Published by: Chinese080808
Companion grammar guide found here.

汉字 Pinyin English
(Edward) (Google Translate) (Edward)
请问，从这条小路能上山顶吗？ Qǐngwèn, cóng zhè tiáo xiǎolù néng shàng shāndǐng ma? Excuse me, can one get to the summit from this small path?
我想可以。我也要上去，咱们一起往上爬吧。 Wǒ xiǎng kěyǐ. Wǒ yě yào shàngqù, zánmen yīqǐ wǎng shàng pá ba. I think so. I’m also going up, how about we hike up together?
好啊！ Hǎo a! Great!
好…… Hǎo…… Ok…
你看，怎么样？那边好漂亮吧！ Nǐ kàn, zěnme yàng? Nà biān hǎo piàoliang ba! Look, how about that? Isn’t that beautiful?
您第一次游览黄山吧？您怎么称呼？ Nín dì yī cì yóulǎn Huángshān ba? Nín zěnme chēnghu? This is your first time visiting Huangshan, right? How should I address you?
我叫马大为。 Wǒ jiào Mǎ Dàwéi. I am called Ma Dawei.
太巧了，我也姓马，你叫我小马吧。我看你的岁数跟我的差不多，可能大一点儿。你今年有二十五六岁了吧？ Tài qiǎole, wǒ yě xìng Mǎ, nǐ jiào wǒ Xiǎo Mǎ ba. Wǒ kàn nǐ de suìshu gēn wǒ de chàbùduō, kěnéng dà yīdiǎnr. Nǐ jīnnián yǒu èrshíwǔliù suìle ba? What a coincidence, my surname is also Ma, you can call me Xiao Ma. Looks to me that you are around the same age as me, perhaps a little older. You’d be 25 or 26 this year, right?
你就叫我老马。 Nǐ jiù jiào wǒ Lǎo Mǎ. You can call me Old Ma.
你在哪儿工作？ Nǐ zài nǎr gōngzuò? Where do you work?
我还在读书呢。 Wǒ hái zài dúshū ne. I’m still studying.
哦，你是留学生。你汉语说得真棒！ Ó, nǐ shì liúxuéshēng. Nǐ Hànyǔ shuō de zhēn bàng! Oh, you are an exchange student. Your spoken Chinese is superb!
很一般。 Hěn yībān. It’s ok.
快上来。我见过几位老外，他们汉语说得没有你好，你说得最好。你们来中国留学，父母还得给你们很多钱吧？ Kuài shànglái. Wǒ jiànguò jǐ wèi lǎowài, tāmen Hànyǔ shuō de méiyǒu nǐ hǎo, nǐ shuō de zuì hǎo. Nǐmen lái Zhōngguó liúxué, fùmǔ hái děi gěi nǐmen hěnduō qián ba? Quickly come up. I have met a few foreigners, their spoken Chinese is not as good as yours, you speak the best. You guys come to China to study abroad, so your parents must give you a lot of money, right?
不一定。 Bù yīdìng. Not necessarily.
那你得一边学习一边挣钱了？结婚了没有？ Nà nǐ děi yībiān xuéxí yībiān zhèng qiánle? Jiéhūnle méiyǒu? So you have to study and earn money at the same time? Are you married?
你累不累？我又热又累，咱们喝点儿水吧。我说小马，你在哪儿工作？ Nǐ lèi bù lèi? Wǒ yòu rè yòu lèi, zánmen hē diǎnr shuǐ ba. Wǒ shuō Xiǎo Mǎ, nǐ zài nǎr gōngzuò? Are you tired? I’m hot and tired, let’s drink a little water. So, Xiao Ma, where do you work?
我在一家网络公司工作。 Wǒ zài yījiā wǎngluò gōngsī gōngzuò. I work in an internet company.
哦，你是搞网路的，工资一定很高吧？ Ó, nǐ shì gǎo wǎng lùo de, gōngzī yīdìng hěn gāo ba? Oh, you’re an internet professional, salary must be quite high, right?
不算太高。 Bù suàn tài gāo. Not too high.
