Learn Chinese L10: Can you play pingpong？

Dachuan is strolling through the athletic fields on campus. Many students are doing sports. Suddenly a guy asks him to play ping pong. Dachuan happily agrees. To his surprise the guy is a master ping pong player.

Dialogue One

nǐ　huì　dǎ　pīng pāng qiú　ma
你　会　打　 乒　乓　 球　 吗？
Do you play ping pong?
wǒ　huì　dàn　shì　dǎ　de　bú　tài　hǎo
我　 会， 但　 是　 打　 得　不　太　 好。
Yes, I can. But I'm not that good.
méi　guān　xi　wǒ　dǎ　de　yě　bù　hǎo
没　　关　 系。我　 打　 得　也　不　好。
It doesn't matter. Me neither.
Dialogue Two

nǐ　xiǎnɡ dānɡ běi　jīnɡ　ào　yùn　huì　de　zhì　yuàn zhě　mɑ
你　 想　当　 北　 京　 奥　 运　 会　 的　 志　 愿　者　 吗？
Do you want to be a volunteer for Beijing Olympic Games?
dānɡ　rán　xiǎnɡ　suǒ　yǐ　wǒ　yào　nǔ　lì　xué　xí　hàn　yǔ
当　　 然　 想。　 所　 以　我　要　 努　力　学　习　汉　 语。
Yes, of course. So I must try hard to study Chinese.
jiā　yóu
加　 油！
Keep going!
Explanations of difficult points


1. 会
"会"(huì) means acquiring a skill through learning. For instance, "会游泳"(huì yóu yǒng, able to swim), "会驾驶"(huì jià shǐ, able to drive). It's not an inborn ability.

2. 得
"得"(de) is a structural particle that follows a verb. It means "(verb)...in such a way". "不太好(bú tài hǎo)" means "not very good/well". So "打得不太好"(dǎ de bú tài hǎo) means "to play badly/not very well".