Y: Time flies when you’re filling your belly and it’s another food-filled week here in the Chinese Studio. Dajia hao, come on in, wo shi Y.
B: And wo shi B. Learning Chinese can be fun, as I’m finding out with all these tempting culinary delights on offer. I’ve still pretty full from last week, how about getting by on snacks this week Y?
Y: That’ll be good for both of this. And to whet the snacketite, here are some juicy keywords.
Key words of the day
snack小吃, snack stand, 小吃摊What’s the local specialty? 当地有什么特色小吃？sticky tofu, 臭豆腐，deep fried dough stick 油条. All in today’s Chinese Studio.
B: One of the wonders of 5000 years of Chinese culture is of course the cuisine. Wherever I turn here in Beijing or anywhere else in China, there’s a snack to be had.
Y: We call those, xiao3 chi1.
B: xiao3 chi1.
Y: xiao3 means small,
B: xiao3,
Y: chi1 literally means eat,
B: chi1,
Y: xiao3 chi1,
B: xiao3 chi1, snack, and what about places selling snack? What do we call them?
Y: They’re xiao3 chi1 tan1.
B: xiao3 chi1 tan1.
Y: xiao3 chi1, snack,
B: xiao3 chi1,
Y: tan1 means stand, like what we learned in our previous show, fruit stand in Chinese is: shui2 guo3 tan1.
B: got it, tan1.
Y: xiao3 chi1 tan1
B: xiao3 chi1 tan1, snack stand.
Conversation 1
A: 有点饿了。咱们去吃点儿小吃吧。
B: 好呀。前面就有小吃摊。
B: Righto, let’s get down to business. What’s the local specialty?
Y: You really mean, dang1 di4 you3 shen2me te4 se4 xiao3 chi1?
B: Let me try that: dang1 di4 you3 shen2me te4 se4 xiao3 chi1?
Y: dang1 di4 means the local,
B: dang1 di4,
Y: you3 literally means have,
B: you3,
Y: shen2me means what,
B: shen2me,
Y: te4 se4 means specialty,
B: te4 se4,
Y: xiao3 chi1 means snack,
B: xiao3 chi1,
Y: dang1 di4 you3 shen2me te4 se4 xiao3 chi1?
B: dang1 di4 you3 shen2me te4 se4 xiao3 chi1? What’s the local specialty?
Conversation 2
A: 当地有什么特色小吃？
B: 尝尝臭豆腐吧，很有名的。
Y: One specialty you’ll find B are sticky bean curds.
B: What’s that in Chinese Y?
Y: it’s chou4 dou4 fu.
B: chou4 dou4 fu.
Y: chou4 means sticky,
B: chou4,
Y: dou4 fu means bean curds,
B: dou4 fu,
Y: chou4 dou4 fu.
B: chou4 dou4 fu. sticky tofu. And do you know those deep fried dough sticks, popular at breakfast time Y?
Y: Dangran le, of course I do. They’re you2 tiao2.
B: you2 tiao2,
Y: you2 means oily,
B: you2,
Y: tiao2 means something like a stick,
B: tiao2,
Y: you2 tiao2.
B: you2 tiao2, deep fried dough sticks.
Conversation 3
A: 臭豆腐好吃吗？
B: 当然了。闻起来臭，吃起来香。
B: Scrummy, yummy, and now a full tummy, although they’re snacks, they are very filling, I’m taking 5 minutes rest, hao ba?
Y: Okay, and I’ll take a little digestion break too, but not before our question of the day. How do you say, “Snack” in Chinese?
B: Send us the correct answer in an email to Chinese@crifm.com. Don’t forget, as always, there’s a prize at stake as well. Mingtian jian.
Y: Mingtian jian.
(Source:english.cri.cn)
