Communicate in Chinese 交际汉语 Lesson 1: Greetings

会话A
(清晨，刘明走进办公室。)
职员 1：早上好，刘经理。
刘明：噢，你好，小张。
职员2：您好！刘经理。
刘明：早上好！小李。
Translation:
Greetings
(Morning, Liu Ming walks into the office.)
Employee 1: Good morning, Manager Liu.
Liu Ming: Oh, hello, Xiao Zhang.
Employee 2: Hello, Manager Liu.
Liu Ming: Good morning, Xiao Li.
会话B
(中午，小江和李老师在校园相遇。)
小 江：李老师，下班啦？
李老师: (推自行车) 噢，小江，你好吗？吃饭了吗？
小 江：我很好，还没吃呢！李老师，最近忙吗？
李老师: 还好，不太忙。你要去哪(儿)，小江？
小 江：我去买方便面。食堂的饭…… 唉……
李老师: 我们一起走吧!
学生：老师好！
李老师: 你们好！
Translation:
(At midday, Xiao Jiang and Teacher Li meet in the school grounds.)
Xiao Jiang: Teacher Li, have you finished work?
Teacher Li: (pushing bicycle along) Oh, Xiao Jiang, how are you? Have you eaten yet?
Xiao Jiang: I'm pretty good, I haven't eaten yet! Teacher Li, have you been busy lately?
Teacher Li: It's been fine, not that busy. Where are you going, Xiao Jiang?
Xiao Jiang: I'm going to buy some instant noodles. The canteen food...ugh...
Teacher Li: Let's go together!
Students: teacher!
Teacher Li: Hello！
会话C
(下午，小江在校园路上与同学见面。)
小江：你好！
同学：小江，最近忙吗？
小江：忙，忙，太忙了！
同学：是啊，我也很忙，该考试了。
Translation:
(Afternoon, Xiao Jiang and a classmate meet in the school grounds.)
Xiao Jiang: Hello!
Classmate: Hi, Xiao Jiang, been busy lately?
Xiao Jiang: Busy, busy, too busy!
Classmate: Yes, I'm pretty busy, too. It's exam time soon.

Cultural Background
The art of greetings are commonly used polite expressions to show care for each other when people meet.
In China, when you first meet someone, it is common to use formal greetings such as "Hello!" "Pleased to meet you." just like anywhere else in the world. "Hello" is simply "你好!" "您好" is the polite form. "你好吗?" is a question: "How are you?" "How do you do?" or to be more polite we can say: "您好吗?" "欢迎, 欢迎." is an expression of welcome.
When friends meet, greetings are more casual, it's usual to inquire after
others' work and life, to show care and affection. For example, "How are you?" "Finished work?" "Been busy lately?" "Long time no see, have you been well?" "Was the traffic alright?" "Has work been busy?" etc.
In China, when people who are more familiar with each other meet, they might ask a vertical question which might seem strange to a foreign visitor or a
westerner. For instance, someone might ask you "上哪儿去?""Where are you going？"when they do not mean to enquire about your specific plans, so answers don't have to be specific. You could say "我出去走一走""I am going out for a walk." For friends who meet after a long absence, each will ask after the other's health, work, family, children and so on, to demonstrate concern and affection, replies to these greetings can be simple, such as "pretty good" , "not bad" or "thank you".
One greeting that is very special in China, and that comes during a holiday
season of "春节"or Spring Festival, Chinese New Year. It accompanies a special gesture like and it is: "过年好！"which means "Happy new year!"

Language Points
1、"太忙了" — "too busy", the "太" is an adverb, to show great extent.
2、"我们一起吃饭吧！" — "Let's eat together!" In which the "吧"at the end is an auxiliary giving stress to the tone. The" 吧" in the sentence gives the tone of request, suggestion or negotiation. It can also make the sentence a command or to urge, hasten someone.
For example:
"快点儿走吧！" "Get a move on!"
"我们一起玩儿吧！" "Let's have fun together!"
3、"该考试了." "It should be exam time soon." The "该" is an auxiliary verb, means that something should be done or should happen.
4、"下班了?" "Finished work?" The "下" is a verb here and denotes the ending of work or study upon a scheduled time. The "了" is an auxiliary used following verbs or adjectives, to mean the action or change has taken place already. Used at the end of a sentence or before a break in the sentence, it denotes change or the occurrence of a new condition.
5、"你好吗？" — "How are you?", the "吗" is placed at the end of the sentence to make it a question, this is the most common questioning sentence structure in Chinese.
6、"我很好" — "I am very well." Usually when replying to others' greetings, use "我很好" but not "我好" or "很好我". "很" or "very" doesn't really represent the extent of one's well being in this phrase.
7、"们", can be used to make plurals,
For example:
I — we, you — you(pl.), he/she — they.

Substitutional Drills
1、下班啦？Finished work?
下地啦？Finished school?
下车啦？Off the ground?
下班啦？Getting off the car/bus?
2、我们一起走吧！Let's go together!
我们一起吃饭吧！Let's have a meal together!
我们一起玩(儿)吧！Let's have fun together!
我们一起去吧！Let's go there together!
我们一起唱歌(儿)吧！Let's sing together!
3、该考试了！It's time for exams!
该吃饭了！It's time to eat!
该睡觉了！It's time for bed!
该起床了！It's time to get up!
该上班了！Too busy! It's time to go to work!
4、太忙了！Too busy!
太热了！Too hot!
太冷了！Too cold!
太棒了！Too awesome!
太酷了！Too cool!