From Wikitravel

Mandarin Chinese is the official language of China and Taiwan, and is one of the official languages of Singapore. In English, it is often just called "Mandarin" or "Chinese". In China, it is called Putonghua (普通话), meaning "common speech", while in Taiwan it is referred to as Guoyu (國語), "the national language." It has been the main language of education in China (excluding Hong Kong) since the 1950s. Standard Mandarin is close to, but not quite identical to, the Mandarin dialect of the Beijing area. Note that while the spoken Mandarin in the above places is more or less the same, the written characters are different. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, traditional characters are used, whereas China and Singapore use a simplified derivative.

[edit] Understand

Note that "dialect" has a different meaning when applied to Chinese from when it is appied to other languages.

Chinese "dialects" are mutually unintelligible, as different as, say, Italian and French, which we would call "related languages" rather than "dialects".

All Chinese dialects, in general, use the same characters in reading and writing. A Cantonese speaker and a Mandarin speaker cannot talk to each other, but either can generally read what the other writes. Even a speaker of Japanese or Korean will recognise many characters.

An exception arises where in some spoken dialects, for example Cantonese as used in Hong Kong, more informal phrasings are used in everyday speech than what would be written. Thus, there are some extra characters that are sometimes used in addition to the common characters to represent the spoken dialect and other colloquial words.

One additional complication is that mainland China and Singapore use simplified characters, a long-debated change completed by the mainland Chinese government in 1956 to facilitate the standardization of language across China's broad minority groups and sub-dialects of Mandarin and other Chinese languages. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and many overseas Chinese still use the traditional characters. In addition, the Dungan language, which is spoken in some parts of Russia, is considered to be a variant of Mandarin but uses the Cyrillic alphabet instead of Chinese characters.

About one fifth of the people in the world speak some form of Chinese as their native language. It is a tonal language that is related to Burmese and Tibetan. Although Japanese and Korean use Chinese written characters the spoken languages are not related to Chinese. Also the unrelated Vietnamese language has borrowed many words from Chinese.

One additional complication is that mainland China and Singapore use simplified characters, a long-debated change completed by the mainland Chinese government in 1956 to facilitate the standardization of language across China's broad minority groups and sub-dialects of Mandarin and other Chinese languages. Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and many overseas Chinese still use the traditional characters. In addition, the Dungan language, which is spoken in some parts of Russia, is considered to be a variant of Mandarin but uses the Cyrillic alphabet instead of Chinese characters.

About one fifth of the people in the world speak some form of Chinese as their native language, making it the most spoken language in the world. It is a tonal language that is related to Burmese and Tibetan. Although Japanese and Korean use Chinese written characters and a large number of Chinese loanwords, they are not even in the same language family. Rather they are related in a manner that resembles English having a lot of Romance language-derived loanwords while still being a Germanic language. Also, the unrelated Vietnamese language (which uses a distinctive version of the Latin alphabet) language has borrowed many words from Chinese and at one time used Chinese characters as well.

Travellers headed for Guangdong, Hong Kong or Macau may find Cantonese more useful than Mandarin. Those heading for Taiwan or southern Fujian may find the Minnan dialect useful as well.

Chinese, like most other Asian languages such as Arabic, is famous for being difficult to learn. While English speakers would initially have problems with the tones and recognizing the many different characters (Chinese has no alphabet), the grammar is very simple and can be picked up very easily. Most notably, Chinese grammar does not have conjugation, tenses, gender, plurals or other grammatical rules found in other major languages such as English or French.

[edit] Pronunciation guide

The pronunciation guide below uses Hanyu pinyin, the official romanization of the People's Republic of China. Until recently, Taiwan used the Wade-Giles system, which is quite different, then switched to Tongyong pinyin, only slightly different from Hanyu pinyin, and now officially uses Hanyu pinyin just like the People's Republic.

Pinyin allows very accurate pronunciation of Chinese if you understand how it works, but the way that it uses letters like q, x, c, z and even i is not at all intuitive to the English speaker. Studying the pronunciation guide below carefully is thus essential. After you master the pronunciation you still may not be understood, its time to move on to the next challenge, speaking the accurate tones.

