Takeaway Chinese, where you can take some Chinese away and experience progress day by day.
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你好,欢迎收听随行汉语。 Welcome to Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Niu Honglin with Steve Hatherly in the studio.
Hello, Steve.
Hey, thanks for having me back once again.
Always a pleasure having you back.
So what have you learned these days when it comes to Mandarin Chinese?
Well, so remember that day that we talked about and I think we even played the clip on the show because I was excited I learned a new expression.
Oh, yes.
It's a long sentence.
So I was using that repeatedly, right, whenever I was getting a delivery.
And I started to notice that the delivery it was like 50-50, whether they would understand what I said or not.
And I was confused by that, because I knew I was always pronouncing it the exact same way, because I only know one way to say it.
So I wondered, oh, what's going on?
So I asked a coworker and they told me, oh, yeah, I mean, that's correct, I guess.
But it's probably better if you say fengzai baowanchu.
Ever since I've been saying fengzai and with a 100% success rate.
So, yeah.
So not necessarily the longer, the better.
Not necessarily the longer the better.
And this is what I wanted to share.
When you learn something, just pose a question or two to anyone around you or whoever your teacher or your friend, and just say oh, is there an alternative way to say this?
Like a simpler way?
Is this the most common way?
It's always good to expand your vocabulary tree right and learn multiple ways of saying the same thing.
But I think for everyday conversation you want to learn the way that it's expressed easiest and most commonly.
Yes.
And I think another tip would be put it in context.
Yeah.
In the sense that, for a certain period of time maybe, you want to learn this sentence and you use it in the situation or scenario that is very commonly used, by not only you, but also people who are natives.
They use the kind of expression, and the expression is much more often heard by those who are on the receiving end.
For example, if this person is a shop owner, if you practice your 多少钱, how much with them, it must be much better received.
So that's the occasion.
But learning is fun when you take the learning to the real situation.
100% true.
Yeah.
So here's my question.
把他留在。 把他 means like it, right?
Yes.
Okay.
留在 means like leave it.
So then what's the difference between 放在 and 把他留在?
Because 放在 also means leave it, right?
So what's the difference between the two?
To start with, you are omitting the subject. which is totally fine in the Chinese language.
And the second thing is, one, people can express the same idea with a shorter sentence.
And you, as a foreigner, is using a longer sentence.
Well, for me, if I say people would totally understand, no problem.
But when you use a longer sentence like that, they'll try to see whether or not you're including more information in it.
They'll try to decipher the code you're sending.
And that is what's confusing them.
Yeah, right.
Yeah.
So there's no difference between the two?
Again, you're only omitting the subject, which grammatically is different, but the meanings are totally the same.
Oh, perfect.
Okay, good to know.
So that's the answer to the question is I learned a different way to say the same thing.
Well, I think it's nice.
And when I say it's always nice that we can use the kind of sentences, the kind of expressions in the real situation.
Not only are we using it in our everyday life because, to be honest, after a year or two, after you pick up the sentences and the way of saying things that you say most often in your everyday life, it gets not as fresh.
Yeah, it gets easier.
Yeah yeah yeah, 100.
It just becomes like commonplace for you to use.
Yet you still, there are still a lot, a lot of sentences, really huge amount of vocabulary that you're supposed to be continue building, and a good way to do it is to take it to other scenarios that is not within your day in, day out life.
Yeah, for instance, If you're traveling to a different place, it would be nice to try your Mandarin with local people, because you would encounter situations like they do not use the same dialect, they have different accents, they're not familiar with your accent.
It's a good opportunity to try out your chinese and also to expose yourself to other ways of the same language used by other people.
Yeah, exactly because i've only, you know, i live in beijing, so i've become accustomed to the beijing style of spoken mandarin.
Yes thinking, even though i know that it's not the only way that you can speak mandarin.
I haven't heard many other ways, any other ways people speaking it.
So yeah, traveling is just great exposure and definitely a new challenge.
And also a fun thing to do.
Yes.
The year 2025 have seen major traveling trends and different group of people going to different places, and especially the 2025 summer vacation period or just, you know, the entire summer days.
People enjoy going to different places in summer days.
It's easier to pack and There are more activities to enjoy.
And I guess it's partly because it's easier to pack.
Yeah, I agree with that.
Yeah, it's easier to put T-shirts and shorts in a suitcase than it is heavy sweaters and coats and mittens and hats and all of those things.
