B: There are so many different types of books Y. How about teaching me some of them.
Y: Dangran le, where shall we start?
B: Ok, I'd like a guide book for Beijing.
Y: Okay. that's 我想买本北京导游手册。
B: wo2 xiang3 mai2 ben3 bei jing dao3 you2 shou3 ce4.
Y: 我想 wo2 xiang3 means I'd like to do something,
B: wo2 xiang3,
Y: 买 mai3 means to buy,
B: mai3,
Y: 本 ben3 is the measure word for book, here it's short for yi2 ge3, which means one,
B: ben3.
Y: 导游 dao3 you2 means guide,
B: dao3 you2,
Y: 手册 shou3 ce4 means a brochure,
B: shou3 ce4.
Y: 我想买本北京导游手册。wo2 xiang3 mai2 ben3 bei jing dao3 you2 shou3 ce4.
B: wo2 xiang3 mai2 ben3 bei jing dao3 you2 shou3 ce4. I'd like a guide book for Beijing.
Conversation 1
A: 您好。
B: 您好。 我想买本北京导游手册。
A: 那您直接上二层,就在电梯左边。
B: While on the road it'll be a good idea to have a Chinese phrase book, that'll help with communication for sure.
Y: Good idea, phrase is called 成语。
B: cheng2 yu3.
Y: 成 cheng2 means set,
B: cheng2,
Y: 语 yu3 means phrase,
B: yu3,
Y: 成语 cheng2 yu3.
B: cheng2 yu3. phrase. Phrase books are really useful, but when I'm back home I really need something more substantial, a dictionary
Y: Good thinking, that'll get your Chinese really up and running B. So, you want a 字典
B: zi4 dian3.
Y: and also you get a 成语字典 cheng2 yu3 zi4 dian3, that's a phrase dictionary,
B: cheng2 yu3 zi4 dian3. That's helpful… And I think an English- Chinese, Chinese-English zidian is best.
Y: That way you can look up words in both languages. So, make sure you get a 双向字典。
B: what does “shuang1 xiang4” mean?
Y: 双向 shuang1 xiang4 literally means bidirectional; here it means you can look up words in both English and Chinese.
B: shuang1 xiang4
Y: 双向字典 shuang1 xiang4 zi4 dian3,
B: shuang1 xiang4 zi4 dian3, an English-Chinese, Chinese-English dictionary.
Conversation 3
A: 我要买本字典。
B: 哪种的?
A: 英汉,汉英双向字典。
B: 还需要什么吗?
A: 还要一本成语字典。
B: These days there are so many dictionaries to choose from, it's a little confusing. How can I ask for the best one?
Y: What's the best dictionary? Good question. And in Chinese it goes like this 哪种字典最好?
B: nei2 zhong3 zi4 dian3 zui4 hao3.
Y: 哪种 nei2 zhong3 which kind,
B: nei2 zhong3
Y: 字典 zi4 dian3 means dictionary,
B: zi4 dian3,
Y: 最好 zui4 hao3 means is the best,
B: zui4 hao3.
Y: 哪种字典最好? nei2 zhong3 zi4 dian3 zui4 hao3.
B: nei2 zhong3 zi4 dian3 zui4 hao3. What's the best dictionary?
Conversation 3
A: 哪种字典最好?
B: 每种都有自己的特点。就看你需要什么样的了。