Some pinyin vowels (especially "e", "i", "ü") can be tricky, so it is best to get a native speaker to demonstrate. Also, beware of the spelling rules listed in the exceptions below.

a 

as in father; otherwise, pronounced as in "awesome"

a in an

as "a" in "cat" or "back" (just the English short "a" sound)

e 

unrounded back vowel (IPA [ɤ]), similar to duh; in unstressed syllables becames a schwa (IPA [ə]), like idea

i 

as in see or key;
after sh, zh, s, z or r, not really a vowel at all but just a stretched-out consonant sound

o 

as in saw

u 

as in soon; but read ü in ju, qu, yu and xu

ü 

as in French lune or German grün

[edit] Diphthongs

These are the diphthongs in Chinese:

ai 

as in pie

ao

as in pouch

ei 

as in pay

ia

as in ya

ia in ' ian'

as in 'yes

iao

as in meow

ie

as in yes

iong

as in Pyongyang

ou

as in mow

ua

as in what

uo

as in war

[edit] Consonants

Chinese stops distinguish between aspirated and unaspirated, not voiceless and voiced as in English. Aspirated sounds are pronounced with a distinctive puff of air as they are pronounced in English when at the beginning of a word, while unaspirated sounds are pronounced without the puff, as in English when found in clusters.

Place a hand in front of your mouth and compare pit (aspirated) with spit (unaspirated) to see the difference.

	Unaspirated		Aspirated
b	as in spot	p	as in pit
d	as in do	t	as in tongue
g	as in skin	k	as in king
j	as in jeer	q	as in cheap
zh	as in jungle	ch	as in chore
z	as in zebra	c	as in rats

Here are the other consonants in Chinese:

m 

as in mow

f 

as in fun

n 

as in none or none

l 

as in lease but pronounced like a Spanish "r" in "rojo"

h 

as in her

x 

as in sheep

sh 

as in shoot

r 

as in fair, but can be "zh" as in "pleasure"

s 

as in sag

ng 

as in sing

w 

as in wing but silent in wu. Before a, ai, ang, eng, and/or o, this may sound like the English v/ German w.

y 

as in yet but silent in yi, yu

If you think that is a fairly intimidating repertoire, rest assured that many Chinese people, particularly those who are not native Mandarin speakers, will merge many of the sounds above (especially q with ch and j with zh).

[edit] Exceptions

There are a fairly large number of niggling exceptions to the basic rules above, based on the position of the sound:

wu- 

as u-, so 五百 wubai is pronounced "ubai"

yi- 

as i-, so 一个 yige is pronounced "ige"

yü- 

as ü-, so 豫园 Yuyuan is pronounced "ü-üan"

[edit] Tones

How do I put my tone marks? If you are confused by how to put tone marks above the Hanyu Pinyin, follow the steps below: Always insert tone marks above the vowels. If there is more than one vowel letter, follow the steps below: (1) Insert it above the 'a' if that letter is present. For example, it is rǎo and not raǒ (2) If not, insert it above 'o'. For example, guó and not gúo (3) Insert it above the letter 'e' if the letters 'a' and 'o' are not present. For example, jué and not júe (4) If only 'i', 'u' and 'ü' are the only present letters, insert it in the letter that occurs last. For example, jiù and not jìu, chuí and not chúi. Note, if the vowel present is ü, the tone mark is put in addition to the umlaut. For example, lǜ

There are four tones in Mandarin that must be followed for proper pronunciation. If you are not used to tonal languages, never underestimate the importance of these tones. Consider a vowel with a different tone as simply a different vowel altogether, and you will realize why Chinese will not understand you if you use the wrong tone — mǎ is to mā as "I want a cake" is to "I want a coke". Be especially wary of questions that have a falling tone, or conversely exclamations that have an "asking" tone (eg jǐngchá, police). In other words, pronounced like does not imply meaning. While Mandarin speakers also vary their tone just like English speakers do to differentiate a statement from a question and convey emotion, this is much more subtle than in English. Do not try it until you have mastered the basic tones.

1. first tone ( ā ) 

flat, high pitch that is more sung instead of spoken.

2. second tone ( á ) 

low to middle, rising pitch that is pronounced like the end of a question phrase (Whát?).

3. third tone ( ǎ ) 

middle to low to high, dipping pitch: for two consecutive words in the third tone, the first word is pronounced as if it is in the second tone. For example, 打扰 dǎrǎo is pronounced as dárǎo.

4. fourth tone ( à ) 

high to low, rapidly falling pitch that is pronounced like a command (Stop!).

5. fifth tone 

neutral pitc that is rarely used by itself (except for phrase particles) but frequently occurring as the second part of a phrase.

