M: Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai. Welcome to China. Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai.
Huanying HUAN YING. huan, HUAN 1st tone. Yíng YING yíng, 2nd tone. Huanying means Welcome. Huanying ni, huanying ni, welcome you, or simply welcome.
S: Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai. Dao4 DAO dào here means to arrive, or reach. Dào, 4th tone, dào to arrive or reach.
M: And zhong ZHONG zhong, 1st tone means middle. Guó GUO guó, second tone, is country, or kingdom, so zhongguo, Middle Kingdom, or China.
S: And lái LAI lái is to come. 欢迎你到中国来 welcome to China. Say it everybody.
M: Huanying ni dao zhongguo lai, huanying ni dao zhongguo lai.
S: And xiè XIE XIE, xiè, meaning thanks, and always said twice. Xiexie, thanks.
(break)
M: Now for the short dialogue again, at natural speed. Stuart, 你好!
S: ni hao！
M: 欢迎你到中国来
S: 谢谢
M: 很好，very good. Now listen to and try to mimic this:. 欢迎你到 (pause) 北京 来. Huanying ni dao Beijing lai. No prizes for guessing what Beijing means. Běi BEI běi, 3rd tone, is north. Jīng JING jīng, hear the tone? 1st tone. Jīng. Remind our listeners of the tones again, Stuart.
S: 没问题，mei wenti, no problem! Mei wenti. Ready? Flat, rising, down and up, down!
M: So, jing1, right. 1st tone. And here jing means capital. Beijing – northern capital, referring to the capital of China, and where Stuart and I am right now. Now, let's pretend we're in another city. 欢迎你到 南京 来, huanying ni dao nanjing lai.
S: Nanjing. Nán NAN nán means south. Jing is capital. So, southern capital. Nanjing, another famous city in China.
M: But we don't have time for all the cities in China. Time's up.
S: We'll finish by welcoming you all to China.
S/M: Huanying dao zhongguo lai! Zai jian.