maxiewawa

In today’s Chinese commentary, I meet several people who try to recommend prostitutes, notice several beggars, am almost run over, and interview someone about a huge line of people waiting for something.

It’s here. Or if you can’t see the link, here it is in longhand: http://media.libsyn.com/media/maxiewawa/Commentary_2.MP3

Language warning, I say the ‘f’ word in this one! Someone almost runs me over, so my natural reaction includes the word ‘f***’.

The most interesting part is probably at around 7 minutes. Someone tries to sell me something, and I try to draw her into a conversation about all the people lining up. Here’s the transcript:

Buy shopping.
Shopping 不要。You want something? 你要买什么？
我不要。我卖东西，你要买什么？
哦，你卖的！(Max pretends to not speak Chinese very well.) 我是记者。哦，你是上海人？
我不是上海人。你们来拍他们买月饼，对吧？
我不是，就是想走路，看到那么多人排队，排什么？买月饼？
买月饼，对。
你是上海的记者，对吧。
不是。澳大利亚。
澳大利亚记者。
他们。。。为什么那么多人想买月饼？
因为今天是中秋节。
今天啊？
不是，快到了呀，(???)就是gift差不多。
Gift. 你也会。。。
(???)就是说，有时候喜欢吃，有时候就是送人。
就是一种传统。
对。(???)好多人每天(???)
每天？不是一年一次？
对，一年一次但是到八月份这一段时间就是半个月之内。。。八月份这个时间，每天就是这样。大概从十点种(???)
谢谢你。听众也谢谢你。

Buy shopping?
I don’t want “shopping”. You want something? (repeated in Chinese)
I don’t want anything. I’m selling things, what do you want to buy?
Oh! You’re selling! (Pretends that it was all a misunderstanding; actually I was just trying to draw her into conversation) I’m a reporter. You’re from Shanghai?
I’m not from Shanghai. So you’re here to photograph people buying mooncakes, right?
I’m not, I’m just going for a walk, saw so many people lining up… why are they lining up? To buy mooncakes?
Buying mooncakes, that’s right.
You’re a Shanghai reporter, right?
I’m not. Australia.
An Australian reporter.
They… why do so many people want to buy mooncakes?
Because today’s Mid-Autumn Festival.
Today?
Not today, it’s almost here. (???) They’re kinda like gifts. <—she said ‘gift’ in English.
“Gift”. You can also…
It’s like, some like to eat them, some give them away…
It’s a kind of tradition.
Yes. (???) lots of people every day(???)
Every day? Isn’t it once a year?
Yes, it’s once a year, but in August, in the space of half a month… at this time of August, it’s like this every day. From about 10 in the morning (???).
Thank you. The listeners thank you too.

I hope that learners get something out of this short conversation. Although not everything is grammatically correct, and neither of us talk in a very standard accent, I hope you can hear a normal, everyday conversation, instead of the hermetically sealed material that one usually gets when learning a language.