at 12th October 2018 Lesson three Asking people s names Job roles and titles Addressing people in emails
What s your name? wǒ I, me jiào to be called (name) shénme? what? míngzi name Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? Wǒ jiào Míngming. What s your name? I am called Míngming. Group activity What s your name? Go around the class and practise asking people what their names are in Chinese using the following dialogue: Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi? What s your name? Wǒ jiào Zhīlín. Nǐ ne? I am called Zhīlín, and you?. Listening activity What are their names? All the people below are celebrities in China. Listen to each dialogue and try to hear which name is mentioned, then link up the picture with the name. 1 2 3 a. Yáo Míng b. Zhāng Zǐyí c. Gǒng Lì 4 5 6 d. Zhōu Jiélún e. Liáng Cháowěi f. Liú Xiáng
tā he tā she Note that he and she in Chinese are both pronounced tā, but written differently. The word for he has the element meaning person on the left, and the character for she has the element meaning female on the left. Pair activity What s his/her name? 1. Point to one of the celebrities above and ask the person s name using the following dialogue. A: Tā jiào shénme míngzi? What s his/her name? B: Tā jiào. He/she is called. 2. Using the same dialogue, point to other people in your class and find out their names. Writing activity Practising tones Write out the dialogue below in pinyin using words from the word bank. Don't forget to put the tone marks above the words! A. Nǐ! B. hǎo. Nǐ hǎo? A. hěn hǎo. Nǐ jiào míngzi? B. Wǒ Xiǎoyù. Nǐ ne? A. Wǒ jiào. Yángyang ma jiào hǎo nǐ shénme wǒ Titiles and occupations nǚshì Ms. xiānshēng Mr. gōngzuò job (zǒng) jīnglǐ (general) manager lǎobǎn boss (rén)yuán staff shī(fu) master jiā expert (suffix)
Pair activity Who is that? Pratice the following dialogue, inputting people s names and occupations. Why not try some of the occupations listed below! A: Nà shì shéi? Who is that? B: Nà shì (xiānshēng / nǚshì). That is Mr / Ms. A: Tā zuò shénme gōngzuò? What job do they do? B: Tā shì. He/ she is a. xiāoshòu yuán gōngchéngshī kèfú jìshù shèjì sales / marketing person engineer customer service technical design Did you know? Business cards When you hand something over to someone in China, it is polite to use both hands to give and receive the object. Business cards are a crucial part of working with China. Always treat people s business cards as an extension of the person, and remember the 3 do s: 1. DO get one side of your business card translated into Simplified Chinese. Offer this side to the other person so they can read it. 2. DO give cards to people individually, rather than dealing them out like playing cards or place a stack on the table. 3. DO put other people s business cards into a place like your wallet rather than into a back pocket.
Writing emails Starting and ending your emails As in English, there are standard ways of addressing emails in Chinese. Here are some for you to try out: qīn ài de... zūnjìng de... xiānshēng / nǚshì zhì xiāngguān rénshì Dear... Honorable Mr / Ms... To relevant persons After inserting a comma and starting a new line we can use There are, of course, many ways to end an email. zhùhǎo means best regards and will do in most situations before signing off with your name. Writing activity Practising addressing emails Put in the missing information into the email below. Can you translate it as well?, (address the person) (hello!)! wǒ jiào (your name). wǒ shì ālǐbābā de (a job title). xièxie. (best regards), (sign off)
Get a Chinese name! When you go to China, people may ask if you have a Chinese name. Names in English are long and difficult to pronounce and write in Chinese. For example, the Chinese version of Brad Pitt would be Bùlādé Pǐtè quite a mouthful! By contrast, Chinese names are short (two or three characters long) and easier to say. Below is a selection you can choose from to make up your very own Chinese name. If you don't see what you want below, just ask your teacher to help. Surnames Only certain characters can function as Chinese surnames, but any character can be used as a given name. Chinese surnames have many origins, and many of them come from names of ancient Chinese states or dynasties; for example, Zhào, Zhōu and Wú. Here are the top ten most common Chinese surnames: Lǐ Plum Wáng King Zhāng Bowman Liú Name of a place Chén Name of an ancient country Yáng Huáng Zhào Zhōu Wú Willow Yellow Name of an ancient country Name of an ancient country Name of an ancient country Given names Given names may be one or two characters. Often Chinese people will double-up a part of their name as a nickname, so a girl called Zhāng Méi might be called Méimei by her friends. Below you will find some common names, along with their corresponding Chinese characters: Male names Wěi Great Dōng East Míng Bright Kǎi Victorious Jūn Army Guāng Light Qiáng Strong Lóng Dragon Yīng Xuě Měi Outstanding Snow Beautiful Fāng Fragrance Shū Kind and gentle Female names Yún Méi Hóng Cloud Plum Red Chinese place the surname before the given name, so if the surname is Zhāng and the given name is Xiǎoyù (Little Jade), then the whole name in Chinese is Zhāng Xiǎoyù.