Learn an adverb that you have seen in other forms, and about hot pot
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to ChineseClass101.com, I’m David. |
| Amber: 大家好，我是安伯。(Dàjiā hǎo, wǒ shì ān bó.) |
| David: And Amber, we’re here today with Upper Beginner Season 1, Lesson 25. |
| Amber: Yay! |
| David: Right. The title of this lesson is Culinary Confusion in China. |
| Amber: Mhm. |
| David: And our lesson’s about what? |
| Amber: 火锅。(Huǒguō.) |
| David: It’s about hot pot. If you’ve been to China you know what this food is. If not, you are in luck because China has this amaze food called Hot Pot. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: We’re going to talk about it today but first we’ve got a dialogue. It takes place in a hot pot restaurant. |
| Amber: 在火锅店里。(Zài huǒguō diàn lǐ.) |
| David: And it’s between two customers who are eating and speaking in colloquial mandarin, as always. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Let’s get to the dialogue. So this lesson is about Hot Pot. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: 这个火锅店真地道。(Zhège huǒguōdiàn zhēn dìdào.) |
| B: 蒙古人特爱涮羊肉。(Měnggǔrén tè ài shuàn yángròu.) |
| A: 恩？羊肉？我们吃的不是牛肉吗？(En? Yángròu? Wǒmen chīde bù shì niúròu ma?) |
| B: 呃，差不多。(E, chàbuduō.) |
| A: 等等，你知不知道这是什么肉？(Děngděng, nǐ zhī bù zhīdào zhè shì shénme ròu?) |
| B: 呃，我给你夹点儿菠菜。(E, wǒ gěi nǐ jiā diǎnr bōcài.) |
| A: 这不是生菜吗？(Zhè bù shì shēngcài ma?) |
| B: 哦，蔬菜拼盘，蔬菜拼盘。(ò, shūcài pīnpán, shūcài pīnpán.) |
| A: This hot pot restaurant is really authentic. |
| B: Mongolian people really love lamb hot pot. |
| A: Huh? Lamb? What we are eating isn't beef? |
| B: Eh...it's all sort of the same. |
| A: Hold on a second, do you know what meat this is? |
| B: Here...Let me pick out some spinach for you. |
| A: This isn't lettuce? |
| B: Oh, it's a vegetable platter, a vegetable platter. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Amber: 没错, 火锅。(Méi cuò, huǒguō.) |
| David: Right. And we don’t know what restaurant they’re at. Well, they don’t know what food they have. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Maybe it’s a mixed platter but what’s special about this is it’s Mongolian Hot Pot. |
| Amber: 对，没错, 蒙古涮羊肉。(Duì, méi cuò, ménggǔ shuài yángròu.) |
| David: A lot of people, they know the Sichuanese Hot Pot. It’s really spicy. |
| Amber: 对，非常辣。(Duì, fēicháng là.) |
| David: Right. And people know the Beijing Hot Pot too; which is a bowl of water. That’s the worst Hot Pot. |
| Amber: 对，里面可能还有别的葱呀什么的。(Duì, lǐmiàn kěnéng hái yǒu bié de cōng ya shénme de.) |
| David: Right. A lot of people don’t know about the Mongolian Hot Pot though. It’s my favorite. Its Echo’s favorite. It’s really peppery, it’s really flavorful and it’s not so spicy. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: So if you get a chance to eat it, make sure you do. Our vocab today, though, is general to any kind of Hot Pot. |
| Amber: 对，没错。(Duì, méi cuò.) |
| David: Let’s get to it. |
| Amber: 火锅。(Huǒguō.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| David: Hot Pot. |
| Amber: 火 锅, 火锅, 蒙古。(Huǒ guō, Huǒguō, Měnggǔ.) |
| David: Mongolia. |
| Amber: 蒙 古, 蒙古, 特。(Měng gǔ, Měnggǔ, tè.) |
| David: Particularly. |
| Amber: 特, 特, 羊肉。(tè, tè, yángròu.) |
| David: Lamb. |
| Amber: 羊 肉, 羊肉, 牛肉。(yáng ròu, yángròu, niúròu.) |
| David: Beef. |
| Amber: 牛 肉, 牛肉, 菠菜。(niú ròu, niúròu, bōcài.) |
| David: Spinach. |