[edit] Phrase list

All phrases shown in here use the traditional characters used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, For the simplifed characters used in Mainland China, see Chinese phrsebook.

[edit] Basics

To be or not to be? Chinese does not have words for "yes" and "no" as such; instead, questions are typically answered by repeating the verb. Here are common examples: To be or not to be 是 shì, 不是 bú shì To have or not have / there is or is not 有 yǒu, 沒有 méi yǒu To be right or wrong 對 duì, 不對 bú duì

Hello. 

你好。 Nǐ hǎo.

How are you? 

你好嗎？ Nǐ hǎo ma?

Fine, thank you. 

很好, 謝謝。 Hěn hǎo, xièxie.

What is your (first) name? 

你叫什麼名字？ Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?

My name is ______ . 

我叫 _____ 。 Wǒ jiào ______ .

Nice to meet you. 

很高興認識你。 Hěn gāoxìng rènshì nǐ.

Please. 

請。 Qǐng.

Thank you. 

謝謝。 xièxie.

You're welcome. 

不客氣。 Bú kèqi.

Excuse me. (getting attention) 

請問 qǐng wèn.

Excuse me. (begging pardon) 

打擾一下。 Dǎrǎo yixià ; 麻煩您一下, Máfan nǐ yíxià.

I'm sorry. 

對不起。 Duìbùqǐ.

Goodbye 

再見。 Zàijiàn.

Goodbye (informal) 

拜拜。 Bai-bai. (Byebye)

I can't speak Chinese. 

我不會說漢語。 Wǒ bú huì shuō hànyǔ.

Do you speak English? 

你會說英語嗎？ Nǐ huì shuō yīngyǔ ma?

Is there someone here who speaks English? 

這裏有人會說英語嗎？ Zhèlǐ yǒu rén huì shuō Yīngyǔ ma?

Help! (in emergencies)

救命! Jiù mìng!

Good morning. 

早安。 Zǎo ān.

Good evening. 

晚上好。 Wǎnshàng hǎo.

Good night. 

晚安。 Wǎn ān.

I don't understand. 

我聽不懂。 Wǒ tīng bù dǒng.

Where is the toilet? 

廁所在哪里？ Cèsuŏ zài nǎli?

[edit] Problems

Leave me alone. 

不要打擾我。 (búyào dǎrǎo wǒ)

Don't touch me! 

不要碰我！ (búyào pèng wǒ!)

I'll call the police. 

我要叫警察了。 (wǒ yào jiào jǐngchá le)

Police! 

警察！ (jǐngchá!)

Stop! Thief! 

住手！小偷！ (zhùshǒu! xiǎotōu!)

I need your help. 

我需要你的幫助。 (wǒ xūyào nǐde bāngzhù)

It's an emergency. 

這是緊急情況。 (zhèshì jǐnjí qíngkuàng)

I'm lost. 

我迷路了。 (wǒ mílù le)

I lost my bag. 

我丟了手提包。 (wǒ diūle shǒutíbāo)

I lost my wallet. 

我丟了錢包。 (wǒ diūle qiánbāo)

I'm sick. 

我生病了。 (wǒ shēngbìng le)

I've been injured. 

我受傷了。 (wǒ shòushāng le)

I need a doctor. 

我需要醫生。 (wǒ xūyào yīshēng)

Can I use your phone? 

我可以打個電話嗎？ (wǒ kěyǐ dǎ ge diànhuà ma?)

[edit] Numbers

Chinese numbers are very regular. While Western numerals have become more common, the Chinese numerals shown below are still used, particularly in informal contexts like markets. The characters in parentheses are generally used in financial contexts, such as writing cheques and printing banknotes.

0 〇, 零 

líng

1 一 (壹) 

yī

2 二 (貳) 

èr

3 三 (叄) 

sān

4 四 (肆) 

sì

5 五 (伍) 

wǔ

6 六 (陸) 

liù

7 七 (柒) 

qī

8 八 (捌) 

bā

9 九 (玖) 

jiǔ

10 十 (拾)

shí

11 十一 

shí-yī

12 十二 

shí-èr

13 十三 

shí-sān

14 十四 

shí-sì

15 十五 

shí-wǔ

16 十六 

shí-liù

17 十七 

shí-qī

18 十八 

shí-bā

19 十九 

shí-jiǔ

20 二十 

èr-shí

21 二十一 

èr-shí-yī

22 二十二 

èr-shí-èr

23 二十三 

èr-shí-sān

30 三十 

sān-shí

40 四十 

sì-shí

50 五十 

wǔ-shí

60 六十 

liù-shí

70 七十 

qī-shí

80 八十 

bā-shí

90 九十 

jiǔ-shí

For numbers above 100, any "gaps" must be filled in with 〇 líng, as eg. 一百一 yībǎiyī would otherwise be taken as shorthand for "110". A single unit of tens may be written and pronounced either 一十 yīshí or just 十 shí.

