Learn Mandarin is Easy
Speak Mandarin is Fun
Would you want to learn Mandarin to travel China? Before we start, let me introduce a unique feature of spoken Chinese. One Word One SyllableIf you've landed on this page hoping to
learn Chinese or Mandarin to work or to live in Beijing,
click here for a free brochure
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 to 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. The Chinese University of Hong Kong has developed a e-Learning website to help us learn Mandarin online. Though not comprehensive, it is good for starters to get a basic concept of the language. You would need your Windows Media Player and your computer speaker on. Ready, click on this link, a new window will pop up. Please start an online Mandarin learning tour. Let’s start to learn Mandarin and speak Mandarin.
Learn Mandarin Greetings
Learn Placing Orders with Mandarin
Frequently Used Mandarin Phrases for Travel Purposes
勞駕 Excuse me / please
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.
| |
Beginning |
Ending |
Tone |
| 勞 |
l |
áo |
2 |
| 駕 |
j |
ià |
4 |
你好嗎 How are you? (You would expect an answer.)
你好 Regards (You won’t expect an answer. You can say this whenever seeing someone. You are just sending regards and wishing them well.)
| |
Beginning |
Ending |
Tone |
| 你 |
n |
í |
2 |
| 好 |
h |
ăo |
3 |
| 嗎 |
m |
a |
|
很好 I’m fine
| |
Beginning |
Ending |
Tone |
| 很 |
h |
én |
2 |
| 好 |
h |
ăo |
3 |
早上好 Good morning
| |
Beginning |
Ending |
Tone |
| 早 |
z |
ăo |
3 |
| 上 |
sh |
àng |
4 |
| 好 |
h |
ăo |
3 |
謝謝 Thank you
When you buy something, the salesman will say 謝謝to you. You can also say this when receiving a gift.
| |
Beginning |
Ending |
Tone |
| 謝 |
x |
iè |
4 |
| 謝 |
x |
ie |
|
很好吃 Yummy, very delicious
| |
Beginning |
Ending |
Tone |
| 很 |
h |
én |
2 |
| 好 |
h |
ăo |
3 |
| 吃 |
ch |
ī |
1 |
埋單 give me my bill please
| | Beginning | Ending | Tone | | 埋 | m | ái | 2 | | 單 | d | ān | 1 |
多少錢 How much?
| |
Beginning |
Ending |
Tone |
| 多 |
d |
uō |
1 |
| 少 |
sh |
ăo |
3 |
| 錢 |
q |
ián |
2 |
打折嗎 discount please
| |
Beginning |
Ending |
Tone |
| 打 |
d |
a |
3 |
| 折 |
zh |
e |
2 |
| 嗎 |
m |
a |
|
Chinese Greetings
Formal greetings - In Chinese formal greetings, we call people by their family names. Like this:
| Greeting |
Pronunciation |
English |
| 胡先生 |
H ú xi ān sh ēng |
Mr. Hu |
| 胡小姐 |
H ú xi áo j iě |
Ms. Hu |
| 胡太太 |
H ú t ài t ai |
Mrs. Hu |
Now, base on what you’ve learned to practice greeting Mr. Hu, Ms. Hu and Mrs. Hu in Mandarin.
Casual greetings - As a tourist, you don’t have much chance to greet people in a formal way. However, there are two types of people you will deal with mostly – your tour guide and your driver.
Tour guides usually ask their clients to call them Xiao family name. For example, Xiao Hu, it doesn’t matter whether Xiao Hu is Mr. Hu or Ms. Hu.
In mainland China, people usually call drivers Shifu. Let’s see the rationale behind.
| Greeting |
Pronunciation |
English |
| 小胡 |
Xi ăo H ú |
Calling someone junior or younger than you. |
| 師傅 |
Sh ī f ù |
Shifu is someone good at something. Beijing people call drivers Shifu which is some kind of a compliment meaning he is good at driving. |
Anna's Notes
Learn Mandarin is easy. Speak Mandarin is fun. However learn Mandarin online is just a shortcut to fulfil our travel needs. It is more a matter of practicing and refreshing. Best is to learn from a person and learn interactively.
If you want to learn more keywords, do drop me an email. I am happy to help.
Learn Mandarin in Beijing
Are you an expatriate who wants to learn Mandarin in order to work or to live in Beijing? BLS has partnered with the Beijing Capital Normal University and offers excellent facilities for group study, plus high standard, brand new student accommodation and restaurant on the campus. Click for a
FREE brochure.
China travel tip: Chinese Language
In China, staff members from main hotels, restaurants and shops will all speak English. However you should carry around with you something that bears your hotel name and address, preferably in Chinese, to show to taxi drivers. Five-star hotels usually have cards ready for you. Otherwise just ask the front office for one.
TELL ME MORE Chinese
Continue to learn Cantonese
A travel story about my
Mandarin Study Tour at Peking University
Do you Seriously Want to Learn Mandarin? If you happen to land on my website looking for resources to learn Chinese, I am not going to let you down. Though my site is travel focused, I am always keen to look for effective language tools for my readers to learn Chinese. Here is one. TELL ME MORE Chinese Focusing on Mandarin Chinese, simplified writing and Pinyin, TELL ME MORE® covers all the essential areas of language learning: command of over 800 basic characters, comprehension, pronunciation, written expression and grammar. Developed in collaboration with INALCO (National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations). Established in 1987, TELL ME MORE® now counts more than 5 million satisfied users worldwide.
|