| Amber: 菠 菜, 菠菜, 生菜。(bō cài, bōcài, shēngcài) |
| David: Lettuce. |
| Amber: 生 菜, 生菜, 拼盘。(shēng cài, shēngcài, pīnpán.) |
| David: Combination platter. |
| Amber: 拼 盘, 拼盘。(pīn pán, pīnpán.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Ok, let’s have a close up look on some of these words. Our first word is… |
| Amber: 火锅。(Huǒguō.) |
| David: Hot Pot. |
| Amber: 火锅。(Huǒguō.) |
| David: And if you listen carefully, you’re going to hear, Amber, you are adding this 儿 发音 (Er fāyīn)sound to the end. |
| Amber: 没错, 火锅。(Méi cuò, huǒguō.) |
| David: In Northern China you’re expected to add that. |
| Amber: 火锅。(Huǒguō.) |
| David: Right. And our hot pot from the dialogue, it’s not from Beijing, it’s not from Sichuan, it’s from Inner Mongolia. |
| Amber: 内蒙古。(Nèiménggǔ.) |
| David: Inner Mongolia. |
| Amber: 内蒙古。(Nèiménggǔ.) |
| David: 内 (Nèi), of course, means “inside”. And “Mongolia” is… |
| Amber: 蒙古。(Ménggǔ.) |
| David: Mongolia. |
| Amber: 蒙古。(Ménggǔ.) |
| David: Now, if you go to Mongolia or you go to Inner Mongolia, you’re going to find they’ve got a lot of sheep. So especially in the winter, there are tons of lamb dishes. |
| Amber: 羊肉。(Yángròu.) |
| David: That’s “lamb”. |
| Amber: 羊肉。(Yángròu.) |
| David: Right. So you can get barbequed lamb… |
| Amber: 对，烤羊肉。(Duì, kǎo yángròu.) |
| David: Right. |
| Amber: 还有烤全羊。(Hái yǒu kǎo quán yáng.) |
| David: Yes, that would be “small lamb”. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: And they’ve also got hot pot, which is a special kind of way of eating lamb. |
| Amber: 涮羊肉。(Shuài yángròu.) |
| David: Which is “to dip in boiling water”. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: That’s the verb there. |
| Amber: 涮, 涮羊肉。(Shuàn, shuài yángròu.) |
| David: Right. So that literally means “to dip 羊肉 (Yángròu) in boiling water”. |
| Amber: 对，把羊肉放在开水里。(Duì, bǎ yángròu fàng zài kāishuǐ lǐ.) |
| David: Yeah, it’s the way of preparing the meal. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: Okay? Now, if you go to Hot Pot, you’re going to see the signs on the Hot Pot restaurants which are saying this. |
| Amber: 对，没错。(Duì, méi cuò.) |
| David: Right? They’ve got lamb, they’ve got beef. |
| Amber: 牛肉。(Niúròu.) |
| David: “Beef”. |
| Amber: 牛肉。(Niúròu.) |
| David: And they’ve got a lot of other vegetables such as spinach. |
| Amber: 菠菜。(Bōcài.) |
| David: Lettuce. |
| Amber: 生菜。(Shēngcài.) |
| David: And much, much, much more. |
| Amber: 对，还有差不多十几种吧！(Duì, hái yǒu chā bù duō shí jǐ zhǒng ba!) |
| David: Yeah. So, Amber, when you go and eat Hot Pot, what is your favorite food that we didn’t mention in this dialogue? |
| Amber: 哦！我特喜欢蘑菇。(Ó! Wǒ tè xǐhuān mógū.) |
| David: Mushrooms. |
| Amber: 蘑菇。(Mógū.) |
| David: Right. I think for me, I really like these fried dough balls. |
| Amber: 哦，面筋。(Ó, miànjīn.) |
| David: Right. They’re crispy on the outside, and you 涮 (Shuàn) them a bit and they become soft. |
| Amber: 没错, 面筋。(Méi cuò, miànjīn.) |
| David: Right, so they’re very good. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: And you want to avoid some of these stranger foods on the menu. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: They’ve got fish paste, they’ve got live seafood… |
| Amber: 猪脑。(Zhū nǎo.) |
| David: They have pig brain, yeah. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: So go to a Hot Pot restaurant with someone you trust. Before we get on to our grammar section, if you don’t know where to get Mongolian Hot Pot, Amber, there is a chain restaurant that’s very good. |
