C5, 11-12am, Ep16, Fruits

05/11/20 • 10 min

Hello everyone, good to see you again. Welcome back to my podcast. When this season is over, you will learn about 500 most used daily conversational words and phrases in China. Remember to always practice after the show. If you need them, don’t forget that I have PDF link of this podcast at the end. Let’s move on to today’s topic. ------ Today's New Content: Fruits are 水果 (shuǐ guǒ). Apple is 苹果 (píng guǒ). Strawberry is 草莓 (cǎo méi). Blueberry is 蓝莓 (lán méi). Peach is 桃子 (táo zi). Pear is 梨 (lí). To share a pear is 分梨 (fèn lí) but to separate is also 分离 (fèn lí). Banana is 香蕉 (xiāng jiāo). Orange is 桔子 (jú zǐ). Watermelon is 西瓜 (xī guā). Mango is 芒果 (máng guǒ). Pineapple is 菠萝 (bō luó). Durian is 榴莲 (liú lián). And coconut is 椰子 (yē zi). ------ OK! In the last episode, I booked a hotel for our client. Hotels are 酒店, right? After getting that done, I felt a little hungry. But is not lunch time yet. Luckily I brought some fruits with me from home. For those of you who do the same, high five! Fruits in Chinese are 水果 (shuǐ guǒ). I opened my backpack. Hmm, I brought an apple with today. Apple is 苹果 (píng guǒ). If you recall, we talked about this word. Yes, the mac is 苹果笔记本. I took a bite of the apple, and two people came to my mind, Isaac Newton and Steve Jobs. Legend has it that the young Newton was sitting under an apple tree and getting hit by an apple on the head, an “aha moment” for his great law of gravity. And Steve Jobs probably made one of the greatest companies in history with the famous apple icon. Jobs also said stay hungry. I firmly believe that’s why his apple was taken for only one bite! Not me my friend, I’m eating the whole thing! I love fruits and I pretty much love them all. For instance, right now it’s a good time to have strawberries, blueberries, peaches and pears. Let’s take a look at each one of them. Strawberries are 草莓 (cǎo méi). Blueberries are 蓝莓 (lán méi). Peaches are 桃子 (táo zi), and pears are 梨 (lí). These are fruits you can simply wash them clean and eat them. Now a very important Chinese culture to note here. In China, it is known not to share a pear with your families or friends. Because to say share a pear, it is 分梨 (fèn lí). But in Chinese, to separate is also 分离 (fèn lí). So to share a pear, and to separate have the very identical pronunciations in Chinese. That’s why it is believed if you are sharing a pear, that means you and this person might get separated. Tricky. So don’t offer your friend to share a pear with China. Me personally? I ask Don, my boss, to share a pear with me many times. Now there are other fruits you must get rid of the skins first. Like bananas, oranges, watermelons, mangos, and pineapples. Let’s take a look. Bananas are 香蕉 (xiāng jiāo). Oranges are 桔子 (jú zǐ). Watermelons are 西瓜 (xī guā). Mangos are 芒果 (máng guǒ). And pineapples are 菠萝 (bō luó). These are all delicious fruits. As I said, I love all kinds of fruits. Well there is one exception. Durians. Some of my friends absolutely love it. They will go crazy getting a really, well, stinky, durian. I always pass it, yet they can be very very expensive to get in some areas of China, like my city, Tianjin. So durian is 榴莲 (liú lián). So remember the old doctor who is specialized at traditional Chinese medicine? I went to see him again the other day. He found that I had some skin problems, getting itchy during this time of the year. I thought it was an allergy or something. He told me to eat more fruits because they have good vitamins and can be good for my skin. Look, he said, you know there is a metaphor, you become what you eat, right? So have fruits with good skins! What’s your favorite fruit anyway? I said, ahhh, my favorite fruit is coconut... No wonder I have skin problems. That’s worst fruit skin you can have... Alright, so coconut is 椰子 (yē zi). What is your favorite fruit? Any luck that it might be one of these we learned today? Let’s review them together. Fruits are 水果 (shuǐ guǒ). Apple is 苹果 (píng guǒ). Strawberry is 草莓 (cǎo méi). Blueberry is 蓝莓 (lán méi). Peach is 桃子 (táo zi). Pear is 梨 (lí). To share a pear is 分梨 (fèn lí) but to separate is also 分离 (fèn lí). Banana is 香蕉 (xiāng jiāo). Orange is 桔子 (jú zǐ). Watermelon is 西瓜 (xī guā). Mango is 芒果 (máng guǒ). Pineapple is 菠萝 (bō luó). Durian is 榴莲 (liú lián). And coconut is 椰子 (yē zi). What other fruits do you like? Send me a message and let me know! Get PDF via this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MeX4SxxQU08Rtm06FMa-ThdFURrvZcwQ