And here in China, the summer vacations are much longer than the winter vacations, which is why many families would choose summer as a time for their family trips.
So I want to ask you this.
Can you take a guess?
Which destinations in China drew the biggest crowds this summer from travelers, especially abroad?
Well, I'm going to guess Shanghai as my first guess.
What are we doing?
Top three?
Top five?
Top five.
Top five.
I would say Shanghai would be number one.
Hong Kong and Macau would be number two.
Beijing would be number three.
Very specific guessing.
Number four, I'll say Chengdu because of the pandas.
That's a major tourist attraction.
Sure.
And the spicy food.
And number five.
Let's go Xinjiang.
Oh, Xinjiang's good.
Even though... That's my dark horse guess.
I don't expect it to be in the top five, but there's been a lot of talk about Xinjiang recently and a lot of exposure to the region, showing its beauty.
So I'm wondering... And it neighbors other countries.
Sure.
It might not be easy for people from say, Shanghai or Korea or Japan or wherever to get to.
You know, the Mongolia.
Yeah.
Pakistan.
India, Pakistan.
Yeah.
It would be very, very easy to get there.
So that's my guess.
We will reveal the answer of that question a little bit later in today's show.
But now for those of you who are interested in Chinese culture and you want to get a grip on the Chinese language, this is the show for you.
Stick with us for 30 minutes and you soon see the rewards.
And for more fun Chinese learning, follow our Facebook page Learn Chinese to watch many fun videos and live streams.
Now, let's provide you with some free Chinese for takeaway.
So before giving you the answers, let's learn some phrases related to the topic.
So when you have a chance to go out to different places, talk to local people.
We can try to use some of the vocabularies that we learned on Takeaway Chinese.
Sounds great.
So the key word here is travel, right?
So to say travel in Chinese, you say 旅游.
Right.
Yes, so 旅 carries the meaning of go around to different places.
游 is like touring a little bit.
Previously on our show, we talked about the difference between 旅游 and 旅行.
I remember back then I said 旅游 is a bit more traditional and because you're traveling, touring as well, the emphasis is more on go to different places, like different check-in points.
You need to go there, take a picture and make sure that your presence there are recorded by your memory and maybe your photo album.
People love doing that.
Yes.
And whereas 旅行 focuses on the 行 part.
行 means to go around, to travel to different places in the sense that you're on the journey.
But I think now the line between Lu You and Lu Xing, no matter the vocabularies themselves or the concepts, are blurred.
People now enjoy their traveling experience in, I think, a more advanced and different ways.
So therefore, in sentences, 旅游 and 旅行 are almost interchangeable.
Okay, I was going to ask.
Yeah, because you kind of described them very similarly.
They're very similar.
Okay, gotcha.
Yes, so 旅游, 旅行, 旅行.
For instance, you can say, 你最近去旅行了吗?
Or 你最近去旅游了吗?
Have you been traveling these days?
And in English, have you been traveling these days would include business trips.
Yeah.
But in Chinese, it does not.
Oh, okay.
That's good to know.
That's important.
Technically speaking, a business trip is still a trip.
But when we say 旅游, it's definitely talking about private trips for entertainment, not for work.
Okay, understood.
旅游 and 旅行.
Yes.
And tourist along the same line would be 游客.
游客.
So 游 is traveling.
We talked about that.
客 is 客人, a guest.
Oh, a travel guest.
Right, it's very cute.
You're a guest to the city.
They're hosting you.
Tourist.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
A guest of the... A travel guest.
游客.
游客.
And the character 客 is seen in a lot of different words in the same logic.
For instance, 食客.
食客.
食 is food.
食物, remember?
食物 is food.
Yeah.
食客 means the guest.
Who is here for the food.
So a customer in a restaurant?
Yes.
One more time.
时刻 I have to warn you.
This one is a bit not that colloquial.
It's not that commonly used in Chinese. everyday conversation.
It's a relatively little bit more sophisticated word.
So in a restaurant, well, no, when, I mean, you wouldn't say that.
You don't have to say that.
Yeah.
When do people in the restaurant say 我是客?
我是食客.
我是食客.
No, people never say that.
Because you don't identify yourself as a customer in a restaurant.
But you can identify yourself as a tourist in a city.
我是游客。
I am a tourist.
You're explaining it to, for example, maybe local people who you can't really understand that much.
And you're explaining to them how come.