100 一百 (壹佰) 

yī-bǎi

101 一百〇一 

yī-bǎi-líng-yī

110 一百一十 

yī-bǎi-yī-shí

111 一百一十一 

yī-bǎi-yī-shí-yī

200 二百 

èr-bǎi

300 三百 

sān-bǎi

500 五百 

wǔ-bǎi

1000 一千 (壹仟)

yī-qiān

2000 二千 

èr-qiān

Numbers starting from 10,000 are grouped by in units of four digits, starting with 萬 wàn (ten thousand). "One million" in Chinese is thus "hundred ten thousands" (一百萬).

10,000 一萬 

yī-wàn

10,001 一萬〇一 

yī-wàn-líng-yī

10,002 一萬〇二 

yī-wàn-líng-èr

20,000 二萬 

èr-wàn

50,000 五萬 

wǔ-wàn

100,000 十萬 

shí-wàn

200,0000 二十萬 

èr-shí-wàn

1,000,000 一百萬 

yī-bǎi-wàn

10,000,000 一千萬 

yī-qiān-wàn

100,000,000 一億 

yīyì

1,000,000,000,000 一兆 

yīzhào

number _____ (train, bus, etc.) 

number measure word (路 lù or 號 hào etc.) _____ (火車 huǒchē, 公共汽車 gōnggòng qìchē, etc. Measure words are used in combination with a number to indicate the count of mass nouns.[1]

half 

半 bàn (...)

less 

少於 shǎoyū (...)

more 

多於 duōyū (...)

[edit] Time

now 

現在 xiànzài

later 

以後 yǐhòu or 稍後 shāohòu

before 

以前 yǐqián

morning 

早上 zǎoshàng

afternoon 

下午 xiàwǔ

evening 

傍晚 bàngwǎn

night 

晚上, wǎnshàng

[edit] Clock time

What time is it? 

現在幾點？ Xiànzài jǐ diǎn?

It is nine in the morning. 

早上9點鐘。 Zǎoshàng jiǔ diǎn zhōng.

Three-thirty PM. 

下午3點半. Xiàwǔ sān diǎn bàn.

[edit] Duration

_____ minute(s) 

_____ 分鐘 fēnzhōng

_____ hour(s) 

_____ 小時 xiǎoshí

_____ day(s) 

_____ 天 tiān or _____ 日 rì

_____ week(s) 

_____ 星期 xīngqī

_____ month(s) 

_____ 月 yùe

_____ year(s) 

_____ 年 nián

[edit] Days

today 

今天 jīntiān

yesterday 

昨天 zuótiān

tomorrow 

明天 míngtiān

this week 

這個星期 zhège xīngqī

last week 

上個星期 shàngge xīngqī

next week 

下個星期 xiàge xīngqī

Weekdays in Chinese are easy: starting with 1 for Monday, just add the number after 星期 xīngqī.

Sunday 

星期天 xīngqītiān or 星期日 xīngqīrì

Monday 

星期一 xīngqīyī

Tuesday 

星期二 xīngqīèr

Wednesday 

星期三 xīngqīsān

Thursday 

星期四 xīngqīsì

Friday 

星期五 xīngqīwǔ

Saturday 

星期六 xīngqīliù

[edit] Months

Months in Chinese are also easy: starting with 1 for January, just add the number after 月 yuè.

January 

一月, yī yuè

February 

二月, èr yuè

March 

三月, sān yuè

April 

四月, sì yuè

May 

五月, wŭ yuè

June 

六月, liù yuè

July 

七月, qī yuè

August 

八月, bā yuè

September 

九月, jiŭ yuè

October 

十月, shí yuè

November 

十一月, shí yī yuè

December 

十二月, shí èr yuè

Tips: From January to December, you just need to use this pattern: number (1-12) + yuè

[edit] Writing Time and Date

Telling the date in a month in Chinese is also easy. Just say _____ 月 yùe _____ 日 rì for a month and a day.

