S: Wǒ shì Stuart. ML, jīntiān wǒmen xué shénme?

M. How about continuing trying to get somewhere?

S. Hǎo zhúyi. All very useful. 都很有用 dōu hěn yǒu yòng. But only if you repeat everything out loud with us, like hěn yǒu yòng, ‘very useful? hěn yǒu yòng.

M. Where shall we go today? 今天我们去哪儿 jīn tiān wǒmen qù nǎr?

S. 外文书店 the Foreign Languages Bookstore. Wàiwén Shūdiàn.

M. 外文书店 Foreign Languages Bookstore 外文书店在哪儿Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài nǎr？

S. 外文书店在王府井Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài Wángfǔjǐng.

M. 现在我们在西单 xiànzài wǒmen zài Xīdān.

S. 我们怎么走 wǒmen zěnme zǒu?

M. I’ll look at the map 我看看地图 wǒ kàn kan dìtú.

S. Hǎo zhúyi.

S. Break over! I said 我要去外文书店.

M. Wǒ yào qù Wàiwén Shūdiàn. 外文wài WAI wai, basically means ‘outside? and here it means ‘foreign? 文 WEN wén, means ‘writing?or ‘language? like in 中文. Chinese language, especially the written language. So what does wàiwén mean? Duì le! Foreign language, wàiwén, say it, wàiwén.

S. 外is a very useful word. To help fix it in your brain, we know that国 guó means ‘country? like in Zhōngguó, China. 人 rén2 means person, Zhōngguórén, a Chinese person. So a 外国人 wàiguórén means a ‘foreign person? a ‘foreigner? wàiguórén.

M. Another word for ‘foreigner?is 老外 lǎowài, literally ‘old wai? lǎowài.

S. Back to Wǒ yào qù Wàiwén Shūdiàn.

M. 书店 SHU shū, is ‘book? shū. 店DIAN diàn, is ‘shop? So no prizes for guessing what shu1dian4 means. ‘Bookstore, bookshop? Shūdiàn.

S. Now say ‘Foreign Languages Bookstore?

M. Méi cuò. Wài wén Sū Diàn. Say it, wàiwén shūdiàn, again, wàiwén shūdiàn.

S. Now say, ‘they go to the Foreign Languages Bookstore?

M. Duì le! 他们去外文书店 tāmen qù Wàiwén Shūdiàn.

S. Wǒmen zhīdào 外文书店在王府井Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài Wángfǔjǐng.

M. Wángfǔjǐng is a very famous street about one kilometer east of the Forbidden City, Wángfǔjǐng.

S. 现在我们在西单 xiànzài wǒmen zài Xīdān.

M. Xīdān is another famous street to the west of the Forbidden City.

S. How do we get there? 我们怎么走 wǒmen zěnme zǒu?

M. I’ll look at the map 我看看地图 wǒ kàn kan dìtú.

S. And we’ll see what the map tells us next lesson. Now finish with the dialogue.

M. 今天我们去哪儿 jīn tiān wǒmen qù nǎr?

S. 外文书店. Wàiwén Shūdiàn.

M. 外文书店在哪儿Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài nǎr？

S. 外文书店在王府井Wàiwén Shūdiàn zài Wángfǔjǐng.

M. 现在我们在西单 xiànzài wǒmen zài Xīdān.

S. 我们怎么走 wǒmen zěnme zǒu?

M. 我看看地图 wǒ kàn kan dìtú