Beijing taxi automated message
If you have ever taken a taxi in Beijing then you've probably noticed that when the driver flips on the meter a recorded female voice rattles off a message in Mandarin. I personally find this message extremely entertaining.
The lady says:
乘客,您好.欢迎你坐北京出租汽车.清对我们的服务进行监督.
Or in pinyin:
Cheng2 ke4, nin3 hao3. Huan1 ying2 ni3 zuo4 Bei3 jing1 chu1 zu1 qi1 che1. Qing3 dui4 wo3 men2 de0 fu2 wu4 jin4 xing2 jian1 du1.
Let's translate word by word.
乘客passenger, 您好hello. 欢迎welcome 你you 坐ride 北京beijing 出租汽车taxi. 清please 对with respect to 我们的our 服务service 进行carry out 监督close inspection.
Entertaining aspects of this sentence:
- I am referred to directly as "passenger"
- The term 服务fu2wu4 (service), is very, very broad and funny. it is used in lots of places in Mandarin. Consider the word 特别te4bie2, which means "special". 特别服务 means special services, which usually means prostitution. A janitor might also be referred to as 服务员 (fu2wu4 yuan2), or "service person". Anyway, fu2wu4 is a very broad term for "service" and it cracks me up.
- I also love being instructed to 进行监督. "carry out a close inspection" is so formal that it's funny.