UNIT 18

Visiting People (I)

COMMUNICATIVE OBJECTIVES

Once you’ve mastered this unit, you’ll be able to use Chinese to:

1.  Make an informal visit to a Chinese friend’s home.

2.  Pay a formal call on someone at their residence to request a favor.

3.  Apologize for being late for an appointment.

4.  Engage in appropriate polite talk on arriving at your host’s home: greetings, presenting a gift, etc.

5.  Politely decline your host’s offer of a cigarette.

6.  Make a request or respond to a request from someone else, hemming and hawing as appropriate.

7.  Accept or decline a dinner invitation.

8.  Announce your departure and take leave of your host.

9.  Express afterthoughts: “Oh, that’s right, I just thought of something...”

10. Engage in appropriate polite talk on departing your host’s home.

11. Handle various types of sociolinguistic situations with increased discourse competence and fluency.