Berlitz, Basic Mandarin Chinese Audioscript Berlitz, Basic Mandarin Chinese Audioscript

Unit One, Lesson One 1. n ho. (Hello)

Dì-y d nyuán, Dì-y kè 2. zàijiàn (goodbye)
N ho! (Hello!) 3. wn’ n (good night)
4. dàji ho (Hello, everyone)
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to greet people, and say hello and goodbye. 5. wnshàng ho (good evening)
Are you ready? 6. zo (good morning)
Zhnbèi h o le ma?
Then let’s begin! Page 2
Nà wmen k ish ba! Exercise Two, Liànxí èr
You’ll hear four short conversations. Listen to the greetings, and choose the picture which
Page 1 best matches each conversation.
Word Bank 1.
n h o; dàji h o; z o; w nshàng h o; w n n; zàijiàn; xi nsh ng; tàitai; xi oji YOUNG LADY 1: wn’ n (good night)
YOUNG LADY 2: wn’ n (good night)
When you meet someone at any time in the day, you can greet them with 2.
N h o. (Hello). MAN: dàji ho (Hello, everyone)
In the morning, you can also say MAN+WOMAN: n ho. (Hello)
z o (good morning). 3.
In the evening, you say, MAN: zàijiàn (goodbye)
w nshàng h o (good evening). WOMAN: zàijiàn (goodbye)
To bid farewell, you say, 4.
zàijiàn (goodbye). MAN: n ho. (Hello)
If you want to say ‘hello’ to a group of people at the same time, you can say WOMAN: n ho. (Hello)
dàji h o (Hello, everyone).
The Chinese words for ‘goodnight’ are Close-up
w n’ n (good night). You may sometimes hear people say “nín ho” instead of “n ho” at formal occasions,
But you would only say this if you are really going to bed immediately afterwards, so don’t like business meetings. This is because “nín ho” is a more polite version of the greeting.
use this to say ‘good night’ to your friends after a dinner date, say
zàijiàn (goodbye) Page 3
instead! To address someone in Chinese, we say the person’s last name, followed by his or her
title,
Page 2 xi nsheng (Mr.)
Exercise One, Liànxí y tàitai (Mrs.)
Listen to the six greetings and match them to the pinyin in the book. xioji (Miss).

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For example, Page 5

L xi nsheng, n ho. Pronunciation
means “Hello, Mr. Li.”; Every Chinese character is made up of one syllable. (A syllable is a unit of sound. The
Wáng tàitai, zo. English word ‘wa-ter’ has two syllables, and ‘wa-ter-ing’ has three syllables.)
means “Good morning, Mrs. Wang.”;
A typical Chinese syllable is composed of three parts: an initial, a final, and a
and Zh ng xioji , zàijiàn. tone. For example, m, which means ‘horse’.
means “Goodbye, Miss/Ms. Zhang.”.
Not all the syllables have an initial, but every syllable must have a final and a
tone. For example, é, which means ‘goose’.
Page 3 There are 21 initials and 37 finals in all. Listen to all the sounds, and try to say them as
Exercise Three, Liànxí s n well.
Listen to the three greetings, and try to identify the listener based on his or her Chinese Don’t worry if you can’t pronounce them perfectly now. Just remember, practice makes
title. perfect!
1. Liú xioji (Miss Liu) Initials:
2. Yáng xi nsheng (Mr. Yang) b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, h, j, q, x, zh, ch, sh, r, z, c, s
3. Chén tàitai (Mrs. Chen) Finals:
a, o, e, ê, i, u, ü, ai, ei, ao, ou, an, en, ang, eng, ong, er, ia, ie, iao, iu, ian, in, iang, ing,
Page 4 iong, ua, uo, uai, ui, uan, un, uang, ueng, üe, üan, ün.
Exercise Four, Liànxí sì
Mr. Zhang is the concierge at an apartment building. Listen to the greetings exchanged
and identify the residents talking to him. Page 7
Greeting 1. Unit One, Lesson Two
MR. ZHANG: L xi nsheng, L tàitai, wnshàng ho. (Mr. and Mrs. Li, good Dì-y d nyuán, Dì-èr kè
evening.) W jiào… (My name is…)
MR. & MRS. LI: Zh ng xi nsheng, wnshàng ho. (Good evening, Mr. Zhang.)

