Unit 2: 你叫什么名字? (Nǐ jiào shén me míng zi?)

UNIT 2 VOCABULARY 

English	Pīnyīn	Characters
call, is called	jiào	叫
what	shén me	什么
name	míng zi	名字
What is your name?	nǐ jiào shén me míng zi?	你叫什么名字?
I am called	wǒ jiào	我叫
Chinese	zhōng wén	中文
he, him	tā	他
she, her	tā	她
[a family name]	wáng	王
[a given name]	xiǎo wén	小文
[a family name]	lǐ	李
[a given name]	dà zhōng	大中
[a family name]	bái	白
[a given name]	dà wèi	大卫
[a given name]	mǎ lì	玛丽

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lswh-emlgLg

This is a link to a video in which a native speaker and a speaker who has learned Chinese as a second language explain different ways of asking someone for their name. They both speak very slowly, and you can hear the correct tones easily. Their youtube channel has many other videos that are only about a minute and a half long but are very helpful!

UNIT 2 SENTENCES

• What is your name?   à   你叫什么名字?

• What is his name?      à   他叫什么名字?

• What is her name?      à   她叫什么名字?

• What is their name?    à   他们叫什么名字?

• His name is . . .    à   他叫 . . .

• Her name is . . .    à   她叫 . . .

• Their name is . . . à   他们叫 . . .

UNIT 2 GRAMMAR (just a little bit!)

When referring to more than one person, unless there are girls only, the male tā character (他) should be used before men (们) to indicate a group of people. 

UNIT 2 CULTURE

This week we learned about food in China. The Chinese, especially those in the older generations, value food as a major element of their culture. However, with the introduction of the fast food industry in China, some people are worried that the younger generation will not carry on this tradition. Many people in urban China are able to eat whatever their heart desires, while those in rural areas are not so fortunate. Farmers are continuously pushed off of their land for the development of new buildings, so they are often confined to a diet that consists mainly of noodles because they hardly have any crops to harvest. Their situation is worsened by long periods without rain, during which the sun kills all of the crops. China as a country has to feed 20 percent of the world's population with only 7 percent of the world's arable land! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4OZDSIplFE

Above is the link to an awesome video that a man visiting China made of all the different street food he ate! It even shows the vendors preparing the food, which is a fascinating process to watch. From a quick look at his channel, it is easy to see that he is very enthusiastic about food. He has many more videos about yummy things from all over China!