The other day, when I had class with my foreign student, we talked about the image of that city in your mind if we looked at a city as a person. We had a fascinating conversation. And I sincerely want to invite you to join our discussion. 

Where do you live? What kind of people do you think that city feels like? Do you want to share with us? Please leave your message in the comments /under this article, to let more people see your opinion.

Crystal Gao's Chinese Language Journey

6、I ‘ve lived in Guangzhou for 5 years.=我在广州生活了5年了

前两天，和学生上课时，讨论起来如果城市是一个人，那么你对这个人的印象是什么样的。聊得非常开心，希望大家和我们一起讨论。
The other day, when I had class with my student, we talked about if we consider a city as a person, what would be the image of your city? We had a very interesting conversation. And I sincerely invite you to join our discussion. 

她说广州像一个小商贩，每天起早贪黑忙忙碌碌。但是他的生意总是做不了很大，一直是马马虎虎的样子。
She said Guangzhou is like a small trader. Working from dawn to dusk, hustling and bustling. But his business is always a small business, hard to expand. 
 
而一海之隔的香港却是个非常成功的生意人，西装革履，派头十足。值得广州好好学习。
Otherwise, Hong Kong which is in the Ocean apart is a very successful businessman. Wear fancy suits, and be very flamboyant. It’s a very good example for Guangzhou.

6. 我在广州生活了5年了／I ‘ve lived in Guangzhou for 5 years. 

首先，我们要学几个常用的词。左拐，右拐，调头，直走，过路口，停车。
First, let’s learn several words you will use.

Turn left – 左拐（zuǒ guǎi）,
Turn right – 右拐(yòu guǎi )，
U turn – 调头  (diào tóu)，
Go straight – 直走（zhí zǒu）, 
Cross the road – 过马路（guò mǎ lù）,
Stop the car - 停车（tíng chē）。

那么现在，标题的句子对你来说就已经不是很难了。“左拐，前面停车（zuǒ guǎi，qián miantíng chē）”“左拐”的意思是“Turn left”，“左”- Left，“拐”-to turn. “前面”的意思是“front”.”停车”的“停”-stop，车 – car. 所以合在一起，就是“左拐，前面停车（zuǒ guǎi，qián miantíng chē）”
And now, I think the sentence in the title is not too difficult for you. “左拐，前面停车（zuǒ guǎi，qián mian tíng chē）”- Turn left, then stop in the front.“左拐” means “Turn left”， “左” is Left， “拐” means to turn. “前面” means“front”.”停车”’s“停” is stop，车 means car. So put them together and it should be“左拐，前面停车（zuǒ guǎi，qián miantíng chē）”

4. 左拐，前面停车／Turn left, then stop in the front. 

The other day, I had dinner with a foreign friend, he called the waiter to clean up the table, and he said ‘这些不要了（we don’t need these）’.It’s OK, and we also have the corresponding Chinese saying like English.

I often say ’不好意思，麻烦收拾一下（bù hǎo yì si, má fan shōu shi yí xia）-Excuse me, could you please clean up here?’


5. 不好意思，麻烦收拾一下/ Excuse me, could you please clean up here?

In Chinese, there are a lot of ways to say washroom. Like ‘洗手间、厕所、卫生间’and so on. The ones Crystal often used are ‘洗手间’and ’卫生间’.‘洗手间(xi3 shou3 jian1)’ is like washroom in English, literally meaning ‘the room to wash hands’.’卫生间(wei4 sheng1 jian1)’’s literal meaning is hygiene room. The usage of these two is almost equally as frequent. The other one is ‘厕所(ce4 suo3)’, like the toilet in English. But I don't use it so often, to girls it's coarse.

OK, let's learn this Chinese together! ‘Excuse me, Where's the washroom?’-“请问，洗手间在哪儿？”’请问(qǐng wèn)’ is often used when you ask questions to others—for example,  asking for directions, asking the time. It's like Excuse me in English. “洗手间(xǐ shǒu jiān)”means toilet, “洗手间”. In“在哪儿(zài nǎr)”, “在” means ‘at’, “哪儿“means where “在哪儿” is “where is”。 So, “Excuse me, where is washroom” in Chinese is ”请问，洗手间在哪儿(qǐng wèn, xǐ shǒu jiān zài nǎr?)