Greeting 2. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to say your name and where you are from.
MR. ZHANG: Lín tàitai, n ho. (Hello, Mrs. Lin.) Are you ready?
MRS. LIN: Zh ng xi nsheng, n ho. (Hello, Mr. Zhang.) Zh nbèi ho le ma?
Greeting 3. Then let’s begin!
MR. ZHANG: Zh u xi nsheng, zo. (Good morning, Mr. Zhou.) Nà w men k ish ba!
MR. ZHOU: Zh ng xi nsheng, zo. (Good morning, Mr. Zhang.)

Greeting 4. Word Bank

MR. ZHANG: Chén xioji , zàijiàn. (Goodbye, Miss. Chen.) shénme; shì; jiào; míngzi; xìng; n ; w ; t
MISS. CHEN: Zh ng xi nsheng, zàijiàn. (Goodbye, Mr. Zhang.)

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Page 8 (Hello! May I ask what your names are?)

When you meet someone for the first time, you may need to say your name, or ask the other ZHANG MING: W jiào Zh ng Míng. (My name is Zhang Ming.)
person for his or her name. To ask for someone’s name, you say LI QIANQIAN: W xìng L , jiào Qiànqiàn.
N jiào shénme míngzi? (What is your name?) (My last name is Li, and my first name is Qianqian.)
The reply is usually,
W jiào… (My name is…). Page 9
Last names are culturally significant to the Chinese, so it is not uncommon to hear the The Chinese have words for referring to people that work a lot like ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’ , ‘she’,
Chinese asking ‘we’ , and ‘they’, in English.
N xìng shénme? (What is your last name?) w (I); w de (my);
To reply, you say n (you); n de (your);
W xìng… (My last name is…). t (he); t de (his);
t (she); t de (her);
An alternative way of giving your name is to say, wmen (we); wmen de (our);
W xìng… n men (you)[plural]; n men de (your)[plural];
followed by your last name, t men (they); t men de (their).
jiào… Take note that the Chinese words for ‘he’ and ‘she’ sound the same, but are in fact written
followed by your first name. with different characters.
For example,
W xìng Shakespeare, jiào William, Page 9
or Exercise Two, Liànxí èr
W xìng Einstein, jiào Albert. Zhang Ming is introducing three of his friends to David and Ayumi. Listen to the
introductions. Notice that Zhang Ming says “t shì” just before he introduced each
Finally, you can also choose to simply say person.
W shì… ZHANG MING: David, Ayumi, t men shì wde péngyu. T shì L Ki. T shì
followed by your name, which means “I am so-and-so.” Yolanda, Zh ngwén míngzi shì G Yulán. T shì Wú M ilíng,
Y ngwén míngzi shì Wendy.
Page 8 (David, Ayumi, they are my friends. He is Li kai. She is Yolanda,
Exercise One, Liànxí y and her Chinese name is Ge Youlan. She is Wu Meiling, and her
David and Ayumi are students visiting Beijing for an exchange program. Listen to the English name is Wendy.)
recording of their first meeting with their Chinese hosts.
ZHANG MING: Hu nyíng lái B ij ng. (Welcome to Beijing.) Page 9
AYUMI: N men ho, w shì Ayumi, t shì David. One of the easiest ways to form a question in Chinese, is to add the Question Word ‘ma’ to
(Hello, I’m Ayumi. He is David.) the end of a statement. Once that happens, the statement turns into a Yes-No question.
DAVID: N men ho! Q ngwèn n men jiào shénme míngzi?

