Explaining modern Chinese catchphrases and Web terms:

Tuán gòu –团购 – means group buying and is a common expression in China today. Independently, the two characters mean group (tuán) and buy (gòu), but together they are used to describe a way of buying goods cheaper on the Internet. Here's an example of how to use it in a conversation:

Michael:

Zhè gè lǐbài de gōngzuò tài xīnkǔ le, zhōumò wǒmen jùcān fàngsōng yíxià, zěnmeyàng?

这个礼拜的工作太辛苦了 ， 周末我们聚餐放松一下，怎么样？

This week has been too hard, let's relax this weekend and have dinner together, what do you think?

Helena:

Suànle ba, xiànzài de wùjià zhème gāo, zài wàibiān chī tài guì le

算了吧，现在的物价这么高，在外边吃太贵了。

Ugh! The price of commodities is so high these days, so eating outside is too expensive.

Michael:

Wǒmen kěyǐ tuángòu ā, chāo huásuàn de.

我们可以团购啊， 超划算的 。

We can group buy. It's a better deal.

Helena:

Tuángòu? Shénme shì tuángòu?

团购？ 什么是团购？

<<italics>> Group buying? What's that?

Michael:

Tuángòu jiù shì hěn duō bú rènshi de rén zài wǎngshàng yìqǐ mǎi yígè dōngxi. Yīnwèi mǎi de rén duō, suǒyǐ jiàgé hěn piányi.

团购就是很多不 认识的人在网上一 起 买一 个东西。因为买的 人多，所以价很便宜。

Group Buying consists of many people who don't know each other that buy something on the Internet together. Because there are a lot of people, the price is cheaper.

Helena:

Tīngshàngqù búcuò. Nàme tuángòu dōu kěyǐ mǎi shénme ne?

听上去 不错。那么团购都可以 买什么呢？

Sounds good. What kind of things can we buy using group buying?

Michael:

Kěyǐ tuán chī de, xiàng qù fànguǎnr chīfàn, mǎi yìxiē língshí shénmede. hái kěyǐ tuán wánrde, bǐrúshuō qù KTV, dǎ táiqiú, bǎolíngqiú huòzhě lǚyóu. Zǒngzhī zhǐyǒu nǐ xiǎng bú dào de, méiyǒu nǐ tuán bú dào de.

可以团吃的 ，像去饭馆儿吃饭, 买一 些 零食什么 的 。还可以团玩儿 的 ，比如说 去 KTV，打台球，保龄球或者旅游。总之只有你 想不 到的 ，没有你团不到的。

You can buy food, like go to the restaurant, you can buy some snacks. You can also buy some entertainments, for example, going to KTV, playing pool, bowling or travel. Anyway, you can buy everything, even the things you would not think about.

Helena:

Tīng nǐ shuō wán yǐhòu wǒ zhēn xiǎng shìshi, zhè gè zhōumò wǒmen tuángòu jùcān ba.

听你说完以后我真想试试，这个周末 我们团购聚餐吧。

After listening to you, I really want to try, let organize a dinner together thanks to “group buying”.

Michael:

Méiwèntí, wǒ xiànzài jiù shàng tuángòu wǎng kànkan jīntiān yǒu shénme hǎo de fànguǎnr.

没问题 ，我现在就上团购网看看今天有什么好的饭馆儿 。

No problem, I will check on Internet if there are good restaurants for today.

Dialogue provided by TailorMade Chinese Centerat at Shangdu SO¬HO. Contact them on (+8610) 5900-5420 or visit tailormadechinese.com.

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