Y: Dajia hao, hello everyone, perfect your Chinese every day, right here in the Chinese Studio. Wo shi Y.
B: And, wo shi B, ni hao Y. I've got a better idea about the sort of computer I want to buy, but there are a few loose ends to tie up first.
Y: Let’s get tying! Here are our key words of the day.

Key words of the day
Memory 内存 What's the operating system? 操作系统是什么的？Hard drive 硬盘 How much memory is there? 内存有多大？Keyboard 键盘, the mouse 鼠标All in today's Chinese Studio.

B: It's a laptop I need, a bi3 ji4 ben3 dian4 nao3. How do we ask about the operating system?
Y: okay… cao1 zuo4 xi4 tong3 is operating system,
B: cao1 zuo4 xi4 tong3
Y: cao1 zuo4 means operating,
B: cao1 zuo4
Y: xi4 tong3 means system,
B: xi4 tong3
Y: cao1 zuo4 xi4 tong3
B: cao1 zuo4 xi4 tong3 operating system,
Y: so you can ask: cao1 zuo4 xi4 tong3 shi4 shen2 me2 de?
B: cao1 zuo4 xi4 tong3 shi4 shen2 me de?
Y: shi4 means is, and shen2 me2 de means what?
B: got it.
Y: cao1 zuo4 xi4 tong3 shi4 shen2 me2 de?
B: cao1 zuo4 xi4 tong3 shi4 shen2 me2 de? What is the operating system?
 
Conversation 1
A: 操作系统是什么的？
B: Windows XP.

B: Next thing to consider is the hard drive.
Y: You mean, 硬盘驱动。But usually we just say: ying4 pan2.
B: ying4 pan2
Y: ying4 means hard
B: ying4
Y: pan2 means disk,
B: pan2
Y: ying4 pan2
B: ying4 pan2, hard drive.  And I wanna know how much memory there is.
Y: Memory is nei4 cun2. as nei4 means internal, and cun2 means memory,
B: nei4 cun2.
Y: And how much memory is there? We can say: nei4 cun2 you3 duo2 da4?
B: nei4 cun2 you3 duo1 da4?
Y: we learned duo1 da4 in our previous lesson, and it means how much,
B: yes… duo1 da4,
Y: nei4 cun2 you3 duo1 da4?
B: nei4 cun2 you3 duo1 da4? How much memory is there?

Conversation 2
A: 内存有多大？
B: 512兆。
A: 硬盘有多大？
B: 40G。

B: hmm…40 GB, is that enough I wonder.
Y: It is for most things.
B: Probably right. There's a few other parts I haven't learnt to say yet. What's the keyboard? Is it anything to do with yaoshi, the word for key?
Y: I'm afraid not… keyboard is called jian4 pan2.
B: jian4 pan2.
Y: it could also mean the keyboard of piano or any similar musical instruments…jian4 pan2.
B: jian4 pan2.
B: And that cute pet that usually goes with a computer, the mouse, what's that?
Y: The same word as the animal shu3, and that of course is shu3 biao1.
B: shu3 biao1.
Y: biao1 means mark,
B: biao1,
Y: shu3 biao1.
B: shu3 biao1. the mouse.

Conversation3
(1)A: 键盘失灵了。
B: 那得换个新的键盘。

(2)A: 你想买个什么样的鼠标？
B: 我想买个光电鼠标。