Podcast Audio:
Audio Transcription:
玉兰：大家好，我是文玉兰，今天我在这儿跟我们的同学晚明花，一起聊聊关于在国外吃中国菜的话题。
Hello everyone, I’m Wen Yulan (Maggie) and today I’m here with our fellow student Wan Minghua (Kaitlyn) to talk about eating Chinese food abroad.
Eating at a restaurant in Beijing, China
明花：没错，旅行的时候，在餐馆点菜很有意思。
Right, when traveling it’s very interesting to order food at restaurants.
玉兰：还有有点儿难，对不对？
And a little difficult, right?
明花：不太难，就是很紧张。
Not too difficult, just nerve-wracking.
玉兰：嗯，我同意。那，听说夏天你跟我们中文系的同学们一起去了中国留学。
En, I agree. Well, I heard over summer you and our Chinese department classmates went to study abroad in China.
明花: 对啊，我跟九个大一和六个大二的中文学生一起去的。头两天我们先跟吴老师和刘老师看看北京，然后就去青岛。我们有五个星期住在中国海洋大学。
Correct, I went with nine freshmen and six sophomore Chinese students. For the first two days, we visited Beijing with Teacher Wu and Teacher Liu, and then went to Qingdao. We spent 5 weeks at Ocean University of China.
玉兰: 在中国，你吃了什么菜？
In China, what kind of food did you eat?
明花： 我吃了很多不认识的东西，哈哈！在北京吴老师和刘老师带我们去一家高级餐厅点了很多食物。去中国以前，我只知道一点中国菜。我吃了很多不知道名字的菜。但是我发现我喜欢炒白菜木耳，而且在离长城很近的餐馆儿，有我很喜欢冰川茄子。味道甜甜的，好吃极了。
I ate many unfamiliar things, ha! In Beijing Teacher Wu and Teacher Liu brought us to a fancy restaurant and ordered a lot of food. Before going to China I knew little about Chinese food. I ate many dishes I didn’t know the names of. But I discovered I like stir-fried cabbage and wood-ear mushrooms, and also, in a restaurant near the Great Wall they had a glacial eggplant I liked.
玉兰: 听起来真好吃。还有呢？
Sounds really tasty. Anything else?
明花: 啊对了，在海洋大学的附近我们常常到小烧烤馆儿或者火锅馆儿吃晚饭。
Oh, right, near Ocean University we would often go to small barbeque or hot pot restaurants to eat dinner.
玉兰：怎么样？合你的口味吗？
How was it? Did it suit your taste?
明花： 菜都太好吃了！但是很多东西是辣辣的。
The dishes were all so delicious! But many things were very spicy.
玉兰： 是吗？你没点比较清淡的吗？
Is that so? You didn’t order something lighter?
明花： 在烧烤馆儿和火锅馆儿服务员常常问我 “你要辣的吗”？每次我都会说 “要，好听啊”。虽然这些菜辣得受不了，但是一直点，因为太好吃的。
At barbecue restaurants and hot pot restaurants, the waiters would often ask me, “Do you want it spicy?” Every time I say “yes, it sounds good”. Although these dishes are unbearably spicy, I keep ordering them because they are so delicious.
玉兰：所以，如果你一辈子只能选一道菜吃，你会选什么？
So, if you could only choose one dish to order for the rest of your life, which would you choose?
明花： 冰川茄子吧！要是我只吃冰川茄子，我的生命会短得很，可是我不在乎我反而会很高兴。
Glacial Eggplant! If I only eat glacial eggplant, my life will be very short, but I don’t care, I will be very happy instead.
玉兰：好，好。
ok, ok.
明花：夏天你也去了国外，对吗？
You also went abroad over summer, right?
玉兰：对。
Right.
明花：去哪儿？
Where did you go?
玉兰：我去了日本。
I went to Japan
明花：啊，听说日本料理很清淡。是真的吗？
Ah, I heard that Japanese cuisine is very light [in flavor]. Is that true?
玉兰：是啊，我觉得比较清淡。他们吃很多鱼，不放太多的盐。菜也不辣。
Yes, I think it’s relatively light. They eat a lot of fish and don’t use too much salt. The dishes are also not spicy.
明花：你喜欢吗？我以为你爱吃辣。
Did you like it? I thought you loved spicy food.
玉兰：就是。我的口味一般很重。可是，我不挑剔。我特别爱吃新鲜的鱼，所以我觉得日本料理也适合我。
Exactly. My taste is usually very strong. But I’m not picky. I especially love to eat fresh fish, so I feel Japanese food also suits me.
Eating Chinese food in Chinatown in Yokohama, Japan
明花：那在日本你吃了很多寿司吗？
Then in Japan did you eat a lot of sushi?
玉兰：太多。有一餐我一个人就吃了三十块寿司。
Too much! In one meal I ate 30 pieces of sushi by myself.
明花：不会吧！
No way!
玉兰: 是真的！我可以给你看照片！
It’s true! I can show you pictures.
明花：哈哈，我相信你。那，在日本餐馆儿点菜怎么样？你会说日语吗？
Haha, I believe you. Then, in how was ordering in Japanese restaurants? Do you speak Japanese?
玉兰: 我不会说，就在菜单上指出你想要的，没问题。可是为了练习中文，在横滨的中国城，我也去了一家餐馆儿。
No, I don’t speak it. You just point out what you want on the menu, it’s no problem. But I also went to a restaurant in Yokohama’s Chinatown to practice Chinese.
明花：有意思，你跟服务员聊天吗？
Interesting, did you chat with the waiter?
玉兰: 一点点。我一边说， “我们想点这个，这个，还有这个” 一边指着菜单。后来我问她 “这些菜太多吗？” 还有她说 “不太多。” 买单以后我说，“谢谢您，真好吃的！”
A little. I said “We would like to order this, and this and this” while pointing at the menu. Later, I asked her, “Are these dishes too much?” and she said “not too much”. After paying the bill I said “Thank you, it was very delicious!”
明花：在校外用中文你一定很高兴。
Using Chinese outside of school, you must be very happy.
玉兰: 对啊，非常高兴。
Yes, very happy.
明花：好，好，我们还有想跟大家分享的事吗？
Okay, do we have anything else we want to share with everyone?
玉兰: 没有。就这样。我们下次见！
No, just this. We’ll see you next time!
都：再见！
Bye!
Kaitlyn Bahn & Maggie Wettergreen
Kaitlyn Bahn and Maggie Wettergreen are students in the second year of the Chinese program at WWU. Kaitlyn participated in WWU’s 2023 summer study-abroad program at Ocean University in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China.
