Chinese For Dummies (74 page)

diànhuà huàile
电话坏了
(
電話壞了
) (dyan-hwah hwye-luh) (
the phone is broken
)

méiyǒu bōhàoyīn
没有拨号音
(
沒有撥號音
)
(mayo baw-how-yeen) (
no dial tone
)

nǐ bōcuò hàomǎ le
你拨错号码了
(
你駁錯號碼了
)
(nee baw-tswaw how-mah luh) (
you dialed the wrong number
)

záyīn
杂音
(
雜音
) (dzah-yeen) (
static
)

zhànxiàn
占线
(
佔線
) (jahn-shyan) (
the line is busy
)

If you finally do get through to an employee's office only to discover the person isn't there, you can always leave a
yǒu shēng yóujiàn
有声邮件
(
有聲郵件
) (yo shung yo-jyan) (
voicemail
). Flip to the later section “
Sorry, I'm Not Home Right Now . . .
” for the ins and outs of leaving and receiving messages.

Phoning a client

If you want to reach your
kèhù
客户
(kuh-hoo) (
client
) or your
shēng yì huǒ bàn
生意伙伴
(
生意夥伴
)
(shuhng yee hwaw ban) (
business partner
) in today's business world, you just have to pick up that phone. Personally connecting with a phone call is a good way to maintain good business relationships. It's the next best thing to being there.

Sometimes you need a little help from the
mìshū
秘书
(
秘書
)
(mee-shoo) (
secretary
) to connect to the person you want to reach.

Talkin' the Talk

Jacob enlists the help of Liú Xiǎojiě (Miss Liu), his trusty secretary in Taipei, to help him make a call.

Jacob:

Liú Xiǎojiě, zěnme jiē wàixiàn?

lyo shyaow-jyeh, dzummuh jyeh why-shyan?

Miss Liu, how can I get an outside line?

Liú Xiǎojiě:

Méi wèntí. Wǒ bāng nǐ dǎ zhèige hàomǎ.

may one-tee. waw bahng nee dah jay-guh how-mah.

Don't worry. I'll help you dial the number.

Jacob:

Xièxiè.

shyeh-shyeh.

Thanks.

Miss Liu gets through and speaks to Mr. Wang's secretary.

Liú Xiǎojiě:

Wéi? Zhè shì Wáng Xiānshēng de bàngōngshì ma?

way? jay shir wahng shyan-shung duh bahn-goong-shir ma?

Hello? Do I have the office of Mr. Wang?

Secretary:

Duì le. Jiù shì.

dway luh. jyo shir.

Yes it is.

Liú Xiǎojiě:

Kéyǐ gěi wǒ jiē tā ma?

kuh-yee gay waw jyeh tah mah?

Can you connect me with him please?

Secretary:

Duìbùqǐ, tā xiànzài kāihuì. Nǐ yào liúyán ma?

dway-boo-chee, tah shyan-dzye kye-hway. nee yaow lyo-yan mah?

I'm sorry, he's in a meeting at the moment. Would you like to leave a message?

Liú Xiǎojiě:

Máfan nǐ gàosù tā ABC gōngsī de jīnglǐ Jacob Smith gěi ta dǎ diànhuà le?

mah-fahn nee gaow-soo tah ABC goong-suh duh jeeng-lee Jacob Smith gay tah dah dyan-hwah lah?

May I trouble you to tell him that Jacob Smith, the Manager of ABC Company, called him?

Sorry, I'm Not Home Right Now . . .

Because people lead such busy lives, you often can't get a hold of them directly when you try to
gěi tāmen
dǎ diànhuà
给他们打电话
(
給他們打電話
)
(gay tah-mun dah dyan-hwah) (
give them a call
). You have no choice but to
liúhuà
留话
(
留話
)
(lyo-hwah) (
leave a message
) on the
lùyīn diànhuà
录音电话
(
錄音電話
)
(loo-yeen dyan-hwah) (
answering machine
). You can always try to leave a
xìnxī
信息
(sheen-she) (
message
)
with a real person, too. In the following sections, I give you the lowdown on leaving and listening to messages.

Listening to messages that people leave you

If you return home from a long, hard day at work to discover that many callers have
liúle huà
留了话
(
留了話
)
(lyo-luh hwah) (
left messages
) for you, you may be tempted to
tīng
听
(
聽
) (teeng) (
listen to
) them right away rather than
bùlǐ
不理
(boo-lee) (
ignore
) them. Relax. Take a hot bath. Have a glass of wine while you cook dinner. After a break, you'll be ready to tackle all the messages on that ol' answering machine.

Here's what a typical message sounds like:

Wéi? Bob, zhè shì Judy. Zhèige zhōumò wǒmen yìqǐ qù nèige wǎnhuì, hǎo bùhǎo? Yīnggāi hěn bàng. Yǒu kōng gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà. Wǒde shǒujī hàomǎ shì 212-939-9991. Xièxiè.

way? Bob, jay shir Judy. jay-guh joe-maw waw-men ee-chee chyew nay-guh wahn-hway, how boo-how? eeng-guy hun bahng. yo koong gay waw dah dyan-hwah. waw-duh show-jee how-mah shir are ee are, jyo sahn jyo, jyo jyo jyo ee. shyeh-shyeh.

Hello? Bob, this is Judy. Want to go to that party together this weekend? It should be awesome. When you get a chance, give me a call. My cell number is 212-939-9991. Thanks.

Recording and understanding greeting messages

Here are some common greetings you may hear if you reach an answering machine:

“Zhè shì Barry Katz.”:
这是
Barry Katz. (
這是
Barry Katz.) (
You've reached Barry Katz.
)

Wǒ xiànzài búzài.
我现在不在
.
(
我現在不在
.)
(waw shyan-dzye boo-dzye.) (
I'm not in at the moment./I'm away from my desk.
)