When you are too tired to wait for a table during meal time, and you want to ask if you can share the table with others, you may say’不好意思，可以拼桌吗？(bù hǎo yì si , kě yǐ pīn zhuō ma?)-Excuse me, would you mind sharing the table?’ ‘拼’ means ‘put together’, so several people using one table actually indicates putting these people together. 

Crystal Gao's Chinese Language Journey

7、不好意思，可以拼桌吗？- Excuse me, would you mind sharing this table?

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. 

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?

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, 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.