Speak Authentic Chinese – On the bus
Posted By Carl ~ 28th February 2011
Photo by richbeechina
Do you want to speak great Chinese? Do you want to sound like a native? So do we. Its a goal we have been working towards for many years now and as you already know its a long road.
The picture that most Chinese learning books paint is often in stark contrast to the reality. As with many languages, what you think you are going to hear and what you actually hear are very different. People clip sounds, use colloquial expressions, speak quickly, have accents etc all of which make it very difficult to understand. After learning Chinese in the UK for a good number of years I came over to China and thought I’d be okay. I still remember the shock I felt when at first I could barely understand anything!
The attached recordings illustrate what you might learn in a book or on a CD and then what you actually hear in the real world. They are taken from the buses in Beijing, a real life setting, the kind of thing you hear everyday. Despite each bus having a perfectly clear automated voice announcing the next stop, the conductor still insists on calling out the next stop as well. What she says isn’t exactly the same but very similar; you wouldn’t believe it but she actually says more than the automated voice!
Below are transcriptions of the two recordings but before you look at them have a listen and see if you can understand. Don’t be alarmed if you can’t, it took me many times. And I promise you I haven’t sped the ‘Staff Voice’ recording up.
Any comments or corrections are welcome.
Click here for the automated voice recording: BJ Bus – Automated Voice
Automated Voice Transcription: 各位乘客，立水桥到了，请您从前后门下车，下车请刷卡。
Rough Translation: We are arriving at Lishuiqiao, please alight from the forward and rear doors, when you alight please swipe your card.
Click here for the staff voice recording: BJ Bus – Staff Voice
Staff Voice Transcription: 各位乘客，立水桥到了，快，倒地铁五号线的乘客请后门儿刷卡下车，谢谢您合作。
Rough Translation: We are arriving at Lishuiqiao, soon, passengers for subway line 5 please alight at the the rear door, thank you for your cooperation.
Thanks for these transcriptions. I was in Bejing June 2009, but back then my Chinese wasn’t that good. I kept wondering what the automated voices were saying, only picking up a few words. Are the subway announcements different? I remember them being very similar to this.
Your welcome! The subway automated announcements are very similar, although obviously on the subway there isn’t a conductor shouting out the stop names as well. Hopefully in the future we can do a subway announcement recording and transcription as well.