It was time for a very specific Chinese lesson. Here is some important vocabulary involved:

We are not sure what happened. The speaker doesn’t come with any specific directions. There is nothing online. Still, it is a very good speaker and so we just started trying things to get the microphone to work for the wedding. The next thing we knew, it was saying things in Chinese.

音箱	ㄧㄣ ㄒㄧㄤ	(yīn xiāng)	speaker
線路	ㄒㄧㄢˋ ㄌㄨˋ	(xiàn lù)	line, circuit, wire
輸入	ㄕㄨ ㄖㄨˋ	(shū rù)	to import, to input
菜單	ㄘㄞˋ ㄉㄢ	(cài dān)	menu
語音	ㄩˇ ㄧㄣ	(yǔ yīn)	speech, sounds
打開	ㄉㄚˇ ㄎㄞ	(dǎ kāi)	turn on
關閉	ㄍㄨㄢ ㄅㄧˋ	(guān bì)	turn off
收音機	ㄕㄡ ㄧㄣ ㄐㄧ	(shōu yīn jī)	radio
藍牙	ㄌㄢˊ ㄧㄚˊ	(lán yá)	bluetooth
模式	ㄇㄛˊ ㄕˋ	(mó shì)	mode
連結	ㄌㄧㄢ ˊ ㄐㄧㄝˊ	(lián jié)	to link
請稍候	ㄑㄧㄥˇ ㄕㄠ ㄏㄡˋ	(qǐng shāo hòu)	please wait a little
再撥	ㄗㄞˋ ㄅㄛ	(zài bō)	call again
選單	ㄒㄩㄢˇ ㄉㄢ	(xuǎn dān)	software menu
選項	ㄒㄩㄢˇ ㄒㄧㄤˋ	(xuǎn xiàng)	to make a choice between alternatives

Our speaker uses pretty short sentences or phrases when she talks to us, but now we understand her. It is a female voice. Here is what she says:

線路輸入

(線路)❶(輸入)

(ㄒㄧㄢˋ ㄌㄨˋ)(ㄕㄨ ㄖㄨˋ)

(xiàn lù)(shū rù)

(line)(input)

Choose your input

——

菜單語音打開

(菜單)❷(語音)(打開)

(ㄘㄞˋ ㄉㄢ)(ㄩˇ ㄧㄣ)(ㄉㄚˇ ㄎㄞ)

(cài dān)(yǔ yīn)(dǎ kāi)

(menu)(speech)(turn on)

The speaking menu is on

——

菜單語音關閉

(菜單)(語音)(關閉)

(ㄘㄞˋ ㄉㄢ)(ㄩˇ ㄧㄣ)(ㄍㄨㄢ ㄅㄧˋ)

(cài dān)(yǔ yīn)(guān bì)

(menu)(speech)(turn off)

The speaking menu is off

__

收音機

(收)(音)(機)

(ㄕㄡ)(ㄧㄣ)(ㄐㄧ)

(shōu)(yīn)(jī)

(to gather, to collect, to receive, to accept)(sound)(machine)

radio

__

藍牙模式

(藍)(牙)(模式)

(ㄌㄢˊ)(ㄧㄚˊ)(ㄇㄛˊ ㄕˋ)

(lán)(yá)(mó shì)

(blue)(tooth)(mode)

Bluetooth mode

__

藍牙輸入

(藍牙)(輸入)

(ㄌㄢˊ ㄧㄚˊ)(ㄕㄨ ㄖㄨˋ)

(lán yá)(shū rù)

(Bluetooth)(to input)

Bluetooth inputting

__

藍牙正在連結，請稍候

(藍牙)(正在)(連結)，(請)(稍)(候)❸

(ㄌㄢˊ ㄧㄚˊ)(ㄓㄥˋ ㄗㄞˋ)(ㄌㄧㄢˊ ㄐㄧㄝ), (ㄑㄧㄥˇ)(ㄕㄠ)(ㄏㄡˋ)

(lán yá)(zhèng zài)(lián jiē), (qǐng)(shāo)(hòu)

(Bluetooth)(right in the middle of)(to link, to join), (please)(little, somewhat)(to wait)

Bluetooth is connecting, please wait

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Notes:

❶ The first character in this word, 線, is the same one that means thread, such as is used in sewing. By adding the character for road/path, 路, it captures the idea of something traveling along the thread or line. Which is what electricity does.

❷ My tutor points out that technically this word for menu specifically refers to a menu for food. 菜 means food and 單 means single, individual, or only, the idea being that it is a list of individual foods. There are a couple of words that she says are commonly used instead for menu in the cyber world.

選單 (see vocabulary chart) means select one, with 選 meaning select and 單 the same as explained above.

選項 means to make a choice. You can see 選 is also used as the first character here, while 項 means neck or sum. I choose to think of this one using an English idiom: “sticking your neck out to choose one.”

❸ 請稍候 is a phrase you may hear when calling a business, but they are busy talking with someone else at the moment. There might be a recording saying: 請稍候再撥.

The last 2 characters together mean call again.

再 ㄗㄞˋ (zài) again

撥 ㄅㄛ (bō) to dial, to turn, to twist

So the whole phrase is translated: Please wait, (then try) calling again.

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