我想只要在高新技术企业工作，收入就不会低。 Wǒ xiǎng zhǐyào zài gāoxīn jìshù qǐyè gōngzuò, shōurù jiù bù huì dī. I think, if one works in a high-tech company, income cannot be low.
那也得看公司和个人的情况。 Nà yě de kàn gōngsī hé gèrén de qíngkuàng. Well, it also depends on the company and the indiviaual’s situation.
你们公司怎么样？ Nǐmen gōngsī zěnme yàng? What’s your company like?
还行吧。 Hái xíng ba. It’s ok.
你的收入一定不低了？ Nǐ de shōurù yīdìng bù dīle? Your income surely is not low?
我去年才开始工作，收入还凑合。 Wǒ qùnián cái kāishǐ gōngzuò, shōurù hái còuhé. I only start working last year, income is passable.
“还凑合”是什么意思？ “Hái còuhé” shì shénme yìsi? What does “passable” mean?
就是“马马虎虎”的意思。 Jiùshì “mǎmǎhǔhǔ” de yìsi. It means “average”.
啊！你看，那边围着很多人，那不是“迎客松”吗？ A! Nǐ kàn, nà biān wéizhe hěnduō rén, nà bùshì “yíng kè sōng” ma? Ah, look, lots of people around there, is that not the “welcoming pine”?
是，就是那棵“迎客松”。大家都在那儿照相呢，咱们也去照张相吧。 Shì, jiùshì nà kē “yíng kè sōng”. Dàjiā dōu zài nàr zhàoxiàng ne, zánmen yě qù zhào zhāng xiāng ba. Yes, that is the “welcoming pin”. Everyone there is taking photographs, let’s also go and take a picture.
好啊！ Hǎo a! Ok!
（……） (……) (…)
（重复） (Chóngfù) (Repeat)
这次旅游怎么样？ Zhè cì lǚyóu zěnme yàng? How was this trip?
好极了，黄山的名胜古迹我差不多都欣赏了。美丽的黄山真是名不虚传。 Hǎo jíle, Huángshān de míngshèng gǔjī wǒ chàbùduō dōu xīnshǎngle. Měilì de Huángshān zhēnshi míngbùxūchuán. Extremely good, I enjoyed almost all of the historical and scenic places in Huangshan. Beautiful Huangshan really does fully deserve its reputation.
“名不虚传”用得真地道。 “Míngbùxūchuán” yòng de zhēn dìdào. Using the phrase “fully deserves its reputation”, very true.
这是跟一起旅行的中国朋友学的。不过，聊天的时候，几个中国朋友把我围在中间，问了很多问题，问得我没办法回答。 Zhè shì gēn yīqǐ lǚxíng de Zhōngguó péngyǒu xué de. Bùguò, liáotiān de shíhou, jǐ gè Zhōngguó péngyǒu bǎ wǒ wéi zài zhōngjiān, wènle hěnduō wèntí, wèn de wǒ méi bànfǎ huídá. I learned this from my Chinese friend who travelled with me. However, when chatting, a few Chinese friends surrounded me, asked me a lot of questions, but I didn’t know how to answer them.
他们问了你一些什么问题？ Tāmen wènle nǐ yīxiē shénme wèntí? What sort of questions did they ask?
差不多把个人的隐私都问到了，比如，问我多大、家里有几口人、每月挣多少钱、结婚没有、有没有住房什么的。对了，还问我的背包是多少钱买的。 Chàbùduō bǎ gèrén de yǐnsī dōu wèn dàole, bǐrú, wèn wǒ duōdà, jiā li yǒu jǐ kǒu rén, měi yuè zhēng duōshǎo qián, jiéhūn méiyǒu, yǒu méiyǒu zhùfáng shénme de. Duìle, hái wèn wǒ de bèibāo shì duōshǎo qián mǎi de. Almost everyone asked personal questions, for example, how old I am, how many people in my family, how my I earn every month, whether or not I am married, whether or not I have a house, etc. Oh, also asked me how much my backpack cost.
这是关心你嘛！ Zhè shì guānxīn nǐ ma! This is because they care about you!
