Communicate in Chinese 交际汉语 Lesson 3: Numbers

会话A
伊丽莎白：2门308号。对，就是这(儿)。
李红：（开门）
伊丽莎白：请问，王经理在家吗？
李红：对不起，这里没有王经理，您找错了。(要关门)
伊丽莎白：劳驾，这不是2门308室吗？
李红：对，这是2门308室。可是，这不是王经理的家。
伊丽莎白：可是，您看，这是王经理给我的地址，2门308室。
李红：(看了看地址)(笑)你要找的王经理是住在2门308室。我也住在2门308室。
伊丽莎白：可是??(不解)
李红：你找的王经理住在15号楼，这是16号楼。
伊丽莎白：真对不起！(拿过地址) 找错楼了,是15号楼2 门308 室，打扰了。
李红：没关系。
伊丽莎白：再见!
Translation:
Elizabeth: Room 308, gate2. That's right, this is it.
Li Hong: (opens door)
Elizabeth: Excuse me, is Manager Wang at home?
Li Hong: Sorry, there is no Manager Wang here. You've got the wrong address. (closes door)
Elizabeth: Excuse me, isn't this room 308, gate 2?
Li Hong: Right, this is room 308, gate 2. But, this is not Manager Wang’s home.
Elizabeth: But, have a look, this is the address Manager Wang gave me, room 308, gate 2.
Li Hong: (looks at address) (laughs) Manager Wang who you are looking for does live at room 308, gate 2. I also live at room 308, gate 2.
Elizabeth: But ...(confused)
Li Hong: Your Manager Wang lives in Building15,this is Building 16.
Elizabeth: I’m so sorry!(takes address) Got the wrong building ... It's room 308, gate 2, Building 15... I'm sorry to trouble you.
Li Hong: That's ok.
Elizabeth: Good-bye!
Li Hong: Good-bye!
会话B
小江：(问女朋友) 我有两张音乐会的票，你想去吗？听说特棒!
甲：行啊！票呢？
小江：在这(儿)。
甲：(看票)什么？ 29 排31 号？
小江：对呀，我的票是29 排33 号。
甲：31 号，33 号。再说，29 排，太远了！我是近视眼，坐在最后一排什么也看不清！
小江：是啊，第一排的票价50 元呢！这才20 元一张。
Translation:
Xiao Jiang: (asks girlfriend) I have two concert tickets, do you want to go?
A: I hear it's really great! Sure! Where are the tickets?
Xiao Jiang: They’re here.
A: (looks at tickets) What? Number 31, 29th row?
Xiao Jiang: That’s right, my ticket is Number 33, 29th row.
A: Number 31, number 33. Anyway, the 29th row, that’s too far away! I’m short-sighted, so I won’t be able to see anything clearly sitting in the last row!
Xiao Jiang: Yes, but the ticket price for the first row is 50 Yuan. This is only 20 Yuan each.

Cultural Background
The Arabic numeral system is also widely used in China. But each number also has a Chinese character; this is the common form of writing a number. But in fact these numbers also have a capital form that would be used on checks or in contracts when you want to make sure that the numbers are not negotiable. These characters are much more complex. In China you will find that English letters, the capital letters, especially the first few "A,B,C,D,E" are often used to order buildings or levels. For instance, "A 座" would be "Building A". "B 级" would be B level or level two.
The pronunciations of the Chinese numbers one and seven are similar in Chinese, "一"(yì) 和 "七"(qì). In order to differentiate the two when referring to a telephone number or an address, the pronunciation of one "yì" is changed into "yào". So a number like 5117 should be read as "wü yào yào qì", not "wü yì yì qì". Traditionally in China the decimal system has been used so the numbers are quite similar to ours. The units are called"个位", the tens "十", the hundreds"百", thousands "千". But in China there is a special unit for ten thousand"万". One hundred thousand would be "十万", not "一百千", while one million is "一百万".
Number superstitions exist in China as in other places, for instance, the number 4 "s?" in Chinese is considered very inauspicious, because its pronunciation is very similar to words "死" death or to die. But the number 6 "li?" is considered very auspicious, because it sounds the same as "liù" "溜" which means smooth, to go smoothly. While the best number is probably 8, "bà", because its pronunciation is very close to that of "fà" "发", which means to strike it rich. Hence many people like numbers that have sixes and eights in them. That explains why in China, many buildings do not have a fourth floor. The same way in the west many buildings don't have the thirteenth floor. Product prices, especially larger items, often end in 88(means to get rich), not 99 cents as it is often in the west. For instance, 688 Yuan is considered a very auspicious price.

Language Points
1、"才" — "only" in Chinese is an adverb, in the dialogue it stresses that the number or quantity is small. In daily use, it can indicate that time is fast, slow, early, late, etc.
2、"这不是吗?" — "Isn't this...?" lays stress. "不是" must be before the element being stressed, while "吗" is placed at the end of the sentence. "不是吗" is used as a rhetorical question and ends with a question mark in emphasis. Between the "不是" and "吗?" can be a word or phrase. The sentence is only used where there is a difference between already known conditions and the newly found conditions, it reaffirms the known conditions and questions the new conditions.
3、"劳驾" — "Excuse me", is a polite expression used to ask people for help or to give way. "请问", is the most often used polite expression in Chinese, added to the start of a sentence, it is a way of asking questions politely.

Substitutional Drills
1、太远了! It's too far!
太热了! It's too hot!
太近了! It's too close!
太冷了! It's too cold!
太好了! It's (too) good!
2、请问…… Please tell me...
请问这是北大吗? Please tell me, is this Peking University?
请问这是刘经理的公司吗? Please tell me, is this Manager Liu's company?
请问这是3 排2 号吗? Please tell me, is this No.2 of the third row?
3、这才…… It's only...
这才5 元钱。It's only 5 Yuan.
这才一点钟。It's only one o'clock.
这才天亮。It's only daylight now.
4、这不是……吗？Isn't this...?
这不是李老师的家吗？Isn't this Teacher Li's home?
这不是你的书吗？Isn't this your book?
这不是他的朋友吗？Isn't this his friend?