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M: Hello English learners! Welcome to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.

E: And I’m Erica.

M: And today we have a very special guest in our studio – Daini.

D: Hi everyone, I’m Daini.

M: Daini is part of our EnglishPod team and today she’s gonna help us with this Chinese

New Year’s lesson. It’s an intermediate lesson, but it has a lot of cultural aspects about

Chinese New Year. So, that’s what Daini’s gonna help us out with today.

E: Yes, today we’re going to learn a little bit about Chinese New Year in English. And we’re

also going to learn some language for describing things that we’re exited about.

D: Okay, yeah! I’m exited to hear this show.

M: Okay, so, let’s listen to the dialogue now and then when we come back, we’ll explain

everything.

DIALOGUE, FIRST TIME

M: Okay, so, Chinese New Year; a lot of exiting vocabulary here.

E: Uhu.

D: Right.

M: Before we get into describing it, let’s look at the vocabulary that we saw… in “language

takeaway”.

Voice: Language takeaway.

M: The first word on language takeaway – dumplings.

E: Dumplings.

M: Dumplings.

E: Dumplings.

D: Well, in Chinese we call it Shuijiao…

E: Uhu.

D: Um, and it’s a very traditional Chinese food. And it’s getting very famous now.

E: Yes, so, it’s basically small pieces of dough with…

D: Uhu.

E: Maybe some meat or some vegetables inside.

M: And then they are boiled.

E: Usually in a soup.

M: In a soup.

E: Uhu.

M: But you can also have fried dumplings.

E: Yeah-yeah, that’s right.

M: Which are really good.

E: Yeah.

D: Yeah.

E: So, if you know Italian food, they’re really similar to a tortellini.

M: Uh, exactly.

E: Uhu.

D: Ah.

M: Or in Latin America it’s very similar to maybe an empanada.

E: Alright.

M: It’s like a small, little empanada.

E: Okay. Marco, what’s our next word?

M: Alright, our next word – firecrackers.

E: Firecrackers.

M: Firecrackers.

E: Firecrackers.

M: This is a firecracker.

Sound of a firecracker.

D: Firecrackers are so common in China. We use it all the time in all occasions.

E: Yep.

D: And especially on the New Year’s Eve, um…

E: Uhu.

D: Traditionally people use it to scare off the… evil…

M: Evil spirits.

D: The evil spirits.

M: So, they…

E: Yeah.

M: Oh-okay.

D: Yeah.

E: So, on Chinese New Year, there are millions of firecrackers.

M: Millions of firecrackers.

E: Yeah.

D: Uhu.

M: Now, there’re also a lot of fireworks.

E: Fireworks.

M: Fireworks.

E: Fireworks.

M: So, fireworks are similar to firecrackers.

E: But they have lots of light.

M: Light.

E: Yeah.

M: They… they go up in the air and explode and you see lots of nice colors.

E: Beautiful colors.

M: Yeah.

E: Yeah.

M: Very popular in Fourth of July in the United States.

E: Or New Year’s Eve.

M: New Year’s Eve.

E: Uhu.

D: Uhu.

M: Fireworks. Okay, now let’s look at our last word.

D: Set off.

M: Set off.

E: Set off.

M: Set off.

E: Set off.

M: So, this is the verb you would use with firecrackers.

E: Yeah, it means like explode the firecracker.

M: Right, set off the firecracker.

E: Set off the bomb.

M: Set off fireworks.

E: Well, let’s listen to our dialogue a second time and this time it’ll be a little bit slower, so

that you can understand the language a bit better.

DIALOGUE, SECOND TIME (slow)

M: Okay, so, we saw some really great phrases of describing excitement.

E: Uhu.

M: Right? So, let’s start with “fluency builder”.

Voice: Fluency builder.

E: We have four phrases for you today. And the first one is I’m so excited about.

M: I’m so excited about.

E: I’m so excited about.

M: So, when you say “I’m so excited”, it means that you are…

E: Like really happy…

M: That something is gonna happing.

E: Yeah, so happy you can’t relax.

M: Hehe. Right, so, you could say “I’m so excited about our vacation next month”.

E: I’m so excited about opening all my presents.

M: Exactly, so, excited. Now, we also saw another really great word, very similar to I’m so

exited.

E: Yeah. 

M: I’m really looking forward to.

E: I’m really looking forward to.

M: I’m really looking forward to.

E: I’m really looking forward to.

M: So, this is a little bit less than excited, right?

E: A bit less strong.

M: Right.

E: Yeah.

M: So, you would say “oh, I’m really looking forward to meeting your new girlfriend”.

E: Or you can say “I’m really looking forward to seeing that movie”.

M: Exactly.

E: Uhu.

M: So, it means you’re a little bit excited, but not SO excited.

E: Yeah, you’re happy about something that’s going to happen in the future.

M: Now, let’s look at our next phrase and it’s very similar to excited – I can’t wait.