January 1 

一月一日, yī yuè yī rì

January 2 

一月二日, yī yuè èr rì

January 3 

一月三日, yī yuè sān rì

December 30 

十二月三十日, shí èr yuè sān shí rì

December 31 

十二月三十一日, shí èr yuè sān shí yī rì

[edit] Colors

black 

黑色 hēi sè

white 

白色 bái sè

gray 

灰色 huī sè

red 

紅色 hóng sè

blue 

藍色 lán sè

yellow 

黃色 huáng sè

green 

綠色 lǜ sè

orange 

橙色 chéng sè

purple 

紫色 zǐ sè

brown 

褐色 he sè, 棕色 zōng sè,

Do you have it in another color?  

你們有沒有另外顏色? nǐmen yǒu méiyǒu lìngwài yánsè ?

Tips: sè means 'color', therefore, 'hóng sè' is 'red color'(literally). More common for brown and easier to remember is 'coffee color': 咖啡色 kā fēi sè

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Bus and Train

How much is a ticket to _____? 

去______的票多少錢 qù _____ de piào duō shǎo qián?

Do you go to... (the train station)? 

去不去... (火車站) qù bù qù... (huǒ chē zhàn)

[edit] Directions

How do I get to _____ ? 

怎麼去_____ zěnme qù _____?

...the train station? 

...火車站? ...huǒchē zhàn?

...the bus station? 

...汽車總站? ...qìchē zǒngzhàn?

...the airport? 

...飛機場? ...fēijī chǎng?

street 

街 jiē

road 

路 lù

Turn left. 

左邊轉彎 zuǒbiān zhuǎnwān

Turn right. 

右邊轉彎 yòubiān zhuǎnwān

left 

左邊 zuǒbiān

right 

右邊 yòubiān

straight ahead 

往前走 wǎngqián zǒu

north 

北 bĕi

south 

南 nán

east 

東 dōng

west 

西 xī

[edit] Taxi

Taxi 計程車 chū zū chē

Take me to _____, please. 

請開到_____。 qǐng kāidào _____。

[edit] Lodging

Common signs 入口  Entrance 出口  Exit 推  Push 拉  Pull 廁所 / 洗手間  Toilet 男  Men 女  Women 禁止  Forbidden 吸煙  Smoking

Do you have any rooms available? 

你們有房間嗎？ Nǐmen yǒu fángjiān ma?

Does the room come with... 

有沒有... Yǒu méiyǒu...

...bedsheets? 

...床單？ ...chuángdān?

...a bathroom? 

...浴室？ ...yùshì?

...a telephone? 

...電話？ ...diànhuà?

...a TV? 

...電視？ ...diànshì ?

I will stay for _____ night(s). 

我打算住_____夜。 Wǒ dǎsuàn zhù _____ yè.

Do you have a safe? 

你們有沒有保險箱？ Nǐmen yǒu méiyǒu bǎoxiǎn xiāng?

Can you wake me at _____? 

請明天早上_____叫醒我。 Qǐng míngtiān zǎoshang _____ jiàoxǐng wǒ.

I want to check out. 

我現在要走。 Wǒ xiànzài yào zǒu.

[edit] Money

pay

付 fù

cash

現錢 xiàn qián or 現金 xiàn jīn

credit card

信用卡 xìn yòng kǎ

[edit] Eating

Can I look at the menu, please? 

請給我看看菜單 qĭng gĕi wŏ kànkan càidān?

I'm a vegetarian 

我吃素的 wŏ chī sù de

breakfast 

早飯 zǎofàn

lunch 

午飯 wǔfàn or 中飯 zhōngfàn

supper 

晚飯 wǎnfàn

beef 

牛肉 niúròu

pork

豬肉 zhūròu

mutton

羊肉 yángròu

chicken

雞 jī

fish

魚 yú

cheese 

乳酪 nǎilào

eggs 

雞蛋 jīdàn

bread 

麵包 miànbāo

noodles 

麵條 miàntiáo

fried rice

炒飯 chǎofàn

dumpling

餃子 jiǎozi

rice 

米飯 mĭfàn

coffee 

咖啡 kāfēi

black coffee: 黑咖啡 hēi kāfēi

milk

牛奶 niúnǎi

sugar

糖 táng

tea (drink) 

茶 cha

green tea

綠茶 lǜ chá

scented tea

花茶 huāchá

black tea

紅茶 hóngchá

juice 

水果 shuǐguǒ fruit; 汁 zhī juice

water 

水 shuĭ

natural mineral water

礦泉水 kuàngquán shuǐ

beer 

啤酒 píjiŭ

red/white wine 

紅/白 葡萄 酒 hóng/bái pŭtáo jiŭ

It was delicious. 

