Traveling China

Aloha, Ciao – when you visit China, you should start with ‘ni hao’ (how are you). Whenever traveling a place, it is always good to learn a couple of local phrases. Not only to add extra fun, but to communicate better with local people and get to know what they are talking about.

Are you visiting China soon? Let’s have an orientation on the Chinese language – Mandarin.

Before we get to learn Mandarin phrases to travel China, let me introduce some basics of the Chinese language.

1. One Word One Syllable

2. Pinyin (Phonetic) System

The Government of The People’s Republic of China has standardized Mandarin pronunciations and adopted the Pinyin system in 1979. Speak Mandarin and learn Mandarin is made easy for Chinese as well as foreigners.

Each word has a beginning and ending sound. Combine them together and form one syllable. Some words have only an ending sound. Each combination has four tones. Different tone has different meaning. You have to be very carefully with tones or it could mean something else and could be embarrassing.

For some reason, the four different tone symbols don’t show up on this page. I have therefore indicated their tones against each word.

1 macron

2 acute accent

3 caron

4 grave accent

Nothing – light tone

In this article, I am going to introduce 10 easy-to-learn phrases for everyday use. Please practice them before landing in China.

Don’t worry about the pronunciation for now, at the end of this article, I’ll show you a fast track to learn speaking.

EVERYDAY

ni(2) hao(3) – regards

This is the non-question version of ‘how are you’. You won’t expect an answer as you are just sending regards. You can say this whenever seeing someone.

ni(2) hao(3) ma – how are you?

You would expect someone say ‘I’m fine, thank you’ in return.

hen(2) hao(3) – I’m fine

lao(2) jia(4) – excuse me / please / thank you

Usually use to start a conversation, especially when you want to get someone’s help.
It can also mean ‘thank you’ when you receive a little favor.

zao(3) shang(4) hao(3) – good morning

xie(4) xie – thank you

When you buy something, the salesman will say xiè xie to you. You can also say this when receiving a gift.

shi(1) fu – a respectful way to call a driver

Shi fu is someone good at something. Beijing people call drivers Shi fu which is some kind of a compliment meaning he is good at driving. Tourists deal with drivers quite a lot, so it is good to know why drivers are called shi fu.

AT A RESTAURANT

mai(2) dan(1) – give me my bill please

This is a funny Cantonese phrase originated from Hong Kong. It is now widely understood in restaurants in Beijing and other major China cities. You’ll hear this very often in restaurants, especially Hong Kong.

SHOPPING

duo(1) shao(3) qian(2) – how much?

da(3) zhe(2) ma – do you offer discount?

pian(2) yi(2) dian(3) – cheaper please

Learn the pronunciation of these phrases is easy. I am going to give you some quick tips here.