E: I can’t wait.

M: I can’t wait.

E: I can’t wait.

M: So, this is very, very similar to I’m so exited.

E: Yes, when you’re so exited for something, you can’t wait for it.

M: Right, let’s listen to some more examples of I can’t wait.

Voice: Example one.

A: I’m so excited I can’t wait to see you.

Voice: Example two.

B: Hm, smells delicious, I can’t wait for dinner.

Voice: Example three.

C: I can’t wait to open my presents.

M: So, we can use it again the same way: I can’t wait to go on vacation next month.

E: I can’t wait to open all my presents.

M: Exactly. Now, our last phrase – I bet.

E: I bet.

M: I bet.

E: I bet. B-E-T. Bet.

M: Bet. So, when you say I bet it means that you’re pretty sure about something.

E: Uhu. You predict it will happen.

M: Right, so, let’s listen to some more examples of I bet.

Voice: Example one.

A: I bet I’m going to get so much money for Chinese New Year.

Voice: Example two.

B: Robert’s late, where do you think he is?

C: I bet he’s stuck in traffic.

Voice: Example three.

D: I bet the boss is gonna give us a big bonus this year.

E: Well, I guess we’re ready to listen to our dialogue for the third time and then when we

come back, Daini’s gonna tell us all about Chinese New Year.

DIALOGUE, THIRD TIME

M: So, Daini, what are these red packets of money about?

D: So, in Chinese we call it Hong Bao…

E: Yeah.

D: And it’s basically a bag full of money.

E: Wow!

M: Why do you get money?

D: As a gift.

M: As a gift.

D: Yeah.

M: Wow. The children get it, though?

D: Only children get it.

M: Wow.

D: Or if you’re a university student and you haven’t got a job yet, then you can still ask for

Hong Bao from your parents.

M: Really?

D: Or your relatives.

E: So, is there some meaning to this gift of money?

D: Well, it is believed that children have to put these red envelopes under their pillow…

E: Yep. 

D: On New Year’s Eve.

M: Yep.

D: To scare away the evil spirits.

M: Okay.

E: Again like the firecrackers.

M: Again evil spirits… a lot of evil spirits in China.

D: Hehe.

M: Hehe.

E: So, Daini, how much money would a kid get for Chinese New Year?

D: Well, when I was little…

E: Yeah.

D: The best year I got was three thousand RMB.

E: Which is like… almost…

M: Five hundred dollars.

E: Wow.

D: Yeah.

M: Almost five hundred.

D: Yeah, I was so rich at that time.

M: Wow, amazing.

D: Aha.

M: What about this game Mahjong?

D: Mahjong?

M: Mahjong.

D: Have you played that?

M: No.

D: No, um, at the end again it’s a very traditional Chinese game and…

E: Uhu.

D: Uh, you will see senior people s… always gathering along the table…

E: So, old people.

D: Old people.

E: Yeah.

M: So, it’s like a board game, kind of like chess?

D: It’s kind of like chess, but they have like special… specially made chess.

M: Oh.

D: It’s very different.

M: Okay.

E: So, I wanna know more about these, uh, the fireworks and firecrackers on Chinese New

Year.

D: Okay, usually we buy firecrackers.

E: Yep.

D: I believe firework… fireworks are more expensive.

E: Uhu.

M: Uhu.

D: So, we play firecrackers Bao Jung, uh, and then usually we do it, uh, right after the

midnight.

E: Uhu.

M: Uhu.

D: So, twelve o’clock.

E: Yep.

D: This’s very loud and…

E: Yeah.

D: Um, say for example, I personally don’t even dare to stay close when they set off the

firecrackers, because…

E: Yeah.

D: It’s just way too loud.

E: Yeah.

M: Hehe. It’s… and everyone starts to light them… 

E: Yeah.

M: So, it’s like…

E: No, it’s amazing.

M: The city…

E: I… um, I’ve… I’ve seen Chinese New Year three times in China…

D: Uhu.

E: And each time I’ve just been amazed like… it’s so, so cool and so noisy and so awesome.

I mean, you’ve got to visit China to see this.

M: Yeah, yeah, it’s a really cool festival.

E: Yeah.

M: And definitely playing with firecrackers is always fun, so…

D: Yeah.

E: Maybe a little bit dangerous.

M: Yeah.

E: Well ,everyone, uh, we’ve just learned about how New Year’s is celebrated in China. And

we wanna know how do you celebrate New Year’s in your country?

M: Exactly, how do you welcome the New Year? How do you scare away evil spirits?

E: Yeah.

M: Right?

E: Yeah. So, come to our website at englihpod.com and leave us your comments.

M: That’s right, Daini, Erica and I will be there to answer all you questions. So, be sure to

send us some comments.

E: Well, everyone, thanks for listening and until next time… Good bye!

M: Bye!

D: Bye!