Note: The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create those below where after each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com Emergency Chinese newsletter with a good offline study program.

NEW WORDS:

Buying Airline Tickets mai (3) ji (1) piao (4)

1) Domestic: guo(2) nei(4)

2) Economy class: jing(1) ji(4) cang(1)

3) International: guo(2) ji(4)

4) I want to buy: wo(3) xiang(3) mai(3)

5) Ticket: piao(4)

LESSON:

• I want to buy a ticket.
  wo(3) xiang(3) mai(3) zhang(1) piao(4).

• What kind of ticket?
  shen(3) me yang(4) de piao(4)?

• An economy class ticket.
  yi(1) zhang(1) jing(1) ji(4) hang(1) de piao(4).

• Where can I pick up my ticket?
  wo(3) zai(4) na(3) ke(2) yi(3) na(2) dao(4) piao(4)?

The Taxi Connection: (As we use most of our minimal Chinese with Taxi drivers, each lesson will show how to use some of the new words in the Taxi environment.)

Example:

• Driver: Domestic or international terminal?
  si(1) ji(1): guo(2) nei(4) hai(2) shi(4) guo(2) ji(4) jin(4) gang(3)?

• You: Domestic, please.
  ni(3): guo(2) nei(4).

*Hint: To practice these new Chinese words, call one of the many airlines advertised on the useful Xianzai Newsletter.