QUESTION WORDS SHOPPING & SERVICES

How? 怎么? Zěnme? I’d like to buy ... 我想买... Wǒ xiǎng mǎi ...
What? 什么? Shénme? How much is it? 多少钱? Duōshǎo qián?
When? 什么时候? Shénme shíhou? Can I see it? 能看看吗? Néng kànkan ma?
Where? 在哪儿? Zài nǎr? I’m just looking 我只是看看 Wǒ zhǐshì kànkan
Who? 谁? Shuí? It’s cheap 这不贵 Zhè buguì
It’s too expensive 太贵了 Tài guìle
CONVERSATION & ESSENTIALS I’ll take it 我就买这个 Wǒ jiù mǎi zhèige
Hello 你好 Nǐ hǎo (inf ) Do you accept credit cards? 信用卡收不收? xìnyòngkǎ shōu bushōu?
您好 Nín hǎo (pol) PLACES
Goodbye 再见 Zàijiàn bank 银行 yínháng
Yes 去 Qù city centre 市中心 shìzhōngxīn
No 不是 Búshì embassy 大使馆 dàshǐguǎn
Please 请 Qǐng market 市场 shìchǎng
Thank you 谢谢 Xièxie museum 博物馆 bówùguǎn
You’re welcome 不客气 Búkèqi post office 邮局 yóujú
Excuse me,... 请问,... Qǐng wèn, ... public toilet 公共厕所 gōnggòng cèsuǒ
I’m sorry 对不起 Duìbùqǐ tourist office 旅游局 lǚyóujú
May I ask your name? 您贵姓? Nín guìxìng?
TRANSPORT
Where are you from? 你是从哪儿来的? Nǐ shì cōng nǎr lái de?
What time does ...几点开/到? ... jǐdiǎn kāi/dào?
I’m from ... 我是从...来的 Wǒ shì cōng ... lái de
the ... leave/arrive?
I like ... 我喜欢... Wǒ xǐhuān ... boat 船 chuán
I don’t like ... 我不喜欢... Wǒ bù xǐhuān ... local/city bus 共汽车 gōnggòng qìchē
Wait a moment 等一下 Děng yíxià plane 飞机 fēijī
DIRECTIONS train 火车 huǒchē
I’d like a return ticket 我要一个来回票 Wǒ yào yíge láihuí piào
Where is ...? ...在哪儿? ... zài nǎr?
I want to go to ... 我要去... Wǒ yào qù ...
Go straight ahead 一直走 Yìzhí zǒu
The train has been 火车推迟 Huǒchē
Turn left 左转 Zuǒ zhuǎn cancelled/delayed 迟了/取消了 tuīchí le/qǔxiāo le
Turn right Yòu zhuǎn

Mandarin
右转 platform number 站台号 zhàntái hào
at the next corner 在下一个拐角 zài xià yíge guǎijiǎo ticket office 售票处 shòupiào chù
at the traffic lights 在红绿灯 zài hónglǜdēng timetable 时刻表 shíkèbiǎo
LANGUAGE DIFFICULTIES train station 火车站 huǒchē zhàn

