“Duì bu qǐ” a music video
This video has 2 parts: an amusing scene between a Chinese dumpling vendor and a foreigner, and then an excellent music video that could have easily been inspired by the scene. One of the comments on the youtube site said, “this should be the national anthem of Mandarin learners.”
The translated dialog below is from the first scene. It’s an example of why we need to pay attention to tones. The joke hinges on the fact that “dumplings” and “sleep” have the same pronunciation, but different tones. So the vendor is totally confused.
Here is the audio (only) from the first scene.
| Pinyin | English | Chinese | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hello, měiguó rén, měiguó rén, nǐ hǎo. | Hello, American, American, Hi! | 美国人，美国人，你好 | |
| Nǐ hǎo, wǒ chī yīngguó rén. | Hi, I eat English people. | 你好，我吃英国人。 | |
| Ó, nǐ yīngguó rén a, bù hǎoyìsi, bù hǎoyìsi, wǒmen měiguó chūlái. | Oh, you are English eh? Sorry, sorry, we are from America. | 哦，你英国人啊，不好意思，不好意思， 我们美国出来。 | |
| Wǒ yào shuìjiào. | I want to sleep. | 我要睡觉。 | |
| Nǐ hěn lèi ma? Nǐ yào shuìjiào. | Are you tired? You should sleep. | 你很累吗？你要睡觉。 | |
| Bù lèi, bù lèi, wǒ yào qù shuìjiào. | No, No. I want to go to bed. | 不累，不累，我要去睡觉。 | |
| Nǐ yào qù shuìjiào ā? Wǒmen zhè biān jiù kāi shuǐjiǎo de nèi. | You want to go to bed eh? We only make dumplings here. | 你要去睡觉阿？我们这边就开水饺的内 | |
| Ó, duìbùqǐ wǒ de zhōngwén bù hǎo. | Oh, sorry, my Chinese is bad. | 哦，对不起我的中文不好。 | |
| Zhōngwén bù hǎo? Gāo xiàohuà a? | Chinese is bad? … its a big joke? | 中文不好。好高笑话啊？ | |
| Xièxie | Thank you | 谢谢 |
| Pinyin | English | Chinese | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 高笑话 | gāo xiào huà | big joke | |
| 英国人 | Yīng guó rén | British person | |
| 饺子 | jiǎozi | dumplings | |
| 不好意思 | bù hǎo yì si | to be sorry | |
| 这边 | zhè biān | here | |
| 谢谢 | xiè xie | thanks | |
| 你好 | nǐ hǎo | hello | |
| 美国人 | Měi guó rén | American | |
| 对不起 | duì bu qǐ | excuse me | |
| 开水 | kāi shuǐ | boiled water/boiling water | |
| 哦 | ó | oh | |
| 睡觉 | shuì jiào | to go to bed | |
| 中文 | Zhōng wén | Chinese language | |
| 累 | lèi | to be tired | |
| 不好 | bù hǎo | no good | |
| 啊 | ā | Eh? | |
| 出来 | chū lái | to come out |
And here’s the lyrics in pinyin, in case you want to sing along …
Duìbùqǐ, wǒ de zhōngwén bù hǎo.
Duìbùqǐ, duìbùqǐ,wǒ bù zhīdào nǐ shuō shénme
Duìbùqǐ, duìbùqǐ,wǒ zhǐ xiǎng gēn nǐ dāng péngyǒu …
Nǐ hǎo ma? Nǐ de yīngwén hǎohǎo tīng
Nǐ shì měiguó rén ma?
Bìng bùshì měiguó rén wǒ shì yī wèi yīngguó shēnshì
Rúguǒ nǐ zhuānxīn tí nǐ huì liǎojiě wǒ!
Duìbùqǐ, wǒ de zhōngwén bù hǎo.
Duìbùqǐ, duìbùqǐ, wǒ bù zhīdào nǐ shuō shénme
duìbùqǐ, duìbùqǐ, wǒ zhǐ xiǎng gēn nǐ dāng péngyǒu
Huānyíng huānyíng! Lǐ miàn zuò xiānshēng nǐ yào chī shénme?
Wǒ yào shuìjiào! Nǐ hěn lèi shì bùshì?
Wǒ bù lèi wǒ dùzi hěn è.
Wǒ xiǎng yào chī shuǐjiǎo, qǐng nǐ kuàixùn zuò!
Duìbùqǐ, wǒ de zhōngwén bù hǎo.
Duìbùqǐ, duìbùqǐ, wǒ bù zhīdào nǐ shuō shénme
duìbùqǐ, duìbùqǐ, wǒ zhǐ xiǎng gēn nǐ dāng péngyǒu …
Méiguānxì wǒ de zhōngwén jìnbùle!
Méiguānxì méiguānxì wǒ hái yào guò nǐ dāng péngyǒu
méiguānxì wǒ de zhōngwén jìnbùle!
Méiguānxì méiguānxì wǒ hái yàoguò nǐ dāng péngyǒu