好吃極了。 (hǎochī jí le)

The check, please. 

請結帳。 (qǐng jiézhàng)

[edit] Bars

Do you serve alcohol? 

有沒有賣酒？ (yǒu méiyǒu mài jiǔ?)

Is there table service? 

有沒有餐桌服務？ (yǒu méiyǒu cānzhuō fúwù?)

A beer/two beers, please. 

請給我一杯/兩杯啤酒。 (qǐng gěi wǒ yìbēi/liǎngbēi píjiǔ)

A glass of red/white wine, please. 

請給我一杯紅/白葡萄酒。 (qǐng gěi wǒ yìbēi hóng/bái pútáojiǔ)

A pint, please. 

請給我一品脫。 (qǐng gěi wǒ yìpǐntuō)

A bottle, please. 

請給我一瓶。 (qǐng gěi wǒ yìpíng)

_____ (hard liquor) and _____ (mixer), please. 

請給我_____和_____。 (qǐng gěi wǒ _____ hé _____)

whiskey 

威士卡 (wēishìjì)

vodka 

伏特加 (fútèjiā)

rum 

蘭姆酒 (lánmǔjiǔ)

water 

水 (shuǐ)

club soda 

蘇打水 (sūdǎshuǐ)

tonic water 

通甯水 (tōngníngshuǐ)

orange juice 

柳橙汁 (liǔchéngzhī)

Coke (soda) 

可樂 (kělè)

Do you have any bar snacks? 

有沒有吧臺點心？ (yǒu méiyǒu bātái diǎnxīn?)

One more, please. 

請再給我一個。 (qǐng zài gěi wǒ yígè)

Another round, please. 

請再來一輪。 (qǐng zàilái yìlún)

When is closing time? 

幾點打烊？ (jǐdiǎn dǎyáng?)

Where is the toilet? 

廁所在那裏 (cèsuǒ zài nàli?)

[edit] Shopping

Do you have this in my size? 

有沒有我的尺寸？ (yǒu méiyǒu wǒde chǐcùn?)

How much is this? 

這個多少錢？ (zhège duōshǎo qián?)

That's too expensive. 

太貴了。 (tài gùi le)

Would you take _____? 

_____元可以嗎？ (_____ yuán kěyǐ ma?)

expensive 

貴 (gùi)

cheap 

便宜 (piányí)

I can't afford it. 

我帶的錢不夠。 (wǒ dài de qián búgòu)

I don't want it. 

我不想要。 (wǒ bùxiǎng yào)

You're cheating me. 

你欺騙我。 (nǐ qīpiàn wǒ) Use with caution!

I'm not interested. 

我沒有興趣。 (wǒ méiyǒu xìngqù)

OK, I'll take it. 

我要買這個。 (wǒ yào mǎi zhège)

Can I have a bag? 

請給我袋子。 (qǐng gěi wǒ dàizǐ)

Do you ship (overseas)? 

可以郵寄到海外嗎？ (kěyǐ yóujì dào hǎiwài ma?)

I need... 

我要_____ (wǒ yào _____)

...toothpaste. 

牙膏 (yágāo)

...a toothbrush. 

牙刷 (yáshuā)

...tampons. 

衛生棉條 (wèishēng miántiáo)

...soap. 

香皂 (xiāngzào)

...shampoo. 

洗髮精 (xǐfǎjīng)

...pain reliever. (e.g., aspirin or ibuprofen) 

鎮痛劑 (zhèntòngjì)

...cold medicine. 

感冒藥 (gǎnmòuyào)

...stomach medicine. 

胃腸藥 (wèichángyào)

...a razor. 

剃刀 (tìdāo)

...an umbrella. 

雨傘 (yu3sǎn)

...sunblock lotion. 

防曬油 (fángshàiyóu)

...a postcard. 

明信片 (míngxìnpiàn)

...postage stamps. 

郵票 (yóupiào)

...batteries. 

電池 (diànchí)

...writing paper. 

紙 (zhǐ)

...a pen. 

筆 (bǐ)

...English-language books. 

英文書 (yīngwén shū)

...English-language magazines. 

英文雜誌 (yīngwén zázhì)

...an English-language newspaper. 