可是我们认为这些都是个人的隐私。别人愿意说，你可以听着；如果别人不想说，这些问题就不能问。 Kěshì wǒmen rènwéi zhèxiē dōu shì gèrén de yǐnsī. Biérén yuànyì shuō, nǐ kěyǐ tīngzhe; rúguǒ biérén bùxiǎng shuō, zhèxiē wèntí jiù bùnéng wèn. But I consider these are each person’s private matters. If someone is willing to talk about them, you can listen; if someone doesn’t want to talk about them, you shoulnd’t ask these sorts of questions.
对这些问题，我们的看法是不太一样。我们认为，问这些只表示友好和关心。 Duì zhèxiē wèntí, wǒmen de kànfǎ shì bù tài yīyàng. Wǒmen rènwéi, wèn zhèxiē zhǐ biǎoshì yǒuhǎo hé guānxīn. Regarding these questions, we don’t think the same way. We think that, asking these sorts of questions just expresses friendliness and caring.
我拿多少工资是我自己的事儿，他为什么要知道？我被他们问得不知道该怎么办，这哪儿是关心？ Wǒ ná duōshǎo gōngzī shì wǒ zìjǐ de shìr, tā wèishéme yào zhīdào? Wǒ bèi tāmen wèn dé bù zhīdào gāi zěnme bàn, zhè nǎr shì guānxīn? How much I earn is my own matter, why does he want to know? When I was asked by them I didn’t know what to do, how is this caring?
问问题的小伙子可能很少见到外国人，他有点儿好奇，就问得多一些。你知道吗？中国人以前收入都不太高，收入当然是最重要的一件事儿。所以互相问工资是表示关心。 Wèn wèntí de xiǎo huǒ zǐ kěnéng hěn shǎo jiàn dào wàiguó rén, tā yǒudiǎnr hàoqí, jiù wèn de duō yīxiē. Nǐ zhīdào ma? Zhōngguó rén yǐqián shōurù dōu bù tài gāo, shōurù dāngrán shì zuì zhòngyào de yī jiàn shìr. Suǒyǐ hùxiāng wèn gōngzī shì biǎoshì guānxīn. The young man asking the questions probably has met only a few foreigners, he is a little bit curious, so asks many of these questions. Do you know? In the past Chinese people’s income was not high, so income was of course the most important matter. So asking about salary expressed caring.
哦，是这样。可是，我问那个小伙子每月挣多少钱，他也不愿意把他的工资收入清清楚楚地告诉我。 Ó, shì zhèyàng. Kěshì, wǒ wèn nàgè xiǎohuǒzi měi yuè zhēng duōshǎo qián, tā yě bù yuànyì bǎ tā de gōngzī shōurù qīng qīng chǔ chǔ de gàosu wǒ. Oh, so it was like this. But, I asked the young man how much he earned every month, he was also not willing to clearly tell me his income.
可以说以前这不是隐私，可是现在是了，这样的问题现在也不能问了。不过，这也是向西方文化学的。 Kěyǐ shuō yǐqián zhè bùshì yǐnsī, kěshì xiànzài shìle, zhèyàng de wèntí xiànzài yě bùnéng wènle. Bùguò, zhè yěshì xiàng xīfāng wénhuà xué de. Before talking about this was not private, but now it is, this sort of question now also cannot ask. However, this was also something that was learned from Western culture.
你们学得真快。宋华，今天我也想关心你一下：你爸爸、妈妈每月有多少工资，你能告诉我吗？ Nǐmen xué de zhēn kuài. Sòng Huá, jīntiān wǒ yě xiǎng guānxīn nǐ yīxià: Nǐ bàba, māmā měi yuè yǒu duōshǎo gōngzī, nǐ néng gàosu wǒ ma? You all learn quickly. Song Hua, today I also would like to care about you a little: can you tell me, how much salary your father and mother make every month?
可以。“比上不足，比下有余”，够花了。 Kěyǐ.“Bǐ shàng bùzú, bǐ xià yǒuyú”, gòu huāle. I can. “Not as much as the best, better than the worse”, enough to spend.
（……） (……) (…)
（重复） (Chóngfù) (Repeat)