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You know (from watching Tom Hanks save the world again) that lemon or milk depends on the brew, but would you be able to order a proper cup of PG Tips in Mandarin? Let’s hope so…no, wait, instead of hoping, in this podcast let’s give you a Mandarin Chinese lesson on black and green tea, for your drinking pleasure. Whhhhooooooooeeeeeeeeee!!! (That was supposed to be a kettle sound effect).
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Sue, I'm just an old Newbie but I am guessing that there wouldn't be anything wrong with "Duì bu qǐ, wǒ bù hē chá." In Pearl S. Buck's book, "The Good Earth" many poor Chinese people just drank hot water and if they could afford it they would sprinkle a few flakes of tea on the surface to give the illusion that they were drinking tea. I know that the book was written many years ago and times have changed (to say the least) but I am wondering if there aren't many, many people in China who still just drink hot water instead of tea.
Supplementary vocab for this lesson: 果汁 (guǒzhī) fruit juice 可乐 (kělè) cola 雪碧 (Xuébì) Sprite 咖啡 (kāfēi) coffee 啤酒 (píjiǔ) beer 牛奶 (niúnǎi) milk 冰水 (bīngshuǐ) ice water 花茶 (huāchá) flower tea 奶茶 (nǎichá) tea with milk 你想喝什么？ (Nǐ xiǎng hē shénme?) What do you want to drink? 果汁，咖啡还是可乐？ (Guǒzhī, kāfēi háishi kělè?) Fruit juice, coffee or cola? 随便。 (Suíbiàn.) Anything is OK. 都可以。 (Dōu kěyǐ.) All are OK. 你喜欢喝红茶还是绿茶？ (Nǐ xǐhuan hē hóngchá háishi lǜchá?) Do you like drinking black tea or green tea? 都喜欢。 (Dōu xǐhuan.) I like all of them. ~Connie
I don't know if I should commit on this, but I feel compelled to. To be or not to be, if it were. Analyze or over analyze? It all depends on the individual or the opinion of the majority. If you don't analyze what your teaching someone might think your avoiding or shunning away from the topic. Withholding information and so forth. Maybe, even being selfish. We're like a bunch of 4 or 5 year old kids who are always asking questions, nagging their parents. All I know is every time you analyze a topic the result is that I learn more. For instance, "Hǎo de." The "de" seems to stick in my mind, leaving me to wonder what its exact purpose is. I've been able to deduce that it's just a final particle that is used as an affirmation. Please correct me if I'm wrong about the grammar here. Anyways, this is just one example that could be considered to be over analyzing, but I don't think so. I believe it's just a part of the learning process. Peace out.
Hello! I know you don't care to dig too much into the grammar of things at this level, but I'm trying to piece it together on my own and I have a question. In the expansion area, you give two sentences: 他们在喝茶. = They are drinking tea. 我们不喝茶. = We don't drink tea. Does the addition of 在 make this present tense? I've noticed that sometimes (but not always) the addition of 了 makes things past tense (or is that present perfect? I was always awful at this part in school...). Can you shed any light on this for me? Thanks!
Frank, Chinese 'tense' is somewhat difficult to understand at first (as you've noticed). It's because the 'tense' isn't about past/present/future but is actually about finished/unfinished/currently happening. Putting a zai (or a zhe) with a verb shows that the action is happening at the time that you are speaking. Putting a le with a verb shows that what you're talking about has finished. (note that le can also be used to show that what you're talking about is different to before... confusing much?)
What's 'Earl Grey' in Chinese?
What's Starbucks in Chinese. Also skimmed/low-fat milk and Long Island ice tea. And- Hurry up, your tea is getting cold/has gone cold. Thanks, ED
I don't drink tea. Is there a polite way to say that? Or is it just too wierd? Hot water is fine, just not tea, or coffee. Because tea is so much a part of the culture how can I politely say "no thank you."