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For example, c.
T shì Zh ng Míng. Q: T de Zh ngwén míngzi shì G Yulán ma? (Is her Chinese name Ge Youlan?)
Means, He is Zhang Ming. A: Duì, t de Zh ngwén míngzi shì G Yulán.
T shì Zh ng Míng, ma? (Yes, her Chinese name is Ge Youlan.)
Means, Is he Zhang Ming?
Page 10
If the answer is ‘Yes,’ you say It’s also very easy to say where you come from in Chinese. Adding
‘duì’ ‘rén’
meaning ‘correct’, and repeat the statement to emphasize the answer. after the ‘name of the country’ gives you the people of that country.
For example, For example, China is
Duì, t shì Zh ng Míng. Zh ngguó,
Yes, he is Zhang Ming. and the Chinese people are
Zh ngguó rén.
If the answer is ‘No,’ you say France is
‘bù’ F guó,
meaning ‘No’. and the French people are
For example, F guó rén.
Bù, t bú shì Zh ng Míng, t shì Zh ng Jiàn.
No, he is not Zhang Ming, he is Zhang Jian. Page 10
Exercise Four, Liànxí sì
Page 10 Four contestants in a TV quiz show are introducing themselves. Listen to the recording,
Exercise Three, Liànxí s n and fill in the blanks.
David couldn’t hear Zhang Ming’s introductions very clearly so he decides to a.
double-check the names with Ayumi. Try to answer his questions in the book on your own ZHANG DONGJIAN: Dàji h o, w jiào Zh ng D ngjiàn, w shì Zh ngguó rén.
first, then continue listening to see if you got them right. (Hello, everyone. My name is Dongjian Zhang. I’m Chinese.)
…. Have you tried the questions in the book? Ok, let’s see if you got the answers right. TV SHOW HOST: Zh ng xi nsheng n h o. (Hi, Mr. Zhang.)
a. b.
Q: T shì L Ki ma? (Is he Li Kai?) JIN XISHAN: W xìng J n, jiào J n Xshàn, w shì Hánguó rén.
A: Duì, t shì L Ki. (Yes, he is Li Kai.) (My last name is Jin, and my first name is Xishan. I’m Korean.)
TV SHOW HOST: J n xi oji n h o.
b. (Hello, Miss Jin.)
Q: T shì Fù Milíng ma? (Is she Fu Meiling?) c.
A: Bù, t bú shì Fù Milíng, t shì Wú Milíng. LIN TANGMU: Nmen h o, w jiào Lín T ngm, w shì M iguó rén.
(No, she is not Fu Meiling. she is Wu Meiling.) (Hello, everyone. My name is Tom Lin, and I’m American.)

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TV SHOW HOST: Lín xi nsheng shì M iguó rén. Page 13

(Mr. Lin is an American.) Unit One, Lesson Three
d. Dì-y d nyuán, Dì-s n kè
TV SHOW HOST: Xioji y shì M iguó rén ma? W hn ho, xièxie! (I’m very well, thank you!)
(Is Miss also American?)
LI MINGYI: Dàji ho! W jiào L Míngyí, w bú shì M iguó rén, w shì In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask how others are, and use some basic expressions of
Y ngguó rén. courtesy.
(Hello, everyone! My name is Mingyi Li. I’m not American. I’m Are you ready?
British.) Zh nbèi h o le ma?
Then let’s begin!
Page 11 Nà wmen k ish ba!
Pronunciation
Tones Word Bank
Chinese is a tonal language. This means that the same sound can have different meanings N h o ma? ; W h n h o.; N ne?; qng; qngwèn; xièxie; bú kèqi; duìbùq; méigu nxi
when said in different tones. There are four basic tones and a neutral tone in Chinese. For
example: m, má, m, mà, mma. Page 14
To ask someone, ‘How are you?’ you can say

The 1st tone is a level, high pitched tone. Tip: maintain the high pitch from the N h o ma? (How are you?).
beginning to the end of the syllable. Examples: m, p , t . If you are feeling excellent, you can say

The 2nd tone is a high, rising pitch tone. Tip: raise your voice as if you’re asking a h n h o (great).
question. Examples: má, pí, tú. If you feel alright, you say

The 3rd tone is a low, dipping tone. Tip: start the tone at a low enough level. búcuò (good).
Examples: m, p , t . If you feel so-so, or just okay, you say

The 4th tone is a high to low, descending tone. Tip: make your voice go down as hái k y (okay/ so so).
quickly as possible. Examples: mà, pì, tù. If you are not well, you say

The neutral tone is soft and short. Examples: mma, bozi. bú tài h o (not so good).
After saying how you are, you can return the courtesy by asking the other person,
Don’t worry if you can’t control the tones perfectly now. Just remember, practice makes n ne? (how about you?)
perfect! meaning, ‘And how about you?’.

For example,
A: Z o!
B: Z o!
A: N h o ma?

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B: W h n ho, xièxie. N ne? or thank you, as a show of gratitude.

