yě shì. Zhè shì wǒ de míng piàn.
我也是。这 是 我 的 名 片。
Jack:Thank you! Do you work for a joint venture company?
Xiè xie! Nǐ zài hé zī gōng sī gōng zuò?
谢 谢! 你在合资 公 司 工 作？
Zhang:Yes, it’s a Canadian-Chinese joint venture company.
Shì de, shì jiā ná dà hé zhōng guó de hé zī gōng sī.
是的,是加拿大和 中 国 的合资 公 司。
| 聚会 jù huì | get together |
| 张 Zhāng | Zhang (last name) |
| 小源 Xiǎo yuán | Xiao Yuan (first name) |
| 名片 míng piàn | business card |
| 合资 hé zī | joint venture |
| 公司 gōng sī | company |
| 工作 gōng zuò | work |
| 加拿大 jiā ná dà | Canada |
| 加拿大的/加拿大人 jiā ná dà de/jiā ná dà rén | Canadian |
Notes 注 释
➊ In Chinese, there are some duplicated verbs; 谢谢 xiè xie is one that you have already learned. When you pronounce these duplicated words, the tones of the two words are different. The tone of the second word is always a neutral tone. You will see more duplicated verbs later on, in other chapters.
➋ Like verbs, nouns also can be duplicated. Some people like to choose duplicated nouns as first names or nicknames for their children. For example, Lily calls her daughter “Máo mao.” “Mao” is a noun here, and “Máo mao” as a nickname has a cute ring to it. The Chinese version of Lily is “Lì li” which is a very popular first name among Chinese women.
These sentences from the dialog are good ones to remember. They are especially handy during your social or business activities in China.
Zhè shì wǒ de míng piàn.
这 是我的 名 片。(This is my business card.)
Nǐ zài hé zī gōng sī gōng zuò?
你 在 合资 公 司 工 作?
(Do you work for a joint venture company?)
Zhè shì jiā ná dà hé zhōng guó de hé zī gōng sī.
这 是加拿大和 中 国 的合资 公 司。
(This is a Canadian–Chinese joint venture company.)
It’s useful to be able to ask people where they are from, so you’ll probably want to be able to pronounce other countries’ names in Chinese. Some are listed here.
| měi guó美国America | ào dà lì yà澳大利亚Australia | yīng guó英国Britain | zhōng guó中国China | fǎ guó法国France |
| dé guó德国Germany | yìn dù印度India | yì dà lì意大利Italy | rì běn日本Japan | xīn xī lán新西兰New Zealand |
You have learned some sentences for basic communication at a business event, along with some countries’ names. Good work. Now you’ll continue to learn more about how to introduce one another and discuss nationalities.
Listen to New Words 2 on the audio. Then read along with me, and repeat in the pauses provided. When you are familiar with all the new words, listen to Dialog 2, then follow along to speak each sentence of it. Once you feel comfortable with Dialog 2, move on to the Notes.
Peter:Hello! I’m Peter.
Nǐ hǎo! Wǒ shì Bǐ dé.
你好！我 是彼得。
Ling Zi:I’m Ling Zi. It’s nice to meet you.
Wǒ shì Líng zǐ. Rèn shí nǐ hěn gāo xìng.
我 是 玲 子。认 识你 很 高 兴。
Peter:Same here.
Wǒ yě shì.
我也是。
Ling Zi:Are you American?
Nǐ shì měi guó rén ma?
你是 美 国 人 吗?
Peter:No, I’m not. I’m British. How about you?
Bú shì. Wǒ shì yīng guó rén, nǐ ne?
不 是。我 是 英 国 人,你呢?
Ling Zi:I’m Japanese.
Wǒ shì rì běn rén.
我 是日本 人。
Peter:Really? You look Chinese.
Zhēn de ma? Nǐ hěn xiàng zhōng guó rén.
真 的吗? 你 很 像 中 国 人。
Ling Zi:Many people say that.
Hěn duō rén dōu zhè me shuō.
很 多 人 都 这 么 说。
