A photo of Shangai, China by Suvcon –

10 Very useful Mandarin Phrases you should know before traveling to China


 

The grammar of Standard Chinese or Mandarin shares many features with other varieties of Chinese. The language almost entirely lacks inflection. Inflection is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories.

These categories include tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and definiteness. Chinese is chiefly a head-final language. The head is the element that determines the category of a phrase.

There is no alphabet in the Chinese language. Therefore, the language is made up of tens of thousands of characters. These characters are made up of specific strokes, rather than a combination of letters. If you often watch Chinese movies, am quite sure that most of the time you float because you can’t comprehend nor spell the Chinese dialect.

Chinese characters are so complex, that pinyin was developed by Chinese linguists as an official romanization system for the pronunciation of Mandarin. The 26 English alphabets are used in the translation of Chinese. In the article are ten very useful Mandarin phrases you should know before traveling to China.

1. ±·¨«³ó¨£´Ç

A photo of Beijing China by N509FZ –

It is quite common that whenever a person starts a conversation with others, whether he knows them or not, he often greets them. It is rude to talk to people before greeting them. ±·¨«³ó¨£´Ç is a Chinese word that means “hello” in English. ±·¨«³ó¨£´Ç is pronounced as (Nee how)

2. ´Ü¨£´Ç

Take note that some greetings often fit almost every occasion. For example ±·¨«³ó¨£´Ç. You can say hello (±·¨«³ó¨£´Ç?) in the morning, in the afternoon, or at night. However, there is a greeting used specifically in the morning.

´Ü¨£´Ç is a greeting used in the morning. It is very useful to know the phrase so as not to confuse it with ±·¨«³ó¨£´Ç. Instead of saying hello (±·¨«³ó¨£´Ç) and good morning (´Ü¨£´Ç), you can just say good morning (´Ü¨£´Ç) is (zhow).

3. H¨¤o ch¨©

A photo of smog descending on Wuhan, Hubei, China by ÔÆÖоý –

It’s often that when making travels, people first prioritize tasting meals in new places. China is known as a country that makes good food. It can be street food or food in touristy and non-touristy restaurants but the food in China is very impressive.

H¨¤o ch¨© is a Chinese phrase that means “delicious“. This phrase can be used to praise the chef at a restaurant, your host, the waiter, or the cook at the street stand. H¨¤o ch¨© is pronounced as (How chir).

4. W¨¯ b¨´ d¨¯ng

Let’s take for instance that you’ve visited China and know some Chinese Mandarin but not all. Of course, a language is so broad and cannot be covered within the shortest time possible. In case, your host, or guide says new vocabulary you can’t just ignore it because some words may be crucial in terms of information.

W¨¯ b¨´ d¨¯ng means “I don’t understand” This helps to put the conversation in line and avoid language barriers. W¨¯ b¨´ d¨¯ng (I don’t understand) is pronounced as (Wuh boo dong)

5. W¨¯men z¨¯u ba!

A photo of West Panorama, Shenzhen, China by Charlie fong –

W¨¯men z¨¯u ba! means let’s go! This phrase can be used when promoting to someone that you are ready to leave or to continue going. The phrase is used mostly when one is in a hurry. W¨¯men z¨¯u ba! is pronounced as (Wuh-men zoew bah!)

6. B¨´ k¨¨q¨¬

The phrase is used to respond to Thank you (Xi¨¨xi¨¨ which is pronounced as {(Shieh-Shieh)}. It’s a basic rule of politeness, and it signals that you accept the expression of gratitude or that you were happy to help. B¨´ k¨¨q¨¬ is pronounced (Boo kuh-chi).

7. W¨¯ h¨§n h¨£o xi¨¨ xi¨¨

A photo of Fuzhou Taixi CBD, China by Listwiseafford –

W¨¯ h¨§n h¨£o xi¨¨ xi¨¨ is a Chinese phrase that means “I am good thanks” The phrase is used to show that I am in a state of generally satisfactory health or well-being. It is used to answer How are you (n¨« h¨£o ma). W¨¯ h¨§n h¨£o xi¨¨ xi¨¨ pronounced as (wuh hen how shie-shie)

8.N¨ªn jia¨° sh¨¦n me m¨ªng z¨¬?

People become at ease talking to others specifically. Apart from exchanging greetings before a conversation, people also exchange names to be acquainted with each other. Everybody has a name.

N¨ªn jia¨° sh¨¦n me m¨ªng z¨¬? is a phrase used when you meet a new person, especially in China. N¨ªn jia¨° sh¨¦n me m¨ªng z¨¬? means “What is your name?

9. w¨¯ w¨¢n qu¨¢n m¨ªng b¨¢i

A photo of Tianjin by David290  –

When you visit a place there is often a set of rules and instructions. This applies to China and every part of the world that you would like to tour. Language brings cohesiveness if only there is mutual understanding.

Well, it is often enjoyable to confuse the tongue, especially when in a new country. To say w¨¯ w¨¢n qu¨¢n m¨ªng b¨¢i means “I understand perfectly”

10. X¨«sh¨¯uji¨¡n z¨¤i n¨£l¨«?

A photo of Xi An City Wall y edward stojakovic –

X¨«sh¨¯uji¨¡n z¨¤i n¨£l¨«? means “Where is the bathroom?” It used to be a form of respect, such as asking to be excused from the table when people are still eating. Be prepared when you want in case you visit China so as you get to use this phrase when you want a bathroom. X¨«sh¨¯uji¨¡n z¨¤i n¨£l¨«? is pronounced as (See-sow-jian zai na-lee?).

According to the experience of the common useful phrases that I have highlighted in the article, the phrases don’t seem quite easy to pick up. However, those are the basic mandarin phrases that at least we thought could be easy to catch up with. Chinese is tonal as in English. Every word in Chinese has a tone that gives it a specific meaning.

 

 

 

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