Buying a Mobile Phone （3）买手机

Andrea: Now that you know what kind of SIM card you want, it’s time to pick a phone number. Usually they have a list where you can choose from.

Representative: 请选择一个手机号码。(Qǐnɡ xuǎnzé yíɡè shǒujī hàomǎ.)

Andrea: Oh, this one ends in 3335. That’s easy to remember. I’ll go ahead and have this one.

Andrea: 我想要这个号码。(Wǒ xiǎnɡyào zhèɡe hàomǎ.)
Representative: 好的，没问题。(Hǎode, méiwèntí.)

Andrea: Now remember it’s ten yuan to pick the number itself. But also remember that in China 8 is considered a lucky number, so if you choose number has a lot of 8s in it, it’s going to be more expensive.
Representative: 咱们去办理一下入网手续吧。(Zánmen qùbànlǐ yíxià rùwǎnɡ shǒuxù bɑ.)

Representative: 您好，给您卡。(Nínhǎo, ɡěinín kǎ.)
Andrea: 谢谢。(Xièxiè.)

Andrea: Now that we’ ve chosen a phone number and paid for it, before we have our SIM card. Now once you run out of money, you’ ll need to recharge your balance. Most convenient way to do this, you can simply buy a 充值卡 or a recharge card. You can buy at any news stand in the city. Let’ s go and get one now.

(At magazine stand)

Andrea: Once you run out of money, you’ ll need to recharge your balance. There’ s a couple of different ways to do this. The first way is to preload at a network mobile store. More commonly, you can buy a 充值卡or recharge card which can be found at mobile network stores, convenience stores, and news stands like this one. At small news stands like this one, you can buy recharge cards in denominations of 20, 30, 50 and 100 yuan. If you’re not sure if they carry recharge cards, you can ask.

Andrea: 你好，有充值卡吗？(Nǐhǎo, yǒu chōnɡzhíkǎ mɑ?)
Vendor: 有，要移动的还是联通的？(Yǒu, yào yídònɡde háishì liántōnɡde?)

Andrea: Now this is important, they are asking which mobile network that belongs to you. If I don’t tell them the right one, recharge card will not work on your phone. So I just purchased a SIM card from China Mobile, I’m going to tell China Mobile.

Andrea: 我要一张中国移动的充值卡。(Wǒ yào yìzhānɡ zhōnɡɡuó yídònɡ de chōnɡzhíkǎ.)
Vendor: 五十的还是一百的？(Wǔshíde hái shìyìbǎide?)
Andrea: 一百元的。(Yìbǎiyuánde.)

Andrea to Vendor: Thanks.

Andrea: Now that you’ ve had your 充值卡, flip it over and scratch over the silver coating on the back of the card, this will give you your PIN number. Call the service hotline number located here on the card and choose the second option for English, you’ ll be given an option to recharge your own phone. When prompted, enter in the PIN number or 充值卡密码, followed by the pound sign, and your balance will be updated immediately. You’ re now armed with a Chinese mobile phone and you get to start making calls immediately using the Chinese greeting of “喂”. For Living Chinese, I’m Andrea Hunt. (End)

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