Chen Hao is hesitating about borrowing. Xiaoyu has just got her loan, and Auntie Wang points out what the monthly payment does not say.
Chen Hao
小雨，你们的房贷批下来了吗？
Xiǎoyǔ, nǐmen de fángdài pī xiàlai le ma ?
Xiaoyu, has your mortgage been approved?
Xiaoyu
上周批了。首付付了三成，剩下的分二十年还。
Shàng zhōu pī le. Shǒufù fù le sān chéng, shèngxià de fēn èrshí nián hái.
Last week. We put down thirty per cent, and the rest is spread over twenty years.
Chen Hao
二十年。说实话，一想到这个数字我就有点儿怕。
Èrshí nián. Shuōshíhuà, yī xiǎngdào zhège shùzì wǒ jiù yǒudiǎnr pà.
Twenty years. Honestly, the thought of that figure alone frightens me a little.
Xiaoyu
我也怕过。可是房租一年比一年高，不买反而更不划算。
Wǒ yě pà guò. Kěshì fángzū yī nián bǐ yī nián gāo, bù mǎi fǎn'ér gèng bù huásuàn.
It frightened me too. But rents go up year after year, and not buying ends up costing more.
Chen Hao
你们用公积金了吗？听说利率能低不少。
Nǐmen yòng gōngjījīn le ma ? Tīngshuō lìlǜ néng dī bùshǎo.
Did you use the housing fund? I hear the rate is a good deal lower.
Xiaoyu
用了。既然单位一直在交，不用就亏了。
Yòng le. Jìrán dānwèi yīzhí zài jiāo, bù yòng jiù kuī le.
We did. Since the employer has been paying in all along, not using it would be a waste.
Auntie Wang
你们年轻人啊，别光看利率，得看每个月还多少。
Nǐmen niánqīngrén a, bié guāng kàn lìlǜ, de kàn měi gè yuè hái duōshao.
You young people, do not just look at the rate: look at how much you repay each month.
Chen Hao
王阿姨说得对。恐怕我每个月要还八千，压力不小。
Wáng āyí shuō de duì. Kǒngpà wǒ měi gè yuè yào hái bāqiān, yālì bù xiǎo.
Auntie Wang is right. I am afraid I would be repaying eight thousand a month, which is no small pressure.
Auntie Wang
那就先算清楚。无论银行怎么说，你心里都得有数。
Nà jiù xiān suàn qīngchu. Wúlùn yínháng zěnme shuō, nǐ xīnli dōu de yǒu shǔ.
Then work it out properly first. Whatever the bank says, you have to know where you stand yourself.
Xiaoyu
还有物业、装修的钱，这些加起来也不少。
Hái yǒu wùyè, zhuāngxiū de qián, zhèxiē jiā qilai yě bù shǎo.
And there are the management charges and the fitting out, which add up to a fair amount too.
Chen Hao
我原来以为签了合同就结束了。
Wǒ yuánlái yǐwéi qiān le hétong jiù jiéshù le.
I used to think that once the contract was signed it was over.
Auntie Wang
差远了。签完合同才是开始。
Chā yuǎn le. Qiān wán hétong cái shì kāishǐ.
Far from it. Signing the contract is where it begins.
Chen Hao
看来我得再想想。谢谢你们。
Kànlai wǒ de zài xiǎngxiang. Xièxie nǐmen.
It seems I need to think it over again. Thank you both.
三成 does not mean "three" but "three tenths", that is thirty per cent. The 成 is the unit in which a Chinese speaker naturally states a proportion: 七成 for seventy per cent, 一成 for ten per cent. You hear it wherever deposits, discounts or market shares are discussed, and 百分之三十 sounds official beside it.
不买反而更不划算 translates as "not buying actually works out dearer". 反而 announces that what follows runs against what the listener expected, and it is never used alone: it always assumes an expectation set out just before, here that giving up on buying would save money. Without that expectation the sentence hangs.
害怕 is a verb: you are afraid of something. 恐怕 is a sentence adverb, announcing news that is probably bad, like "I am afraid that". 恐怕我每个月要还八千 does not say the speaker is trembling, but that he thinks the figure likely and unwelcome.
