Intermediate | Travel by Tour Group

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那今天我们要去旅行。 Yeah, so we're talking about travel, and we're talking about a specific way to travel, right? 对,就是旅行团。 So that's a tour group. It's a group. Okay. So what are the tones on that? 旅行是第三声和第二声那团也是第二声。 Okay. 3-2-2. 对,旅行团。 那旅行团很没意思。 They're boring, are they? 对啊,而且就是没有自由。 Yeah, they don't give you much freedom. So some of these points of view are going to come up in the dialogue. Let's listen and then we'll talk about some of the drawbacks later on.

All right, let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's play a little bit! The time is not too late! What? We only play one hour! 老婆,算了,上车吧都怪你,一定要跟旅行团要是自由行的话,想玩多久就玩多久自由行还要自己订机票,订酒店 I don't know.

Okay, now the first line in the dialogue is the tour guide, and they're being a bit formal because they're addressing the group, right? Okay, so the person speaking is the tour guide. What was the word for that? Okay, third tone and second tone. And literally that means guide the travel. The person that's guiding the travel is the tour guide. So the way he addresses the group is... So 各位 meaning every person. 对。 那 团友这个团就是旅行团的团。 OK, so that 团 means group, and that 有 is which 有? 朋友的有。

Okay, so group friends. 对,就是在这个旅行团里的朋友。 Alright, so every group friend. 注意啦,注意啦。 So 注意 means to pay attention to something. Yeah, why? Okay, so it's adding a tone, a tone of what? A tone of urgency, of importance. Bring people's attention unto you. Okay, so 注意 is two fourth tones, right? 对,那注意了,这个 了当然就是轻声,那你常常会听到注意了,注意了这个说法。 Okay, so that's pretty common when someone's trying to get attention. 对,注意啦。 那旅行团嘛就是很赶。 Yeah, you're always in a rush. 对呀,现在就要赶紧上车,要去购物。

OK, so, 赶紧上车,我们要去购物了。 OK, so, 赶紧。 OK, so that's two third tones, G-A-N-J-I-N. 对, 赶紧。 赶紧做一件事儿就是 Okay, so do something means to do something in a hurry. Hurry up and do something. 赶紧上车,要去购物。 Alright, 购物 just means to go shopping, right? 对的,就是买东西。 Alright, that's two fourth tones. We have another 了 here, right? 嗯,要去购物了。 要去干什么了。

Okay, so we're about to go shopping, it's time to go shopping. This 了 is indicating that it is now time for something new. 对,那可是对话里的这个女孩她不太想去购物,她想再玩一会儿。 OK, so she wants to play, meaning enjoy this place wherever they're at. Hang out. 那这里有一个结构。 Okay, so there's a pattern here that we're paying attention to. It's 再 do something一会儿. 对, 再做一件什么事一会儿,就是 do it a bit longer.

Okay, or my favorite, sleep a bit longer, right? 再睡一会儿。 Okay, so this 再 is the one meaning again. 嗯,对。 Or a bit longer, right? And 一会儿 means a while. OK, 来不及 means not going to make it in time, right? 对。 So you add the time in front of it. Time isn't going to make it in time. What is that? 这里大家就不要这样去分析,不要这样analyze. Yeah, so in this case, don't try to break it down. It kind of doesn't make sense. 对,那就记住,在中文里这是一个完整的说法。 Yeah, so 时间来不及了 means there's no time for it.

Just like in English, we can say, we're not going to make it. And we can also say, we're not going to make it in time. It's kind of similar in Chinese. 时间来不及了。 那你也可以说,来不及了。 Okay, same meaning. Okay, so the girl is unhappy about this fact. All right, so 什么... And then this ma, what is this doing, this ma here? Yeah, that's not the question particle ma, right?

你很不满意。 Okay, so you're unsatisfied, you're unhappy. It's kind of like, what? What are you talking about? Like that kind of feeling. 对,什么嘛,什么嘛。 Okay, not happy. So why is she unhappy? Okay, so this is a place name. What is that place? Okay, literally Ocean Park, which is the actual English name of this Hong Kong amusement park. It's this ocean-themed park, right? 对的, 海洋公园。 那我觉得今天他们就是在香港。 因为要购物,香港购物很好。 Oh, right. Shopping is popular in Hong Kong. 对啊,然后又有海洋公园。

Yeah, if you're familiar with SeaWorld in the States, this is probably similar to that. SeaWorld 是在你的老家吗? 在佛罗里达。 Yeah, there's one in Florida, one in California, and there's one in Hong Kong. 对的。 那海洋公园才玩了一个小时,好像时间太短了。 Okay, so we have a pattern here as well. We have this 才。 Okay, so 才, second tone, that indicates that it is insufficient, it's not long enough. 对,就是只有一个小时。

那一个小时肯定不够,对吧? 时间很短。 Right, so the 才 comes before the verb, and then after that, the length of time, which isn't enough. 对, 海洋公园才玩了一个小时。 好,那后来呢,我们就听到了一个男人,就是这个女孩的老公husband说, 老婆算了,上车吧,算了,上车吧。

Okay, so this swan is just like, never mind, forget about it. Don't give him trouble. All right, but she keeps complaining. What does she say? OK, so all blame you, meaning it's all your fault. 对,那都怪你呢,就是吵架的时候,特别是couple吵架的时候常常用的。 Yeah, let me tell you, I've used this before, and it makes people unhappy pretty fast. 都怪你! All right, so 怪, fourth tone. It's the same one that's like 奇怪, right? 对。 But in this case, it means to blame. Um,沒錯. 那都怪你,也就是說,所有的東西都是怪你。 都怪你,都是你的錯, right? 對,都怪你,一定要跟旅行團。

Okay, so it's all your fault because you insisted on going with a tour group, right? 嗯,跟旅行团。 So this 跟 is a verb which means to go on a tour group, is that right? 对,这是一个固定搭配。 OK, so go with a tour. 那这个女孩又接着说, 要是自由行的话, Okay, slow down. So if we did another kind of travel, right? What's the other kind of travel? Okay, so the word for freedom is... OK, fourth tone, second tone. And then we add this 行 on the end, which refers to travel. 那这样自由行英语是什么?