Previous Episode

C5, 11-12am, Ep15, Booking a Hotel

Hello everyone, this is Jack. Tianjin was feeling 30 degrees yesterday. I felt like I need air conditioning already. It definitely feels like summer is coming, which is my favorite season of the year. How about you? Today, let’s continue with our morning work. Follow me, and if we see or think of anything, let’s say it in Chinese. Today's new content: Hotels are 酒店 (jiǔ diàn). To book a hotel is 定酒店 (dìng jiǔ diàn). 3-star, 4-star and 5-star hotels are 三星级酒店 (sān xīng jí jiǔ diàn), 四星级酒店 (sì xīng jí jiǔ diàn), 五星级酒店 (wǔ xīng jí jiǔ diàn). Budget hotels are 快捷酒店 (kuài jié jiǔ diàn). Others ways to say hotels are 旅馆 (lǚ guǎn) and 宾馆 (bīn guǎn). Hotel California’s Chinese name is 加州旅馆 (jiā zhōu lǚ guǎn). Single room and double room are 单人间 (dān rén jiān), 双人间 (shuāng rén jiān). Presidential suite is 总统套房 (zǒng tǒng tào fáng). Front desk is 前台 (qián tái). ID card is 身份证 (shēn fèn zhèng). Passport is 护照 (hù zhào). Deposit is 押金 (yā jīn), and room card is 房卡 (fáng kǎ). In the last episode, we talked about a few beverages in Chinese. 咖啡 is coffee and 茶 is the tea, right? So after I took a coke, 可乐 from the break room, 茶水间, I went back to my desk. I looked at my to-do list and found that there is one client coming to visit our company this afternoon, and I need to book him a hotel. Let’s get that done! A hotel is called 酒店 (jiǔ diàn) in Chinese. To book a hotel is called 定酒店 (dìng jiǔ diàn). When it comes to hotels, there are many types. The 3-star hotels are 三星级酒店 (sān xīng jí jiǔ diàn). Similarly, the 4-star hotels are 四星级酒店 (sì xīng jí jiǔ diàn) and 5-star hotels are 五星级酒店 (wǔ xīng jí jiǔ diàn). Now when I hang out with my foreign friends to get a beer, they all know that liquor is 酒. But make no mistake my friend, 酒店 isn’t a place to get drinks, it means hotels. I mean, you can still get drinks in some hotels but you get what I mean with 酒店. When it comes to my own hotel choices, the doctor from the last episode already said it, I’m not rich right? So I often choose the budget hotels or inns. In Chinese, we call them 快捷酒店. 快捷 means express. I remember there was one time, I got a 快捷酒店 (kuài jié jiǔ diàn) on my business trip. Bad Don! Cheap Don! Yup, Don is my boss. Anyway, this particular room smells so bad. It was like a group of people just smoked in there. I called the front desk and the lady said, no worries sir, we are sending people there to eliminate the smell for you. I was like OK, that sounded very cool. Soon a cleaning staff arrived at my room, alone, not with any fancy equipment, just by himself. I was like, hello there what’s you plan eliminating the smell? He said no word, walked straight up to the windows and he opened them... yea, very cool. Hotels also have some other ways to say in Chinese, such as 旅馆 (lǚ guǎn) and 宾馆 (bīn guǎn). I’m sure you know the song Hotel California by Eagles. It is such a famous song that it has an official Chinese name, 加州旅馆 (jiā zhōu lǚ guǎn). There you go, 旅馆 is hotel. In a hotel, there are many types of rooms. A single room is 单人间 (dān rén jiān). A double room is 双人间 (shuāng rén jiān). And the Presidential suite or Royal suite is 总统套房 (zǒng tǒng tào fáng). I wish I could get that one day, maybe after getting Don fired. When you check in your hotel, you need to go to the front desk. It is 前台 (qián tái). 前 is the front and 台 is the desk. You need to show them your ID card in China, which is 身份证 (shēn fèn zhèng), or as a foreigner, you need to show your passport, 护照 (hù zhào). You also need to pay for a deposit, which is 押金 (yā jīn). After you are all set, the front desk will give you your room card, that is 房卡 (fáng kǎ). This is the word-to-word translation, 房 is the room and 卡 is the card. With that, you can happily go to your room! Remember how to eliminate the bad smell in your room! You can do it yourself... :) Get PDF via this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MeX4SxxQU08Rtm06FMa-ThdFURrvZcwQ