課堂用語

The book follows four people: 王明文 Wang Mingwen (Taiwanese, a graduate student in the US), Gloria Lee (American, works at Beidian Company, learning Mandarin), 王家文 Wang Jiawen (Mingwen’s younger brother, a high-school student visiting from Taiwan) and Lisa (Gloria’s coworker). You will meet them in every dialogue.

請 starts a polite request — like putting “please” up front: 請跟我念 (please repeat after me), 請舉手 (please raise your hand), 請再說一遍 (please say it again). Spot it at the start and you know someone is being asked, nicely.

Add the particle 嗎 to a statement and it becomes a yes/no question: 有問題 (there are questions) → 有問題嗎？ (any questions?). No word-order change needed — Mandarin questions are that friendly.

In a Taiwan classroom you greet people by their role or group + 好: 老師好 (hello, Teacher), 大家好 (hello, everyone), 你們好 (hello, you all). The pattern is simply [who] + 好.