Chinese For Dummies (24 page)

Harbin is very cold in the winter. It snows often.

Gerry:

Zhēnde ma?

jun-duh mah?

Really?

Jean:

Zhēnde. Yě yǒu bàofēngxuě. Xiàtiān hái hǎo. Bǐjiào nuǎnhuó.

jun-duh. yeh yo baow-fuhng-shweh. shyah-tyan hi how. bee-jyaow nwan-hwaw.

Really. There are also blizzards. Summertime is okay, though. It's relatively warm.

Gerry:

Lěng tiān kéyǐ qù huáxuě, hái kéyǐ qù liūbīng. Nèmme Hā'ěrbīn dōngtiān de shíhòu dàgài hěn hǎo wán.

lung tyan kuh yee chyew hwah-shweh, hi kuh yee chyew lyo-beeng. nummah hah-are-been doong-tyan duh shir-ho dah gye hun how wahn.

In cold weather, you can go skiing or ice skating. So Harbin during the winter is probably a lot of fun.

Finding out where people are from

Wondering where people are from when you first meet them is natural. Maybe they hail from your hometown. Maybe your new friend's mother and your father went to the same high school way back when. Whatever motivates you to pose the question, you ask it by saying
Nǐ shì nǎr de rén?
你是哪儿的人
? (
你是哪兒的人
?) (nee shir nar duh run?) (
Where are you from?
) To answer this question, you replace the word
nǐ
ä½ 
(nee) (
you
) with
wǒ
我
(waw) (
I
) and put the name of wherever you're from where the word
nǎr
is.

People in Taiwan say
nálǐ
哪里
(
哪理
) (nah-lee) rather than
nǎr
哪儿
(
哪兒
) (nar) for the word
where.
Nǎr
indicates a northern accent and is used primarily by people from mainland China.

Here's a list of countries that may come up in conversation:

Fǎguó
法国
(
法國
)
(fah-gwaw) (
France
)

Měiguó
美国
(
美國
) (may-gwaw) (
America
)

Rìběn
日本
(ir-bun) (
Japan
)

Ruìdiǎn
瑞典
(rway-dyan) (
Sweden
)

Ruìshì
瑞士
(rway-shir) (
Switzerland
)

Yìdàlì
意大利
(ee-dah-lee) (
Italy
)

Yuènán
越南
(
越南
)
(yweh-nahn)
(
Vietnam
)

Zhōngguó
中国
(
中國
)
(joong-gwaw) (
China
)

Talkin' the Talk

Cynthia has just introduced herself to Adrienne at their mutual friend's house. Cynthia asks Adrienne where she is from.

Cynthia:

Adrienne, nǐ shì nǎr de rén?

Adrienne, nee shir nar duh run?

Adrienne, where are you from?

Adrienne:

Wǒ shì Jiāzhōu rén. Nǐ ne?

waw shir jyah-joe-run. nee nuh?

I'm from California. How about you?

Cynthia:

Wǒ búshì Měiguórén. Wǒ shì Yīngguó Lúndūn láide.

waw boo-shir may-gwaw-run. waw shir eeng-gwaw lwun-dun lye duh.

I'm not American. I'm from London, England.

Adrienne:

Nà tài hǎole.

nah tye how-luh.

That's great.