M: Dajia hao. Huan ying nimen dao Xianzai Xue Hanyu. Wo shi ML.
S: Dajia hao, wo shi Stuart.
M: 今天我们学第五十一课di wu shi yi ke. We’re ordering food. Can’t use our fingers, suoyi, so we’d better learn things like ‘chopsticks’, and ‘bowl’.
S: ML wants to order – would you believe – eight dishes, ba ge cai.
M: Tian a, I forgot! 我忘了 wo wang le. We also want a soup. 我们还要一个汤, women hai yao yi ge tang.
S: So we need to use spoons. 所以,我们要用勺子, women yao yong shaozi.
M: And bowls. 我们还要用碗, women hai yao yong wan.
S: 我们吃中餐. So we need chopsticks, 所以我们要用筷子, women yao yong kuaizi.
M: We don’t use a knife and fork. 我们不用刀叉, women bu yong dao cha.
S: But you can if you want.
S: Now to go over the new stuff. We want a soup. 我们要一个汤.
M: Women yao yi ge tang. Women yao, we want, women yao. Yi ge tang, tang TANG tang, is ‘soup’. Women yao yi ge tang.
S: 所以,我们要用勺子.
M: Suoyi, women yao yong shaozi. 用YONG yong, is to ‘use’, yong. 勺子 SHAO ZI shaozi, ‘spoon’, shaozi. So we want to use spoons, suoyi, women yao yong shaozi.
S: And we also need bowls. 我们还要用碗.
M: Women hai yao yong wan. 碗WAN wan, ‘bowl’, as in soup bowl. Women hai yao yong wan.
S: Women yao, we want. Women hai yao, ‘and we want’, or “and we also need’. Women hai yao yong wan. We also need bowls.
M: 我们吃中餐. So we need to use chopsticks. suoyi women yao yong kuaizi. 筷子KUAI ZI kuaizi, chopsticks. Say it, kuaizi, kuaizi.
S: We don’t use a knife and fork. 我们不用刀叉.
M: Women bu yong dao cha. 刀DAO dao, is ‘knife’, dao. So what is 叉CHA cha? Dui le, fork. Dao cha, knife and fork, dao cha.
S: So say, ‘we don’t use a knife and fork’. Dui le, women bu yong dao cha.
M: 我们用筷子, women yong kuaizi.
S: Hen hao. Now the dialogue again, and you can keep your fingers clean. ML yao dian ba ge cai.
M: Tian a, wo wang le. Women hai yao yi ge tang.
S: Suoyi, women yao yong shaozi.
M: Women hai yao yong wan.
S: Women chi zhongcan, suoyi women hai yao yong kuaizi.
M: Women bu yong dao cha.
S: Followed all this? Henhao! Now gongke time. Practice saying ‘I want to use …’ and ‘I don’t want to use … chopsticks, knife and fork, spoon – the utensils we’ve learnt.’
M: Hao hao xue xi. Zai jian.