第十四課 到上海一遊 Lesson Fourteen: Visiting Shanghai (1)

CRI reporter: Dominic Swire

Dominic: Hello and welcome to Living Chinese. Today we’re going to take you through the paces of booking a hotel room in China and what better place to do this than Shanghai. Shanghai has always been a showcase city for China. The world famous financial center has helped Shanghai develop into a global centre for business with some highly impressive architectural sites.

Dominic: So, we’ve just arrived at our hotel. Let’s see if I can book a room in Chinese.

Dominic: 您好。
Receptionist: 您好。
Dominic: 我想入住酒店,請問你們這兒還有房間嗎?
Receptionist: 現在正值世博會期間,我幫您查一下。還好,還有一間。
Dominic: 謝謝,我來上海就是專門來看世博會的。
Receptionist: 祝您玩得愉快。您還有別的需要嗎?
Dominic: 有,早飯幾點? 
Receptionist: 六點半到十點。
Dominic: 好,謝謝。
Receptionist: 這是您的房卡。 
Dominic: 謝謝。

GRAPHIC FLASH: 您想住什麼樣的房間?您 second tone, a polite version of you, for second person singular only, 什麼樣的 second tone for 什and fourth tone for 樣 means what kind of, the whole sentence,  您想住什麼樣的房間?What kind of room do you want?

請給我一個標準間。給我 both third tones means give me, 標準 first tone and third tone means standard, the whole sentence, 請給我一個標準間。Please give me a standard room or I want a standard room.

Dominic: Shanghai is so big and has so much to offer, it’s necessary to be selective about what you want to see if your time is limited. And for that, we need a little local knowledge.