Chinese For Dummies (106 page)

Talkin' the Talk

Heather goes shopping in Taipei and finds something she likes. She asks the clerk how much it is.

Heather:

Qǐngwèn, zhè jiàn yīfu duōshǎo qián?

cheeng-one, jay jyan ee-foo dwaw-shaow chyan?

Excuse me, how much is this piece of clothing?

Clerk:

Èrshíwǔ kuài.

are-shir-woo kwye.

It's $25.

Heather:

Nǐmen shōu bù shōu zhīpiào?

nee-men show boo show jir-pyaow?

Do you take checks?

Clerk:

Lǚxíng zhīpiào kěyǐ. Xìnyòng kǎ yě kěyǐ.

lyew-sheeng jir-pyaow kuh-yee. sheen-yoong kah yeah kuh-yee.

Traveler's checks are okay. Credit cards are also okay.

Paying with plastic

The
xìnyòng kǎ
信用卡
(sheen-yoong kah) (
credit card
) may be the greatest invention of the
20th century — for credit card companies, that is. Everyone else is often stuck paying all kinds of potentially exorbitant
lìlǚ
利率
(lee-lyew) (
interest rates
) if they're not careful. Still, credit cards do make paying for things much more convenient, don't you agree?

To find out whether a store accepts credit cards, all you have to say is

Nǐmen shōu bù shōu xìnyòng kǎ?
你们收不收信用卡
? (
你們收不收信用卡
?) (nee-men show boo show sheen-yoong kah?) (
Do you accept credit cards?
)

Whether the
jiàgé
ä»·æ ¼
(
價格
)
(jyah-guh) (
price
) of the items you want to buy is
guì
è´µ
(
è²´
)
(gway) (
expensive
) or
piányì
便宜
(pyan-yee) (
cheap
), the
xìnyòng kǎ
comes in handy.

Read on for a list of credit-card-related terms:

shēzhàng de zuì gāo é
赊帐的最高额
(
賒帳的最高額
) (shuh-jahng duh dzway gaow uh) (
credit line
)

shōu
收
(show) (
accept
)

xìnyòng
信用
(sheen-yoong) (
credit
)

xìnyòng xiàn'é
信用限额
(
信用限額
) (sheen-yoong shyan-uh) (
credit limit
)

Doing Your Banking

If you plan on staying in Asia for an extended time or you want to continue doing business with a Chinese company, you may want to open a
huóqī zhànghù
活期账户
(
活期賬戶
)
(hwaw-chee jahng-hoo) (
checking account
) where you can both
cún qián
存钱
(
存錢
)
(tswun chyan) (
deposit money
) and
qǔ qián
取钱
(
取錢
)
(chyew chyan) (
withdraw money
). If you stay long enough, you should open a
dìngqī cúnkuǎn hùtóu
定期存款户头
(
定期存款戶頭
) (deeng-chee tswun
-
kwan hoo-toe)
(
savings account
) so you can start earning some
lìxí
利息
(lee-she) (
interest
). Sure beats stuffing large bills under your mattress for years.

How about trying to make your money work for you by investing in one of the following?

chǔxù cúnkuǎn
储蓄存款
(
儲蓄存款
) (choo-shyew tswun-kwan) (
certificate of deposit/CD
)

guókù quàn
国库券
(
國庫券
) (gwaw-koo chwan) (
treasury bond
)

gǔpiào
股票
(goo-pyaow) (
stock
)

hùzhù jījīn
互助基金
(hoo-joo jee-jeen) (
mutual fund
)

tàotóu jījīn
套头基金
(
套頭基金
) (taow-toe jee-jeen) (
hedge fund
)