And also for some places, many destinations here in China.
They would have different policies for local people, local residents and the tourists.
In certain places, for example, certain tourist destination is also a public park for local residents.
Hence, local residents would not need to purchase a ticket.
Vice versa.
There are certain tourist destinations rolling out specific policies and specific discounts for tourists, for example, from other provinces or from a designated place, so that they can enjoy the discounts.
Along with maybe it's a bundle of different types of discounts you can purchase that.
So identifying yourself as a tourist sometimes can be necessary.
Yeah, when you're traveling and if somebody asks you a question about something within the city, you can say no, actually not.
I'm a tourist here.
Okay.
I think 10 or 15 years ago, I was advised not to reveal the fact that I was a tourist.
Probably not best for price negotiations.
But gradually these years, that kind of worry, I think kind of disappear.
Yeah, it still happens sometimes.
It happens here.
It happens in other parts of the world too.
Yeah.
But it definitely gets better.
Yes.
And more and more people would welcome tourists because in especially certain counties and villages that are seeing and deeming tourism as their pillar industry, they welcome tourists and they treat tourists well.
Yeah, I mean there's the economic side of things, but then there's just the excitement that locals have about showing their town, their food, their culture to people who are not from there.
Yeah, tourists are usually very much welcomed until it gets to a point that there are too many tourists or the tourists start misbehaving or those types of things.
We see that in some parts of the world, but I've never encountered that here in China.
That's nice.
There's a cute story related to that somehow.
We were in Xi'an and there's a street.
I forget the name of it.
It's a big shopping street behind the Drum and Bell Tower there, which is where you had your wedding photos taken, if I remember correctly.
Oh, yes, yes.
And on that street, which is kind of a tourist street, they have a little, I don't know, it's not like a playhouse, but you go inside and you have some tea there.
And then they do a performance.
And it's kind of like, I don't even know the name of the performance.
But anyway, they have the white kind of silk screen or white screen.
And behind that, they have the puppets.
Ah, yes.
皮影戏 That's what we call it in Chinese.
皮 is a skin.
影 is shadow.
戏 is play.
Okay.
Perfect.
皮影戏 That was a really cool cultural experience, by the way.
But then after it or before it, they had a comedian come up.
And the comedian was like talking to the crowd.
And one of his questions was so let's see who came from the furthest place away to get to Xi'an today.
And he looks around the room and then he looks at me and goes, I'm guessing it's you.
Making sense.
And then he called me up on stage.
Oh, that's nice.
Yeah.
So fun.
And asked me where I was from and you know if I speak Chinese or Mandarin and stuff.
No, i said it's like oh, that's good, that's good.
That was it.
A very important saying in the chinese culture is having a friend coming from afar makes me really, really happy.
Is that confucius?
Yeah, which was also in, like the 2008 beijing olympics, when the drop, When the drummers were drumming, that's what they were saying, right?
Isn't it delightful to have friends come from afar?
Yes.
And that is becoming the attitude of a lot.
Most Chinese people when they see forests, when they see especially foreign forests coming, we are getting more and more welcoming in different ways.
Yeah, it's good.
It's good.
And it makes people feel good about their travel when they come.
Yes.
And I want to ask you, because I think this one is personal, personal choices at least.
Or would you like to go to the relatively niche destinations?
I want to go where the locals go when they have their time off.
Those are the types of places that I enjoy.
Yes.
Then you go to the 小众景点 more often.
小众景点.
小众.
小众.
小 means small.
众 is a group.
Okay.
So that is a place that is visited by the smaller group of people.
小众, niche.
Yes.
And at the same time, the popular ones, the overly popular ones, we say 热门.
热门.
热 is hot.
门 is a door.
门.
Popular places.
Yes, popular places.
It's very popular.
It's trendy.
It can be a topic.
It can be a place.
It's just a way to say popular.
And it's not even mainstream.
It's just popular.
So it has nothing to do with whether or not it's popular dominating, it's just popular.
I don't know why i'm not usually impressed by places like that.
I went to niagara falls in canada the, you know, between canada and america, and it's one of the most famous waterfalls in the world and you know tourists from all over the world go there.
Canadian tourists go there, american tourists go there.
And i went there and i said yeah, i mean that's water, the water is falling There.
It goes.
See your comments about water and rock.
Maybe you're not a guy for natural resources.
I love nature.
That's the thing.
It's just, I don't know.
