Huang Xiaoming brushed his hand through his hair, which glistened in the morning sunshine in a somewhat unusual way. "After the army, I wanted to be able to express myself more fully." Pens scratched against paper in the silence that followed. "But how could I do that with clothing and music alone?" Xiaoming's voice dropped into quiet intimacy, as if he was reaching out to each listener personally. "And that was when I knew I needed to make real innovations in Chinese hairstyling."

Learning Chinese? Or stuck in Yiwu on a sourcing trip and really need to get a haircut? Fortunately, in this Elementary show, we cover both of these likely possibilities in a show that reviews most of the language you'll need to get a haircut, or maybe just a trim, at your neighborhood hairdresser. And - yes - we actually mean hairdresser. If the shop doesn't have scissors you're on your own....
 said on
November 14, 2013
the actors in the dialogue seem like they are in a competition to see who can speak the fastest!

Not sure who won, but it wasn't me : (

Seriously, even in real-life situations, people don't speak this fast. And this is supposed to be a learning experience.
 said on
November 14, 2013
I hate to break it to you, but this is not fast. Try speaking to a cab driver. omg. You'll wish he talked like these guys.
 said on
November 15, 2013
I agree, it's not fast, it's just normal. It's not even real-life speed.

And the girl who does not move her lips when speaking - even that is real (unfortunately).
 said on
November 15, 2013
as one who feels the pain of male pattern baldness, can you guys tell me what the term is for a clipper cut? not 光头发, but a short clipper cut.
 said on
November 15, 2013
My friend from Beijing pronounces 剪(头发) as jiao, is that the same character?

Also, when I told my teacher in Beijing that I needed to wash my hair, I said "我今天要洗头发“ he corrected me saying "我要洗头”. Apparently "洗头发" is not commonly used, is that your experience as well?
 said on
November 16, 2013
@huyilin,

It's a different character but has the same meaning. In China, people from North like to say"jiao3"铰头发 and people from the South like to say"jian3"剪头发. But it depends on different people and their speaking patterns.

In terms of "洗头发" vs "洗头", the latter is more commonly used. It works for"剪头" as well.;)

 said on
November 16, 2013
Thank you, Grace, for your very helpful comments!

:-)
 said on
November 16, 2013
@crusty_138,

The counterpart of "clipper cut" in Chinese is more like "平头" and because it requires an electric clippers or an electric razor, So normally it's "剪 jian3"头, it's "剃 ti4 头" instead. So you can say"我想剃个平头" or just say"我想把头发剃短一点" and describe how you want it (trim the sides or top)

Hope it makes sense~~
 said on
November 16, 2013
@crusty_138,

In the spirit of contributing to our collective stock of knowledge, I encourage you to report back on whether this works if you attempt it....

--david
 said on
November 21, 2013
Obiviously,we always say"剪头",it actually means"剪头发".That's a common use. Sometimes, we also say"理发",which is the same meaning of "剪头"
 said on
November 24, 2013
I'm hearing a quick 'er' sound rather than "ng" in the "ding" of "dingshang" of line two in some of the pronunciations of that word - but not others - am I right? and if so what's going on here? Is it an example of 'er'-izing?

Thanks!
 said on
November 25, 2013
@scott.fritzen,

It happens a lot with characters that end with "n" or "ng", as in 份 getting pronounced "fer" or 本 "ber". Technically there is supposed to be a little bit of the "n/ng" sound there, but in practice it can be unnoticeable.

--david
 said on
January 1, 2014
I just want to point to a little error in the transcript:

last sentence:

spoken: "你们都会有黄晓明那样的发型。"

written: "你们都会有黄晓明的发型。"