A: W y h n ho, xièxie. When you make a mistake and you want to say sorry, that’s
or Búcuò, xièxie. duìbùq (sorry).
or Hái k y , xièxie. And the reply is
or Bú tài ho. méigu nxì (it’s ok)
if you want to tell the other person that “It’s okay; no worries”.
Page 14 When someone says
Exercise One, Liànxí y xièxiè (thank you)
Mr. and Mrs. Cai are throwing a house-warming party. Listen to their conversations with to you, you can say
their guests. bú kèqì (you’re welcome).
a. If you want to ask a question,
Cài xi nsheng, zo! (Good morning, Mr. Cai.)
MR. LI: qngwèn (may I ask…)
MR. CAI: L xi nsheng, zo! N ho ma? (Good Morning, Mr. Li.) is a polite way to start.
MR. LI: W h n ho, xièxie. (I’m very well, thank you.)
b. The photos in the book depict four different situations. Can you tell what is going on in
MRS. CHEN: Cài tàitai, n ho ma? (Mrs. Cai, how are you?) each photo? Listen to the dialogues to see how the Chinese expressions of courtesy are
MRS. CAI: Búcuò. Chén tàitai, n ne? (Good. How about you, Mrs. Chen?) used. (Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything that people are saying at this
MRS. CHEN: Xièxie, hái k y . (Thank you. I’m okay.) moment. Just listen to the way the expressions are used. Are you ready?)
c.
MISS JIANG:Cài xi nsheng, Cài tàitai, n men ho. (Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cai.) Situation A.
Ji ng xioji , n ho ma? (How are you? Miss Jiang?)
MRS. CAI: MR. ZHAO: Qi xi oji , qng. (Please, Miss Qiu.)
MISS JIANG: Hái k y , n men ho ma? (So so. How are you?) MISS QIU: Xièxie n, Zhào xi nsheng. (Thank you, Mr. Zhao)
MR. CAI: W men h n ho, xièxie. (We’re doing great, thank you.) Situation B.
MAN: Xi oji , duìbùq. (I’m sorry, Miss)
Page 14 WOMAN: Méigu nxì (It’s ok.)
Exercise Two, Liànxí èr Situation C.
Listen to the conversations again, and indicate how the guests feel in the book. SALESWOMAN: Xi nsheng, zhè shì n de sh . (Mr., this is your book.)
WOMAN: Xièxiè (Thank you.)
Page 15 SALESWOMAN: Bú kèqì. (You’re welcome.)
Expressions of courtesy are a part of everyday language. Situation D.
When someone offers you a drink, or offers some help, they say, MAN: Qngwèn n shì Z ng xi oji ma? (May I ask… are you Miss Zeng?)
q ng (please). WOMAN: W shì. Qngwèn n shì… (Yes, I am. Are you…?)
And you say
xièxie (thank you),

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Page 15 Page 17
Exercise Three, Liànxí s n Pronunciation
Listen to the recording again and fill in the blanks in the book. After learning the initials, the finals, and the tones in the last two Lessons, let’s put
everything together and get some practice. Listen, and repeat each sound after you hear it.
Page 16 Take this opportunity to get acquainted with the tones.
The word hn means ‘very’, and the word y means ‘also’.
They work very much like their English counterparts, as the examples in the book f fá f fà
demonstrate. b bó b bò
m mí m mì
Page 16 p i pái pi pài
Exercise Four, Liànxí sì ji jié ji jiè
Look at the pictures in the book and use hn and y to complete the sentences. Try the t u tóu tu tòu
exercise in the book first, then continue listening to hear the answers. …Have you tried the y n yún yn yùn
questions in the book? Ok, let’s see if you got the answers right. ch ng cháng chng chàng
1.
Lín xi nsheng hn g o, L xi nsheng y hn g o.
(Mr. Lin is tall and Mr. Lin is tall, too.)
2.
Zh ng xi nsheng hn i, Zh ng tàitai y hn i.
(Mr. Zhang is short, and Mrs. Zhang is short, too.)
3.
Mimi hn k’ài, Yuányuán y hn k’ài.
(Meimei is cute, and Yuanyuan is cute, too.)
4.
Wáng xioji hn k ix n, Chén xi nsheng y hn k ix n.
(Miss Wang is happy, and Mr. Chen is happy, too.)

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