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Learning Useful Chinese Phrases for Travellers

Do you want to learn some useful Chinese phrases before your planned travel to Beijing China? Now you are on the right page of free learning of useful Chinese phrases for travelers touring Beijing China.

It is quite useful and practical to learn some useful Chinese phrases if you have the chance to visit China. Chinese is a difficult language for most foreigners. But with some efforts foreign people still can master some useful and daily life sentneces to be used in their trips to Beijing China.

Learning some Chinese is a good way of understanding more of its culture. On this page you will learn some basic knowledge of Chinese languge. And we also has recommended you an useful Chinese phrase learning website for your practice. Never too old to learn. Don't hesitate! Let's start!

The official language of the PRC is Putonghua or " Common Speech ", usually referred to the west as " Mandarin Chinese".


Chinese is a tonal language, a language with many homonyms ( words of different meaning but with similar pronunciation ). Mandarin has four tones:
First tone ( - ): the voice is pitched quite high,High and level;
Second tone ( / ): the voice rises rather like asking a question,rises to the top;
Third tone ( V ): the voice dips and then rises;
Fourth tone ( \ ): the voice starts at the top, then falls away.
Below is an example of how the tones change the meaning:

Tones	Pinyin	English	Chinese
First tone ( - )	mā	mother	妈
Second tone ( / )	má	hemp	麻
Third tone ( V )	mǎ	horse	马
Fourth tone ( \ )	mà	to scold	骂

If you use the wrong tones, your listeners may not be able to understand you.


In 1958 the Chinese offically adopted a system known as pinyin as a method of writing their language using Roman alphabet. Pinyin is a romanization and not an anglicization; it makes use of Roman letters to represent sounds in Standard Mandarin. The way these letters represent sounds in Standard Mandarin will be different from other languages that make use of the Roman alphabet represent sound. Pinyin is quite useful in China, especially in majior cities, on shop fronts, street names and advertising etc. When Chinese people write their own names in Englsih, they use Pinyin.

English: Where are you from?
Putonghua ( Mandarin ): 你从哪里来?
Pinyin: Ni cong nai li lai?


The main purpose of pinyin is to help people learn Standard Mandarin pronunciation. Pinyin vowels are pronounced quite similarly to the vowels in Romance languages, and most consonants are also similar to English. But there are some pitfalls: the strange pronunciation of x, q, c, zh, and z and the unvoiced pronunciation of d, b, g, and j. The pronunciation of Chinese is generally offered in terms of initials and finals that represent the segmental phonemic portion of the language. Initials are initial consonants and finals are all possible mixtures of medials, the nucleus vowel, final vowel or consonant.


Chinese language characters look like kind of pictures, and often referred to as a language of " pictographs". But many of the Chinese words are actually quite abstract and stylished pictures of what they represent. Very often it is difficult to guess the meaning from its characters. A well-educated Chinese People should master 6000 charaters. Students should learn about 2000 characters to read Chinese newpapaer and books.


To raise literacy, China set up the Committee for Reforming the Chinese language in Beijing 1954. The committee has simplified over 2000 characters, reducing the number of strokes by about half. This reform is quite a success in the China mainland. But people in Taiwan and Hong Kong still use the traditional characters.

English	Pinyin/ Characters	Phenetics English
Greetings:
Hello	nǐ hǎo 你  好	knee how
Where are you from?	nǐ cǒng nǎ lǐ lái    你  从  哪  里  来?	knee tzaun nar lee lei
What is your name?	nín guì xìng 您   贵   姓	neen gway shing
Good Bye	zài jiàn 再  见	zi gee’en
Useful sayings:
Yes	shì 是	shr
No	bú  shì 不  是	boo shr
Right or Correct	duì 对	dway
Wrong	bú  duì 不  对	boo dway
No, thanks	bú  yòng  le,  xiè  xiè   不   用   了， 谢  谢	boo yong la, sheh sheh
Thank you	xiè  xiè    谢  谢！	sheh sheh
You are welcome	bú  yòng  xiè 不   用   谢	boo yong sheh
Excuse me	duì  bu  qǐ 对  不  起	dway boo chee
I do not understand	wǒ tīng bù dǒng 我  听  不  懂	wore ting boo dong
I would like	wǒ  yào 我  要	wore yeow
How much?	duō shǎo qián 多   少   钱?	dor sheow chen
Too expensive	tài guì le 太  贵  了	tie gway la

English Pinyin/ Characters Phenetics English Make Directions: Stop! tíng 停！ ting Left zuǒ 左 zaw Right yòu 右 yo Go straight qián 前 chee’ an There nà lǐ 那 里 nar lee Here zhè lǐ 这 里 jur lee Toilet cè suǒ 厕  所 tsur saw In the restaurant: Chopstick kuài zǐ 筷  子 kwhy za Knife dao 刀 dow Fork cha  zi  叉 子 char z Spoon shao zi   勺  子 sheow z Water shuǐ 水 shway Settle the Bill mǎi dān 买  单 my dan

English Pinyin/ Characters Phenetics English Pronouns: I / Me wǒ 我 wore You nǐ 你 knee He / She / It tā tā tā 他 / 她 / 它 tar Numbers: 1 yī 一 e 2 èr 二 r 3 sān 三 san 4 sì 四 sz 5 wǔ 五 oo 6 liù 六 leo 7 qī 七 chee 8 bā 八 bah 9 jiǔ 九 jeo 10 shí 十 shr

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Chinese characters have been in existence for over 5,000 years. All though they have continued to develop, the basic form of writing was already established by 200 A.D. This makes it only a very interesting aspect of Chinese life, but also one of mankind's greatest achievement.

The 368 Chinese characters listed here are the root charaters or radicals. Of the 360 characters, some can function independently as characters, and are then contracted when they appear in combination.

女 woman; girl; daughter;   女儿 daughter 女工 woman worker 女皇 empress 女人 woman 女士 lady 女王 queen 女性 the famale 子 infant; child; son;   子弹 bullet 子弟 young generations 子女 children 子孙 descendants 子夜 midnight 子音 consonant 孩子 child

好 good; right; excellent;   好吃 delicious 好处 benefit;advantage 好感 good impression 好汉 worthy man 好久 a long time 好看 good looking 好听 pleasant to the ear 安 peace; contentment;     安定 stable 安眠 sleep peacefully 安排 arrange 安全 safe;secure 安慰 comfort;console 安装 install;assemble 不安 unesay;worried

字 written; character;     字典 dictionary 字号 name of shop 字迹 handwriting 字据 written receipt 字幕 subtitle 字体 style of calligraphy 写字 writing (words) 豕 pig;       猪排 pork ribs 猪肉 pork 猪油 lard 猪肝色 maroon colour 懒猪 lazy pig

家 house; family;     家产 family‘s propenty 家具 fumiture 家庭 family;home 家务 household chores 家乡 native place 家长 parents 家族 clan or the family 嫁 to marry; a man ;     嫁娶 marriage 嫁人 get married 嫁妆 trousseau 出嫁 be married

妻 wife;       妻舅 brother-in-law 妻室 legal wife 妻子 wife 贤妻 good wife             木 tree; wood;     木材 timber 木筏 wooden raft 木工 carpentry 木瓜 papaya 木屐 clogs 木匠 carpenter 木料 timber;lumber

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Chinese Phrases for travellers

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