| Amber: 你说的是 “小肥羊” 吧！(Nǐ shuō de shì “xiǎoféiyáng” ba!) |
| David: Yes, what’s the name of the restaurant? |
| Amber: 小肥羊。(Xiǎoféiyáng.) |
| David: Little Fatty Sheep. |
| Amber: 特别可爱的名字, 小肥羊。(Tèbié kě'ài de míngzì, xiǎoféiyáng.) |
| David: Yeah. This is a nation-wide chain. It’s actually a publicly traded company now. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: It’s not that old. It’s started in Inner Mongolia and then it spread into Beijing and Northern China, and a couple of years ago it became nation-wide and went public. |
| Amber: 对，所有的城市都有小肥羊。(Duì, suǒyǒu de chéngshì dōu yǒu xiǎoféiyáng.) |
| David: Right. They’ve even got it in Canada and the States now. |
| Amber: 真的？(Zhēn de?) |
| David: A few restaurants. |
| Amber: Wow. |
| David: The English name is Little Sheep. |
| Amber: 小肥羊。(Xiǎoféiyáng.) |
| David: Right. So the Chinese name is a bit different, it’s Little Fatty Lamb. |
| Amber: 对对对!(Duì duì duì!) |
| David: It’s Little Sheep in English. If there’s one in your city and you haven’t had Mongolian Hot Pot, do go check it out. You are not going to regret it. So, with that, let’s get on to our grammar section today. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| M2: It’s grammar time! |
| David: In today’s grammar section, we want to talk about this character… |
| Amber: 特。(Tè.) |
| David: Especially. |
| Amber: 特。(Tè.) |
| David: Now, in past lessons we’ve seen this in different contexts. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: In our last lesson, we saw it in the phrase 天津 (Tiānjīn) specialties. |
| Amber: 天津特色。(Tiānjīn tèsè.) |
| David: You could also say “a Beijing speciality”. |
| Amber: 北京特色, 或者中国特色。(Běijīng tèsè, huòzhě zhōngguó tèsè.) |
| David: Right. In that context, it’s a noun. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: So that you could say something special by saying that it has a speciality. |
| Amber: 你可以说一个东西有特色。(Nǐ kěyǐ shuō yīgè dōngxī yǒu tèsè..) |
| David: To have something special about it. |
| Amber: 有特色。(Yǒu tèsè.) |
| David: We’ve also seen this as an adjective. |
| Amber: 特别。(Tèbié.) |
| David: Very special. |
| Amber: 很特别。(Hěn tèbié.) |
| David: Extremely special. |
| Amber: 非常特别。(Fēicháng tèbié.) |
| David: Too special. |
| Amber: 太特别了。(Tài tèbiéle.) |
| David: So that’s as an adjective. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: What’s new in this lesson is in this line. |
| Amber: 蒙古人特爱涮羊肉。(Ménggǔ rén tè ài shuài yángròu.) |
| David: So that’s as an adjective. What’s new in this lesson is we want to point out that this adjective… |
| Amber: 特别。(Tèbié.) |
| David: - can also be used as an adverb. |
| Amber: 唔 ...唔。(Wú... Wú.) |
| David: So we can say “especially to like”. |
| Amber: 特别喜欢。(Tèbié xǐhuān.) |
| David: Especially to love. |
| Amber: 特别爱。(Tèbié ài.) |
| David: We’re putting this character in front of a verb and using it as an adverb. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: For instance you could say, “I really love to eat Hot Pot”. |
| Amber: 我特别爱吃火锅。(Wǒ tèbié ài chī huǒguō.) |
| David: I like to eat Hot Pot. I really like to eat Mongolian Hot Pot. |
| Amber: 我爱吃火锅，我特别爱吃蒙古火锅。(Wǒ ài chī huǒguō, wǒ tèbié ài chī ménggǔ huǒguō.) |