I feel like if I've seen it on television or something, then maybe that's enough for me.
But, you know, it's not to say I don't have fun when I go to these types of places.
The other thing is usually they're really crowded.
Yes.
And that can take away from the experience.
And this is a little tip for especially foreign visitors.
When you think about crowded, multiply that by 10.
Yeah.
If you're in China.
Yeah.
At least.
That's pretty true.
Yes.
So in Chinese, we have the expression 人山人海.
人山人海.
人山人海.
Perfect.
So 人 is person or people.
山 is mountain.
Okay.
Hai is sea or ocean.
So people, mountain, people, sea.
People everywhere.
People everywhere.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, here's a question for you.
Culturally speaking, because when people say to me oh Steve, you're from Canada, you must love cold weather.
I say, no, I don't.
No, I don't.
Just because I'm from there doesn't, you know, one plus one doesn't equal two in that case.
I'm bothered by crowds, like large crowds.
I don't enjoy them, but I've been in them before.
But that's my culture question.
For Chinese people during these travel holidays.
We hate crowds because we are in crowds all the time.
Okay.
See, that's.
Then why does everybody go?
Well no, I guess I was going to ask.
Then why does everybody go to these big tourist destinations during the holiday?
And I guess the answer is.
That's the only time people can have time to go to those places.
Well, you have your annual holidays for sure.
You have, I mean, annual leaves.
You can use those time as well.
But my next point is, of course we do not like when it's very crowded, but our tolerant level of crowdness is also higher.
Yeah, right.
So my tolerance for cold is higher.
See, it's the same thing.
We don't necessarily like it, but we can deal with it.
Yeah.
At the same time, we also at least me personally when I'm in a place where there's absolutely no person for a really long time or long distance, it's a bit weird for me as well, if it's too long.
You're so accustomed to crowds that you feel a little uncomfortable if there isn't a crowd.
It's like when you're like okay, I'm going to go check out this restaurant, and then you walk and you look in and there's no customers in there.
It must be bad.
Right.
That's not necessarily fair.
No.
But see, I'm accustomed to many people and also people are quite nice.
And in different places, you would have different feelings.
For example, in Beijing.
It's such an international city and people are busy minding their own business all the time, which means they're not busy that enthusiastic in talking to strangers.
But in other cities, for example Shenyang or Heilongjiang, these places in the northeastern part of the country, these provinces, people are very outgoing, in the sense that if you dare to ask a stranger, how's the food in their hand?
How does it taste?
They'll give you something.
Yeah, they might give you some.
And also, if you're eating in a restaurant and you talk about a dish you think it looks good, you're thinking about ordering it in a neighboring table.
They might give you advice of whether or not it's good, or they might even invite you to have a taste before you order.
So people are different in different places.
And different cities and different provinces in China are very much fun in their own ways.
They have a lot to offer. which leads me to revealing the most popular destinations for foreigners.
I've been waiting.
Yes.
Okay.
So number five, you're right.
Chengdu.
Chengdu is on the list.
Yes.
That's number five.
Yes.
Okay.
And like you said, pandas, 大熊猫 大熊猫 大熊猫 is panda.
And the popular activity in Chengdu is definitely seeing giant pandas at the Chengdu research base of giant panda breeding.
And you know, one thing people really love to see is to see the baby pandas, the tiny little cub.
It's my bucket list.
So have you been before, Chengdu?
Yes, yes, yes.
Is there only one panda place or are there multiple places that you can go?
You go to the major one because that one houses 260 pandas.
Wow.
And you go see different ones.
Previously, when I was there over five years ago.
At that time, pandas have their names, but people are not as familiar with their pandanality as today.
What's that?
No, it's just personality.
Different pandas.
They have their own habit of living.
And now the pandas have fans, in the sense that they follow their daily lives and they know about their characters, the way they behave, whether or not they're outgoing, what are their favorite foods?
The panda enthusiasm.
Do pandas, do they really have like really distinct personalities?
Oh, it can be.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
You know, cats are different.
Dogs are different.
Pandas are different.
Yeah.
I mean, it makes sense.
It's just I know nothing about pandas.
Definitely on my list of places is actually on my bucket list.
In China, there's two bucket list items that I have.
One is Shanghai and one is to see the pandas in Chengdu, and i was going to ask you you know, for a major holiday, where everybody is everywhere in the mountain, in the sea is chongdu also a place that is just so crowded?
