yīnliàng tài dà, qǐng tiáoxiǎo.

The volume is too high; please turn it down.

Breakdown of yīnliàng tài dà, qǐng tiáoxiǎo.

• 太tài: too
• 请qǐng: to ask (politely)
• 大dà: loud
• 音量yīnliàng: volume

Questions & Answers about yīnliàng tài dà, qǐng tiáoxiǎo.

What does 音量 mean here? Is it only for electronic devices?

音量 means volume level. In everyday Mandarin, it is most commonly used for the volume of things like:

• a TV
• a phone
• a speaker
• a radio
• a computer

So in this sentence, 音量太大 means the volume is too loud / too high.

You can also hear 声音太大 for the sound is too loud, but 音量 sounds especially natural when talking about something that can be adjusted.

Why does Chinese use 大 for loud volume? Why not something like high?

Mandarin often talks about sound volume in terms of big/small rather than high/low.

So:

• 声音大 = loud
• 声音小 = quiet
• 音量大 = volume is high/loud
• 音量小 = volume is low/quiet

This may feel unusual to an English speaker, but it is completely normal in Chinese.
Here, 大 does not mean physically big. It means the volume level is strong or loud.

What does 太大 mean exactly?

太 + adjective often means too... in the sense of more than is acceptable.

So:

• 太大 = too loud / too high / excessively large

In this sentence, 音量太大 means the volume is too loud.

This is stronger than simply saying it is loud. It suggests there is a problem and something should be changed.