Chinese For Dummies (105 page)

Jasmine:

Qǐngwèn, zài nǎr kěyǐ huàn qián?

cheeng-one, dzye nar kuh-yee hwahn chyan?

Excuse me, where can I change money?

Xíngliyuán:

Duìhuànchù jiù zài nàr.

dway-hwahn-choo jyoe dzye nar.

The exchange bureau is just over there.

Jasmine:

Xièxiè.

shyeh-shyeh.

Thank you.

Jasmine goes to the money exchange counter to change some U.S. dollars into Chinese
yuán
with the help of the
chūnàyuán
(choo-nah-ywan) (
cashier
).

Jasmine:

Nǐ hǎo. Wǒ yào huàn yì bǎi měiyuán de rénmínbì.

nee how. waw yaow hwahn ee bye may-ywan duh run-meen-bee.

Hello. I'd like to change USD $100 into (mainland) Chinese dollars.

Chūnàyuán:

Méiyǒu wèntí.

mayo one-tee.

No problem.

Jasmine:

Jīntiān de duìhuàn lǜ shì duōshǎo?

jin-tyan duh dway-hwahn lyew shir dwaw-shaow?

What's today's exchange rate?

Chūnàyuán:

Yì měiyuán huàn liù diǎn sān bā yuán rénmínbì.

ee may-ywan hwahn lyo dyan sahn ba ywan run-meen-bee.

One U.S. dollar is 6.38 (mainland) Chinese dollars.

Jasmine:

Hǎo. Qǐng gěi wǒ liǎng zhāng wǔshí yuán de.

how. cheeng gay waw lyahng jahng woo-shir ywan duh.

Great. Please give me two 50-yuán bills.

Chūnàyuán:

Méiyǒu wèntí. Qǐng gěi wǒ kànkàn nǐde hùzhào.

mayo one-tee. cheeng gay waw kahn-kahn nee-duh hoo-jaow.

No problem. Please show me your passport.

Spending Money

I don't think I'll have trouble selling you on (no pun intended) the thought of spending money. Whenever you see something you want, whether in a store, on the street, or at night market, you may as well give in to temptation and buy it, as long as you have enough
qián.
It's as easy as that. Have money, will travel. Or, rather, have money, will spend.

When you're ready to buy something, you can do it with
cash, check, or credit card. And when traveling overseas, you often use traveler's checks.

If you end up buying so many items that you can barely hold them all with both hands, here's one adverb you should remember. It comes in handy when
you start adding up the cost of everything before you fork over all your money: I'm speaking of
yígòng
一共
(ee-goong) (
altogether
), as in “How much are these 20 toys and 80 sweaters altogether?”

You may overhear the following conversation in a store:

Zhèige hé nèige yígòng duōshǎo qián?
这个和那个一共多少钱
? (
這個和那個一共多少錢
?)
(jay-guh huh nay-guh ee-goong dwaw-shaow chyan?) (
How much are this and that altogether?
)

Zhèige sān kuài liǎng máo wǔ, nèige yí kuài liǎng máo, suǒyǐ yígòng sì kuài sì máo wǔ.
这个三块两毛五
,
那个一块两毛
,
所以一共四块四毛五
. (
這個三塊兩毛五
,
那個一塊兩毛
,
所以一共四塊四毛五
.)
(jay-guh sahn kwye lyahng maow woo, nay-guh ee kwye lyahng maow, swaw-yee ee-goong suh kwye suh maow woo.) (
This is $3.25, and that is $1.20, so altogether that will be $4.45.
)

Before you decide to
mǎi dōngxi
买东西
(
買東西
) (my doong-she) (
buy things
), be sure you have enough money
yígòng
to buy everything you want so you don't feel disappointed after spending many hours in your favorite store.

The term
dōngxi
买东西
(
買東西
)
(doong-she) (
things
) is literally a combination of
dōng
东
(
東
)
(
east
) and
xī
西
(
西
)
(
west
). The Chinese language often combines two such opposite words to come up with various concepts.
Dōngxi
always refers to physical objects.

Overseas, many places accept American Express. Closer to America, businesses may only accept MasterCard or Visa. In some out-of-the-way parts of China, you can't use plastic at all, so have plenty of cash or traveler's checks on hand, just in case.

Using cash

I don't care what anybody tries to tell you,
xiànjīn
现金
(
現金
)
(shyan-jin) (
cash
) in local currency is always useful, no matter where you are and what time of day it is. Sometimes you can buy things and go places with
xiànjīn
that you can't swing with a credit card. For example, if your kid hears the ice cream truck coming down the street, you can't just whip out your
xìnyòngkǎ
to buy him an ice cream cone when the truck stops in front of your house. You can't even try to convince the ice cream guy to take a
zhīpiào
支票
(
紙票
)
(jir-pyaow) (
check
). For times like these, my friend, you need cold, hard
xiànjīn.
You can use it to buy everything from ice cream on the street to a movie ticket at the theater. Just make sure you put your money in a sturdy
qiánbāo
钱包
(
錢包
) (chyan-baow) (
wallet
) and keep it in your front pocket so a thief can't easily steal it.

When you talk about how much something costs, you put the numerical value before the word for bill or coin. For example, you can call a dollar
yí kuài
一块
(
一塊
) (ee kwye) (
one dollar
) or
sān kuài
三块
(
三塊
)
(sahn kwye) (
three dollars
). You translate 10 cents, literally, as one 10-cent coin —
yì máo
一毛
(ee maow) — or 30 cents, literally, as three 10-cent coins —
sān máo
三毛
(sahn maow).

Here's how you speak of increasing amounts of money. You mention the larger units before the smaller units, just like in English:

sān kuài
三块
(
三塊
)
(sahn kwye) (
$3.00
)

sān kuài yì máo
三块一毛
(
三塊一毛
)
(sahn kwye ee maow) (
$3.10
)

sān kuài yì máo wǔ
三块一毛五
(
三塊一毛五
)
(sahn kwye ee maow woo) (
$3.15
)

As useful and convenient as
xiànjīn
is, you really have to pay with
zhīpiào
for some things. Take your rent and electricity bills, for example. Can't use cash for these expenses, that's for sure. And when you travel overseas, everyone knows the safest way to carry money is in the form of
lǚxíng zhīpiào
旅行支票
(lyew-sheeng jir-pyaow) (
traveler's checks
) so you can replace them if they get lost or stolen.

The basic elements of all Chinese currency are the
yuán
(colloquially referred to as a
kuài
), which you can think of as a dollar, the
jiǎo
(colloquially referred to as the
máo
), which is the equivalent of a dime, and the
fēn
分
, which is equivalent to the penny. You can read more about the various types of Chinese currency earlier in the chapter.