Lesson 200 Good Manners 第二百课 礼貌（1）

Y: Perfect Chinese your way, in only five minutes a day. Welcome to the show everyone, wo shi Yajie. And together with me is… Brendan! Welcome Brendan.
B: … what shall we learn this week?
Y: This week we'll talk about manners. This is something both Chinese and westerners cherish a lot!
B: Right… But I'm always wondering how to express good manners in Chinese.
Y: Let's first check our key words of the day.

********************

Key words of the day
Gentleman 绅士 Lady 淑女 Ladies first, 女士优先 After you. 您先请。He has good manners. 他很有礼貌。 All in today's Chinese Studio.

********************

B: Yajie, in a civilized society, what do you think, everyone should try to behave like a gentleman or a lady.
Y: I totally agree.
B: What's the Chinese for gentleman?
Y: it's 绅士 shen1 shi4.
B: shen1 shi4. Then how do you say lady in Chinese?
Y: it's 淑女 shu1 nv3.
B: shu1 nv3.
Y: 淑 shu1 means tender, kind and gentle in Chinese.
B: shu1.
Y: and 女 nv3 means female.
B: nv3.
Y: 淑女 shu1 nv3.
B: shu1 nv3. lady.

Conversation 1:

A: 现今社会礼仪至关重要。
B: 所以我们应该努力成为绅士和淑女。

B: We just learned how to say lady in Chinese. Yajie, I wonder how to say "Ladies first."
Y: it's 女士优先 nv3 shi4 you1 xian1.
B: nv3 shi4 you1 xian1. But lady is 女士 shu1 nv3, right?
Y: Right. nv3 shi4 is another way of calling a lady.
B: I see. what's that again?
Y: it's 女士 nv3 shi4.
B: nv3 shi4
Y: 女 nv3 means female,
B: nv3,
Y: 士shi4 means person,
B: shi4.
Y: 女士 nv3 shi4
B: nv3 shi4, lady,
Y: 优先 you1 xian1, means have priority or take precedence.
B: you1 xian1.
Y: 女士优先 nv3 shi4 you1 xian1.
B: nv3 shi4 you1 xian1. Ladies first.

Conversation 2:

A: 您先请。
B: 不,您先请。女士优先嘛。
A: 谢谢。
B: 不客气。

Y: Brendan, I know that "After you" is good manners.
B: Right. it's very popular in daily life. How do I say it in Chinese?
Y: You can say "您先请 nin2 xian1 qing3."
B: nin2 xian1 qing3
Y: 您 nin2 is the polite form of 你 ni3, which means you,
B: nin2,
Y: 先 xian1 here it means start off before the others,
B: xian1
Y: 请 qing3 means please,
B: qing3.
Y: 您先请 nin2 xian1 qing3
B: nin2 xian1 qing3 After you.

Conversation 3:

A: 您先请。
B: 谢谢。

Y: Wow, 他很有礼貌 ta1 hen2 you3 li3 mao4.
B: Yajie, you have to explain that to me…
Y: Sorry. I just met a boy, and he has good manners. ta1 hen2 you3 li3 mao4.
B: ta1 hen2 you3 li3 mao4.
Y: 他 ta1 means he,
B: ta1.
Y: 很 hen2 means very much,
B: hen2,
Y: 有 you3 means have,
B: you3,
Y: 礼貌 li3 mao4 means good manners.
B: li3 mao4.
Y: 他很有礼貌 ta1 hen2 you3 li3 mao4.
B: ta1 hen2 you3 li3 mao4. He has good manners.

Conversation 4:

A: 他很有礼貌。
B: 没错,他是一位真正的绅士。

********************

Key words reminder:
Gentleman 绅士 Lady 淑女 Ladies first, 女士优先After you 您先请。He has good manners 他很有礼貌。 All in today's Chinese Studio.

********************

B: I can now practise some of these sentences jusut for the right occasion.
Y: And you’ll learn more in the following days. Now it's time for our question of the day. How do you say "After you."in Chinese?
B: It's an easy one.Ming tian jian.
Y: Ming tian jian.