Everybody wants to go see the pandas during the holiday, do you think?
Yeah yeah yeah, still worth it.
Yeah, it was very crowded when i was there, but i get had a glimpse of the tiny kind of like a mouse or rat, pink and barely opening their eyes.
That's so cute.
Yeah, little giant pandas.
Even if there are a lot of people, you can still enjoy the experience.
Yes yes, it's worth it.
Okay good yeah, number four.
Number four on the list beijing, the capital city, of course, so i've got two on the list.
Yeah, you are actually, you're better already than that.
Okay, number three guangzhou.
Do you know about guangzhou?
I know guangzhou is a big tech place though, right?
Yes, it is a big tech place and I understand for foreign visitors, it's a good destination because it's also quite, very international.
But for local domestic viewers, especially someone like me who's a parent of a young kid, The Changlong Tourist Resort is a good one, because it consists of one theme park, one circus venue, two zoological parks, one water park and hotels.
You go there, your kid would have a good time, you would have a good time.
One-stop shopping.
Yes, it's a family-friendly location.
Sounds great.
Number two, Shenzhen.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, there it is.
Next door.
Yes, yes.
So Shenzhen is at the forefront of technological advancements as well.
The city boasts modern infrastructure, sufficient public transportation, and I have been there.
I really like Shenzhen.
It's very clean.
I mean, I don't think being very clean is something I mention too much for a city, but the city, the streets, The air, the atmosphere is just clean and tidy to the point that I have to mention it.
No, I totally understand what you mean.
And I think it's one of the great things when people talk about a city's cleanliness, because it just means that the streets are taken care of very well.
That's one thing about Beijing that's really impressive, too.
Every single night...
You hear the big water trucks out on the street kind of watering down the streets to make sure they don't get dusty or anything like that.
It's just one of the added little touches.
I'm guessing maybe they do that there too.
Guangzhou and Shenzhen, not that far away from each other, right?
Really close from each other.
And I think another perk is that if you want a more comprehensive travel experience, you can also go Guangzhou and Shenzhen and Zhuhai and Hong Kong and Macau.
Yeah.
All of these places are not far away from each other.
It's the greater Bay Area.
And in the area, it's easy to travel.
It's also quite convenient.
It's just a good, smart way to plan your trip.
How would you do that trip?
Like end with Macau or end with Guangzhou?
Anything you want.
It doesn't really matter.
Because they're really not that far from each other?
They're not far from each other.
Cool.
Yeah, that sounds like a good experience.
Yes.
And the number one.
It's got to be Shanghai.
It is Shanghai.
Yeah, it has to be.
That's the place that everybody kind of you know.
It's this cosmopolitan.
Even people who have never been to China know that.
It's this cosmopolitan international city with incredible views, incredible food and it's just got a really, really well-known reputation around the world.
Yes.
And though we have the list, and I think all of the cities on the list are definitely worth your while, I still think there are A lot more.
Like you said, Xinjiang is a good place to travel.
And when I was on a business trip in Xinjiang, I saw a lot of foreigners.
I talked to them.
All of them enjoy their trip very much.
And also Chongqing is a good one.
It's a very vertical city in the sense that it's very hilly.
So no matter if you're outdoor or indoor, you have to go up and down, up and down a lot.
And you enter from the first floor and ended up in the seventh floor.
Before you know it, it's like a maze in a fun way.
That's cool.
And there's also Changsha.
I like Changsha.
It's very, very spicy.
And also Guizhou, all these places would be good destinations.
Sounds cool.
And also, if you do come to Beijing, make sure that you do Beijing Tianjin together, right?
Because they're super close, but they are so very, very different from each other.
You wouldn't guess that it's a 25-minute train ride from Beijing.
It just has this...
I don't know, you feel like you're dropped into Europe or something somehow, subway.
It's really cool over there.
Yeah, so if you finish listening to this episode of Takeaway Chinese, leave us a comment.
Let us know what are some places in China you have visited, what are also on your list of your next tourist plan, and let us know what are you most looking forward to.
That sounds great.
And from that, I can get some tips from those messages too.
Oh, yes, yes.
And that brings us to the end of today's Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Niu Honglin with Steve Hatherly.
For more episodes of the show, you can visit our website at radiocgtncom and go to the column podcast.
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Lovely.
感谢收听,我们下次再见。 Thanks so much.
See you next time.
