different usages. In the dialogue, it was at the end of the sentence “有啊”. (“Yǒu a”.) |
| Brandon: You can use this particle at the end of a sentence, when you want to express a strong emotion such as admiration. On the other hand, you can also deliver a warning or request strongly by simply adding this particle at the end. Can you give us some examples? |
| Yinru: 多漂亮的花啊! (Duō piàoliang de huā a!) |
| Brandon: This means "What a beautiful flower it is!" |
| Yinru: Here, by adding the modal particle 啊, (A,) you can deliver your emotion strongly. |
| Brandon: Okay. Can you give us some other examples? |
| Yinru: 他跑得真快啊! (Tā pǎo dé zhēn kuài a!) |
| Brandon: "He runs so fast!" |
| Yinru: 你快来啊! (Nǐ kuài lái a!) |
| Brandon: "Come here quickly!" |
| Yinru: 别忘了带钥匙啊! (Bié wàngle dài yàoshi a!) |
| Brandon: "Don’t forget to bring your keys!" |
| Yinru: The particle 啊 (A) can be used at the beginning of a sentence, too. You can put it at the beginning, when you want to show your surprise. In this case, 啊 (A) should be pronounced with the second rising tone. 啊 (A) (In second rising tone.) |
| Brandon: Can you give us some examples? |
| Yinru: Sure. 啊, 你也不知道吗? (A, nǐ yě bù zhīdào ma?) |
| Brandon: "Oh, so you didn’t know either?" |
| Yinru: 啊? 不会吧? 他比你大十岁? (A? Bù huì ba? Tā bǐ nǐ dà shí suì?) |
| Brandon: "Really? He's ten years older than you?" So this modal particle is used similar to the English phrases, “Really” or “Oh”, this can be used for showing someone’s surprise? |
| Yinru: That’s right. And there’s one more usage. 啊 (A) could also be used at the end of the sentence to help soften the tone and make it more colloquial. |
| Brandon Could you give us some examples? |
| Yinru: 这是谁的电脑啊? (Zhè shì shéi de diànnǎo a?) |
| Brandon: "Whose computer is this?" |
| Yinru: 你有没有想过别人啊? (Nǐ yǒu méiyǒu xiǎngguò biérén a?) |
| Brandon: "Have you ever thought about others?" |
| Yinru: By using the particle 啊 (A) at the end, you can make the sentence softer and more casual. |
| Brandon: What about the sentence in the dialogue? Which usage did we have for that sentence? |
| Yinru: In the conversation, when Tom asked David if he had QQ, David answered “有啊.” (“Yǒu a.”) Here, it was used to make the sentence softer. Without this particle, the sentence will sound very formal, and not as casual as the one with the particle 啊. (A.) |
| MARKETING PIECE |
| Yinru: Dear listeners, ever pressed for time? |
| Brandon: Listen to the Dialogue Lesson Recap! |
| Yinru: These audio tracks only contain the target lesson dialogue. |
| Brandon: So you can quickly recap a lesson. |
| Yinru: Spend a few minutes learning on days when you don’t have time to study a full lesson. |
| Brandon: The audio tracks are just a few minutes long… |
| Yinru: but you will pick up key Chinese phrases along the way. |
| Brandon: Go to ChineseClass101.com, |
| Yinru: and listen to this lesson’s dialogue only audio track. |
Outro |
| Brandon: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Be sure to check out the lesson notes, and leave us a message if you have any comments or questions. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Bye! |
| Yinru: 再见 (Zàijiàn) |
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