QuickChat
Do you speak English? 你会说英语吗? Nǐ huì shuō yīngyǔ ma? EMERGENCIES
How do you say ... in Mandarin? ...中文怎么说? ... zhōngwén zěnme Help! 救命啊! Jiùmìng a!
shuō? I’m lost 我迷路了 Wǒ mílùle.
What does ... mean? ...是什么意思? ... shì shénme yìsi? Go away! 走开! Zǒu kāi!
I don’t understand 我听不懂 Wǒ tīngbudǒng Call ...! 请叫...! Qǐng jiào ...!
The official language of China is the dialect spoken
a doctor 医生 yīshēng
in its capital city Beijing. It is usually referred to TIME & DATES the police 警察 jǐngchá
in the west as ‘Mandarin’, but the Chinese call it What’s the time? 几点? Jǐ diǎn?
in the morning 早上 zǎoshang SIGNS
Putonghua – common speech. In 1958 the Chinese
in the afternoon 下午 xiàwǔ Entrance 入口
adopted a system of writing their language using Exit
in the evening 晚上 wǎnshang 出口
the Roman alphabet known as pīnyīn (which we’ve today 今天 jīntiān Information 问讯处
used here). The original idea was to eventually do tomorrow 明天 míngtiān Open 开
away with characters. However, tradition dies hard, yesterday 昨天 zuótiān Closed 关
Prohibited 禁止
and the idea has been abandoned. Most travellers Monday 星期一 xīngqīyī
Rooms Available 有空房
will use pīnyīn to get by, but in China especially, a Tuesday 星期二 xīngqī’èr
No Vacancies 客满
phrasebook is essential. Wednesday 星期三 xīngqīsān
Police 警察
Thursday 星期四 xīngqīsì Police Station 警察局
Friday 星期五 xīngqīwǔ Toilets 厕所
Saturday 星期六 xīngqīliù Men 男
ninemsn.com.au/travel Sunday 星期天 xīngqītiān Women 女
PINYIN PRONUNCIATION
In 1958 the Chinese adopted a system of writing their language The most important thing to keep in mind with Mandarin
using the Roman alphabet. It’s known as pīnyīn. The original pronunciation is just to get out there and give it a go! Don’t
idea was to eventually do away with characters. However, trad- waste your time getting hung up on tones or anything else
ition dies hard, and the idea has been abandoned. for that matter. Let the desire to communicate carry you along
and help you make the most out of your travel experience. And
Pinyin is often used on shop fronts, street signs and advertising remember, speaking a new language is, above all, great fun!
billboards. Don’t expect Chinese people to be able to use Pinyin,
however. There are indications that the use of the Pinyin system Vowels
is diminishing. In the countryside and the smaller towns you a as in ‘father’
may not see a single Pinyin sign anywhere, so unless you speak ai as in ‘aisle’
Chinese you’ll need a phrasebook with Chinese characters. ao as the ‘ow’ in ‘cow’
e as in ‘her’, with no ‘r’ sound
Since 1979 all translated texts of Chinese diplomatic docu- ei as in ‘weigh’
ments, as well as Chinese magazines published in foreign lan- i as the ‘ee’ in ‘meet’ (or like the ‘oo’ in ‘book’ after c,
guages, have used the Pinyin system for spelling names and ch, r, s, sh, z or zh)
places. Pinyin replaces the old Wade-Giles and Lessing systems ian as the word ‘yen’
of Romanising Chinese script. Thus under Pinyin, ‘Mao Tse-tung’ ie as the English word ‘yeah’
becomes Mao Zedong; ‘Chou En-lai’ becomes Zhou Enlai; and o as in ‘or’, with no ‘r’ sound
‘Peking’ becomes Běijīng. The name of the country remains as ou as the ‘oa’ in ‘boat’
it has been written most often: ‘China’ in English and German, u as in ‘flute’
and ‘Chine’ in French. In Pinyin it’s correctly written as ui as the word ‘way’
Zhōngguó. uo like a ‘w’ followed by ‘o’
yu/ü like ‘ee’ with lips pursed
Now that Hong Kong (a Romanisation of the Cantonese for
‘fragrant harbour’) has gone over to China, many think it will Consonants
only be a matter of time before it gets renamed Xiānggǎng. c as the ‘ts’ in ‘bits’
MAR ch as in ‘chop’, but with the tongue curled up and back
Chinese grammar is much simpler than that of European lan- h as in ‘hay’, but articulated from farther back in the
guages. There are no articles (a/the), no tenses and no plurals. throat
The basic point to bear in mind is that, like English, Chinese q as the ‘ch’ in ‘cheese’
word order is subject-verb-object. In other words, a basic Eng- r as the ‘s’ in ‘pleasure’
lish sentence like ‘I (subject) love (verb) you (object)’ is con- sh as in ‘ship’, but with the tongue curled up and back
structed in exactly the same way in Chinese. The catch is x as in ‘ship’
mastering the tones. z as the ‘dz’ in ‘suds’
zh as the ‘j’ in ‘judge’ but with the tongue curled up
and back
TONES
Chinese is a language with a large number of words with the The only consonants that occur at the end of a syllable are n,
same pronunciation but a different meaning; what distin- ng and r.
guishes these ‘homophones’ is their ‘tonal’ quality – the raising
and lowering of pitch on certain syllables. Mandarin has four In Pinyin, apostrophes are occasionally used to separate syl-
tones – high, rising, falling-rising and falling, plus a fifth ‘neutral’ lables in order to prevent ambiguity, eg the word ping’ān can
tone which you can all but ignore. To illustrate the importance be written with an apostrophe after the ‘g’ to prevent it being
of getting tones right, look at the word ma, which has four pronounced as pin’gān.
different meanings according to tone:
GESTURES
high tone mā (mother)
rising tone má (hemp, numb) Hand signs are frequently used in China. The ‘thumbs-up’ sign
falling-rising tone mǎ (horse) has a long tradition as an indication of excellence. Another way
falling tone mà (scold, swear) to indicate excellence is to gently pull your earlobe between
your thumb and index finger.
Mastering tones is tricky for newcomers to Mandarin, but with
a little practice it can be done.