Xiao Liu talks loudly on the phone. Xiaoyu, who is translating a contract, tells him so without losing her temper.
Xiaoyu
小刘，打扰一下。你刚才打电话的声音有点儿大。
Xiǎo Liú, dǎrǎo yīxià. Nǐ gāngcái dǎdiànhuà de shēngyīn yǒudiǎnr dà.
Xiao Liu, sorry to bother you a moment. You were talking rather loudly on the phone just now.
Xiao Liu
是吗？对不起，我没注意。
Shì ma ? Duìbuqǐ, wǒ méi zhùyì.
Was I? Sorry, I did not notice.
Xiaoyu
我正在翻译一份合同，听着就写错了。
Wǒ zhèngzài fānyì yī fèn hétong, tīng zhe jiù xiě cuò le.
I was translating a contract, I could hear you and I made a mistake.
Xiao Liu
我下次出去打。
Wǒ xiàcì chūqù dǎ.
I will go outside to call next time.
Xiaoyu
谢谢。虽然大家都习惯了，但是我还不太习惯。
Xièxie. Suīrán dàjiā dōu xíguàn le, dànshì wǒ hái bù tài xíguàn.
Thank you. Everyone here is used to it, but I am not quite used to it yet.
Xiao Liu
你刚来，慢慢就好了。
Nǐ gāng lái, mànmàn jiù hǎo le.
You have only just arrived, it will come.
Xiaoyu
你们下午开会的时候也这么热闹吗？
Nǐmen xiàwǔ kāihuì de shíhou yě zhème rènao ma ?
Are your afternoon meetings as lively as this?
Xiao Liu
比这还热闹。你可以戴耳机。
Bǐ zhè hái rènao. Nǐ kěyǐ dài ěrjī.
Worse than this. You could wear headphones.
Xiaoyu
那我明天就带一个来。
Nà wǒ míngtiān jiù dài yī gè lái.
Then I will bring some tomorrow.
English picks either "although" or "but", and refuses to have both. Chinese puts 虽然 before the concession and 但是 before the objection, and dropping the second leaves the sentence lopsided. 可是 can replace 但是, a little lighter. You may, on the other hand, drop 虽然 when the concession comes first and can be guessed.
错 attached to a verb says the action went astray: 写错, to write wrongly; 说错, to misspeak; 走错, to take the wrong way; 打错, to dial a wrong number. English needs "to get something wrong" where Chinese adds a syllable. Its opposite is 对: 写对了.
打扰一下 is said before you disturb someone, never after. 一下 cuts its weight: it will only be a moment. It is gentler than 请问, which announces a question, and lighter than 对不起, which announces a fault. Between colleagues, it is the only possible opening to a complaint.