Yeah, in English we just call it travel. Because in Chinese you have to distinguish between tour group travel and then individual travel. Because individual travel has really only been possible from mainland China for the past 10 years or so. Or less. And in the States, individual travel maybe is the default. 对于你们来说,旅行就是自由行,对吧? But from the average Chinese person's perspective, it's not like that. Okay, so anyway, if you do the individual free travel... 要是自由行的话

Okay, so we have this if sandwich. So 钥匙 means if. 那这个 的话就是跟钥匙一起用。 Yeah, so 的话 is the second part of the sandwich. 对。 So if this 要是something的话 那要是自由行的话 怎么样呢? 想玩多久就玩多久 OK, so if it's the individual free travel, you can hang out as long as you want. 对,这是一个特别好的结构,大家注意了,想玩多久,就玩多久。 Okay, so want to play how long, just can play how long. 那我举一个更简单的例子。 想做什么,就做什么。 Okay, so want to do what, just do what.

So this question word can get replaced with another question word, right? Like 想吃什么就吃什么 或者 想去哪儿就去哪儿 OK, go wherever you want 对 It's not too hard, takes a little bit of practice. If you hear it, I'm sure you'll understand it. 好。 OK, so these are the reasons why traveling on your own is no good, right? OK, so the things you have to do on your own are... Order the plane tickets, right? 订机票。 And then make reservations at hotels. 订酒店。 And then prepare your itinerary. 安排行程。

So in Chinese you say arrange your itinerary. So what are the tones for that? 两个第二声

Okay, xin cheng, two second tones. Yeah, they're arguing, aren't they? All right, there's that 赶 again. Right, so 赶 is third tone. Always be in a hurry. Alright, 爽, that's S-H-U-A-N-G, third tone. 爽 means to feel good, right? 对的。 So 不爽 means to not feel good, to be unhappy. But when you say it this way, can we hear the tone of voice there? It's kind of like saying, this sucks!

Sucks的意思啊. Yeah, that's Connie's translation. This sucks. 真不爽。 Connie的英文越来越好了。 Okay, and then the husband's saying, well, it sucks even more for me, right? 对啊,我更不爽。 我更不爽。 So 更 meaning even more. That's fourth tone. 对的。 好,那最后这个导游还是要让他们赶紧上车。 所以他说你们要吵回家去吵,大家都在等你们呢。 OK, so let's take a look at that middle phrase. What is it again? OK, so there's an unspoken if here, right?

So if you want to argue, go home and argue. But they can't go home because they're on a tour group. Awkward. Okay, so the word for to argue is... Okay, so you can take 吵架 and abbreviate it to one syllable, right? 对,就是吵,要吵回家去吵。 吵, third tone. 好,那今天我们学了很多跟旅游有关 都是非常有用的说法 现在我们就再听一遍对话

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Time is here too much! What the hell? We only play for a hour! My wife, let's go! I don't have to worry about you! We need to travel! If you're free to travel, you'll be free! 想玩多久就玩多久自由行还要自己订机票订酒店安排行程多麻烦那你看现在什么都要敢玩要敢吃饭要敢 I'm not good at all. I'm not good at all. I told you, you should go home home. Everyone is waiting for you. All right, so we've already talked a lot about the language and the vocabulary and the grammar patterns in this lesson. I'd like to go over a tone point now.

Yeah, this is related to some of the research I did for my master's in linguistics. It's about the tones which are most difficult for us foreigners. And I think when you have two tones in a row, the third, second combination. is one of the most difficult ones. So on this one, we have a word which means tour guide, right? 导游,导游. All right, that's third, second. Now, if you haven't practiced this word, you might accidentally say 导游.

But that's wrong. You want to say 导游. Okay, and then we have another third, second pattern, which is 旅行. Alright, not 旅行, but 旅行. 旅行,旅行. 那只要你有什么窍门,就是什么 tips? The tip is, if you're just really struggling to communicate,

Don't worry about it too much. But if you find this content fairly easy to follow and you feel like you can say this, then it's time to start paying attention to your tones. And look, am I saying this right? Because tones are not something you get overnight, right? You need to keep reviewing.

keep working and making them more and more natural. So this is one thing that if you're still struggling a little bit with tones, you're almost certainly to still be struggling with this third, second tone pair.

Yeah, the good news is the more you hear it and the more you practice it, then the more often you'll be getting it right. 好,你可以把它变成你的ring tone 导游旅行 导游旅行 好,今天的课就到这儿,我们下次再见。 再见。 As usual, ChinesePod provides an extensive selection of learning materials for this lesson on its website. You can access this lesson directly with the lesson number 1386. So just go to www.ChinesePod.com slash 1386 and you will find a transcript, vocabulary, and much more. The link again, www.ChinesePod.com slash 1386.