Career Magazine

106: How to Make Decisions in Mandarin Chinese

By Learnmandarinnow

Life is full of decisions. Where to eat lunch, what time to get up, where to go for your holidays? It’s worth to learn how to consider and decide amongst some options so that you can discuss with your friends or those closer to you.

In this Podcast, you will learn:

(i) How to weigh up some options to help you make a decision

(ii) To talk about making a choice between two or more possibilities

Dialogue: A boyfriend is discussing his travel plans with his friend:

A: 我下个月想和我女朋友去旅游。Wǒ xià gè yuè xiǎng hé wǒ nǚ péngyǒu qù lǚyóu.

I want to travel with my girlfriend next month.

B:你们想去哪儿?Nǐmen xiǎng qù nǎ’er?

Where do you want to go?

A: 我们想了半天,最后决定去昆明或者青岛吧。Wǒmen xiǎngle bàntiān, zuìhòu juédìng qù kūnmíng huòzhě qīngdǎo ba.

I have been thinking about it for a while, and decided to either go to Kunming or Qingdao.

B: 嗯,这两个城市都不错,但是离得很远。你们只能选一个啊。En, zhè liǎng gè chéngshì dōu bùcuò, dànshì lí dé hěn yuǎn. Nǐmen zhǐ néng xuǎn yīgè a.

En, these two cities are good. But they’re far away from each other. You can only pick one.

A: 昆明天气暖和,青岛海鲜丰盛。唉真不知道选哪个好!Kūnmíng tiānqì nuǎnhuo, qīngdǎo hǎixiān fēngshèng. Āi zhēn bù zhīdào xuǎn nǎge hǎo!

Kunming’s weather is warm, but Qing Dao has plenty of great seafood. Ai, I don’t know which one is better!

Chinese words and phrases mentioned in this Podcast:

下个月:next month

想:want

女朋友:girlfriend

旅游:travel

去:go

哪儿:where

你们:you

想了:think

半天:it literally means half a day, but it’s a common expression meaning for a long time

Eg.

想了半天:think for a long time

走了半天:walk for a while

最后:finally, eventually

决定:decide

昆明:Kunming City

青岛:Qingdao City

这两个:these two

都:both, all

不错:not bad

离得:away from

很远:very far away

你们:you

只能:only

选:choose, pick

哪个:Which one?

Mandarin Chinese learning resources we recommend:

Keats Chinese School
Keats Chinese School, which was founded in 2004, is one of the top Mandarin Chinese language schools in China, offering both one-on-one immersion Mandarin courses and small group Chinese classes. Located in Kunming, Keats develops personalised exercises and materials for students to meet their learning goals and requirements and can arrange a student visa for its 16 week course. Why not try one of their highly recommended courses?

Pleco
Pleco Software makes popular Chinese dictionary/flashcard/document reader apps for iPhones, iPads and Android devices, featuring dozens of licenced dictionaries, handwriting input, OCR, stroke order, Cantonese support, and tons of other amazing features. We highly recommend taking a look at some or all of their great products…


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