Andrew M, I like to analyze language too, but I don't think there's much to be gained by analyzing the 的 in 好的. Just think of 好的 as a set phrase meaning "OK" or "all right." Frank, Adding 在 in front of a verb forms the progressive. You might want to take a look at the grammar tag for it: zai + V. 了 indicates either that an action is completed (in any tense) or a change in state. Unfortunately, Chinese grammatical particles to do not map well to Western notions of grammar. It's a problem that modern Chinese linguists have been wrangling with for 100 years, and they still haven't figured everything out yet. Bazza, 伯爵茶 (bójuéchá) Earl Grey tea (lit. "earl tea") Ed, 星巴克 (Xīngbākè) Starbucks 低脂牛奶 (dīzhī niúnǎi) 长岛冰茶 (Cháng Dǎo bīngchá) Long Island iced tea (more alcoholic drink names) 快点，你的茶要凉了。((Kuài diǎn, nǐ de chá yào liáng le.) Hurry up, your tea is getting cold. Sue, If you just say, 我不喝茶 (Wǒ bù hē chá), your host would probably assume that you're just not in the mood for drinking tea at the moment. If you really want to express that you never drink tea, you could say 我从来不喝茶 (Wǒ cónglái bù hē chá). I think in your case, though, you just want to say that you don't want tea, you want hot water, right? So use this: 我不喝茶，我喝白开水就可以了，谢谢。 (Wǒ bù hē chá, wǒ hē báikāishuǐ jiù kěyǐ le, xièxie.) I won't have any tea. Just some hot water would be fine, thanks. -John
John, Well, if the scholars have been wrestling with it for a hundred years, I won't feel at all put out by my measly three-month struggle. :-) And I'm not at all intent on trying to make a correlation between Mandarin and English. I'd be much happier if I can understand it on their terms. I just need a little help getting there from time to time. :-D Thanks for the reply. Will, That was *brilliant*, mate. That helps enormously. Thanks!
Do you think I should get a shirt printed that says: "我不知道怎么办" ?
Hello Ken, What ever you are doing, keep on doing it. I find this way of learning exciting, fun and effective. Years ago, I learned Spanish through the analytic approach. We conjugated verbs all day long. It was very difficult to learn to speak because there was on Gestalt. I like to use big words every now and then. I believe you are on the right track. Top down is the best approach. Perhaps some of the students who are more analytic minded could avail themselves to the grammar tags. By the way, I hardly ever use them. I am not interested in grammar. I am interested in learning how to understand and speak Mandarin. And, I must say the joy of the top down approach where you begin to put things together through the recognistion of the rhythm of the language through identification of chunks; I could go on, but please keep on doing what you are doing. I am learning the language and what's more I am enjoying it immensely. All the best, Al from Azusa, CA, USA
Bazza, I have sometimes wondered if a T-Shirt saying something like "I don't have a clue what the text on my T-Shirt means. I am just a Tourist and don't care about Chinese culture. Now stop laughing at me!" would be some sort of merchandise to sell to unassuming foreigners in China. :-) It might counter all those quite offensive T-Shirts some Chinese Youth like to wear ...
about the red tea black tea thing... years ago when I was more ignoratne of teas, my friend came back from Hong Kong and gave me a box of Black tea and a Colonel Sanders figurine dressed in Ming dynasty attire. I told her thanks but said it's Blacktea... I didn't read the English and instead read the Chinese. I told her thank you and but said it's Red Tea, but she didn't believe me because in English it said "Black Tea". When I came back from Shanghai I returned the favor and bought her a Hooters Shanghai embroidered polo shirt. There was no interpretation error there.
Joachim--what do those T-shirts say?
Please could you help: I am having trouble loading the file online when I click on the listen button. It briefly comes up with "loading" but then the bar says 0:00 to 0:00 without allowing me to play. Additionally, there is a X button in red on the side. Is this a common problem? I have been able to listen to podcast at work before. Thanks.
S, Sounds like a temporary connection problem. Let us know if the problem persists. -John
The red/black tea thing is confusing, I thought I had my colours wrong! Ken is not alone in finding the second tone hard, I do too!
Is there a different meaning if "ma" is inserted at the end of "hong2cha2 hai2chi4 lu4cha2?" My assumption is that the question is implied, but there is no "English question tone" in Chinese that would aid the question so I just wanted to get some comments.
@herbertinchina
You cannot put 'ma' at the end of this sentence. The question is implied by 还是 háishì . You use háishì to mean 'or' when you are asking questions.
Hope this helps :)