| David: Right. So this is a really interesting word because it shows up as a noun, it shows up as an adjective and now it’s showing up as an adverb. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: It’s incredibly flexible. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: And even more interestingly, though, in our dialogue we see it being shortened. Take a look at this sentence. |
| Amber: 蒙古人特爱涮羊肉。(Ménggǔ rén tè ài shuài yángròu.) |
| David: Mongolian people really love their Hot Pot. |
| Amber: 蒙古人特爱涮羊肉。(Ménggǔ rén tè ài shuài yángròu.) |
| David: How about “I really love Mongolian Hot Pot”? |
| Amber: 我特爱蒙古火锅。(Wǒ tè ài ménggǔ huǒguō.) |
| David: Right. So in this case the meaning of… |
| Amber: 特。(Tè.) |
| David: Is exactly the same as… |
| Amber: 特别。(Tèbié.) |
| David: So what’s the difference? |
| Amber: 这个地方就更口语。(Zhège dìfāng jiù gèng kǒuyǔ.) |
| David: Right. So 特 (Tè) alone is a bit more colloquial. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Right. You’re also going to hear it a bit more in northern China. |
| Amber: 尤其是在北京。(Yóuqí shì zài běijīng.) |
| David: Yes, especially in Beijing. |
| Amber: 对, David, 我给你一些例子，比如说 这个羊肉特好。(Duì, David, wǒ gěi nǐ yīxiē lìzi, bǐrú shuō zhège yángròu tè hǎo.) |
| David: The lamb here is especially good. |
| Amber: 唔 ...唔, 这个羊肉特好。(Wú... Wú, zhège yángròu tè hǎo.) |
| David: Right. I’d change that. I’d say in inner Mongolia, the lamb is really good. |
| Amber: 内蒙古的羊肉特好。(Nèiménggǔ de yángròu tè hǎo.) |
| David: Which is true. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
| David: 新疆 (Xīnjiāng) as well, they’ve got fantastic lamb. |
| Amber: 因为他们有很多羊。(Yīnwèi tāmen yǒu hěnduō yáng.) |
| David: Right, so they’re very good at it. We’ve got one more sentence for people. |
| Amber: 比如说我特同意你的意见，我们吃火锅吧！(Bǐrú shuō wǒ tè tóngyì nǐ de yìjiàn, wǒmen chī huǒguō ba!) |
| David: I especially agree with your suggestion - let's have Hot Pot. |
| Amber: 我特同意你的意见，我们吃火锅吧！(Wǒ tè tóngyì nǐ de yìjiàn, wǒmen chī huǒguō ba!) |
| David: Right, “I especially agree”. |
| Amber: 我特同意。(Wǒ tè tóngyì.) |
| David: So our focus this lesson is on a word we’ve seen before in other contexts. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: First, as a noun. |
| Amber: 特色。(Tèsè.) |
| David: Also, as an adjective. |
| Amber: 特别。(Tèbié.) |
| David: Showing up now as an adverb. |
| Amber: “特别” 或者 “特”。(“Tèbié” huòzhě “tè”.) |
| David: Right. And the Chinese language is like this, you know, we’ve compared it to LEGO, words change their part of speech depending on how people are using them. |
| Amber: 没错, 没错 。(Méi cuò, méi cuò.) |
| David: It makes Chinese a lot of fun. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: Anyway, that’s our show for today. Before we let you go, we did want to remind you - if you have not checked out our premium transcripts, what are you waiting for? |
| Amber: 它们特有用。(Tāmen tèyǒu yòng.) |
| David: Right. They’re really good, especially for reviewing. |
| Amber: 对。(Duì.) |
| David: After you’ve listened to a podcast, the next day look at it for a minute. It’s going to help everything come back and really stick. |
| Amber: 没错。(Méi cuò.) |
Outro |
| David: Right? You’re going to learn Chinese twice as fast. For now, though, that is all the time we have. From Beijing, I'm David. |
| Amber: 我是安伯。(Wǒ shì ān bó.) |
| David: Take care and let us know what you think on our site. |
| Amber: 我们下个系列见吧！(Wǒmen xià gè xìliè jiàn ba!) |
| David: Bye-bye. |
| -- |
Comments
Hide