英文報紙 (yīngwén bàozhǐ)

...a Chinese-English dictionary. 

漢英字典 (hànyīng zìdiǎn)

...an English-Chinese dictionary. 

英漢字典 (yīnghàn zìdiǎn)

[edit] Driving

I want to rent a car. 

我想要租車。 (wǒ xiǎngyào zūchē)

Can I get insurance? 

我可以買保險嗎？ (wǒ kěyǐ mǎi bǎoxiǎn ma?)

stop (on a street sign) 

停 (tíng)

one way 

單行道 (dānxíngdào)

yield 

讓路 (rànglù)

no parking 

禁止停車 (jìnzhǐ tíngchē)

speed limit 

速度限制 (sùdù xiànzhì)

gas (petrol) station 

加油站 (jiāyóuzhàn)

petrol 

汽油 (qìyóu)

diesel 

柴油 (cháiyóu)

[edit] Authority

I haven't done anything wrong. 

我沒有作錯事。 (wǒ méiyǒu zuòcuò shì)

It was a misunderstanding. 

這是誤會。 (zhè shì wùhuì)

Where are you taking me? 

你帶我去哪里？ (nǐ dài wǒ qù nǎlǐ?)

Am I under arrest? 

我被捕了嗎？ (wǒ bèibǔle ma?)

I am an American/Australian/British/Canadian citizen. 

我是 美國/澳洲/英國/加拿大 公民。 (wǒ shì měiguó/àozhōu/yīngguó/jiānádà gōngmín)

I want to talk to the American/Australian/British/Canadian embassy/consulate. 

我希望跟 美國/澳洲/英國/加拿大 的 大使館/領事館 聯繫。 (wǒ xīwàng gēn měiguó/àozhōu/yīngguó/jiānádà de dàshǐguǎn/lǐngshìguǎn liánxì)

I want to talk to a lawyer. 

我希望跟律師聯繫。 (wǒ xīwàng gēn lǜshī liánxì)

Can I just pay a fine now? 

我可以只付罰款嗎？ (wǒ kěyǐ zhǐ fù fákuǎn ma?)

[edit] Telephone and the Internet

Telephone and Internet In most Chinese cities, there are no telephone booths. Instead, small street shops have telephones which can usually be used for national calls. Look for signs like this: 公用電話 Public Telephone Most cafes are cheaper than in hotels. Many mid-range hotels and chains now offer free wireless or plug-in internet. Those cafes are quite hidden sometimes and you should look for the following Chinese characters: 網咖 Internet Cafe

Can I make international calls here? 

可以打國際電話嗎? (kěyǐ dǎ guójì diànhuà ma?)

How much is it to America/Australia/Britain/Canada? 

到 美國/澳洲/英國/加拿大 是多少錢? (dào měiguó/àozhōu/yīngguó/jiānádà shì duōshǎo qián?)

Where can I find an Internet cafe? 

那裏有網吧? (nǎlǐ yǒu wǎng ba?)

How much is it per hour? 

一小時是多少錢? (yī xiǎoshí shì duōshǎo qián?)

[edit] Learning more

Chinese is the most spoken language of the world, with more speakers than the next two, Hindi and Spanish, combined. However, there are still few learners of Chinese in the Western world and you might get weird looks if you say you want to start learning it: "Instead of anger of frustration, the student should instead feel a smug superiority of being ahead of everyone else!"

The first step is to learn to read the romanization with tones. Avoid any phrasebook that does not mark the tones.

For simple sentences, one may be able to get away without tones, but this can cause confusion in more complex situations, so tones are very important. A classic example is the difference between the Chinese characters for "four" (四, sì) and "death" (死, sǐ), different only by tones. A good idea for practicing is to make Chinese friends online since millions of young people in China also look for somebody to practice English with.

A good idea for practicing is to make Chinese friends online since millions of young people in China also look for somebody to practice English with.

• Chinese (Wikibooks.org): Free lessons providing detailed grammar explanations, audio samples and stroke order animations.
• Day Day Up Chinese: Online textbook with dialogues, example sentences, grammar, vocabulary and cultural notes, and some practice exercises
• Digital Dialects Chinese: Interactive games for learning Chinese in both Pinyin and simplified characters.
• ZhongWen Red: Free basic online Mandarin tutorials with audio.
• Chinese Flashcards: Annotated Texts, Flashcards, Multiple choice tests
• Mandarin Toplist: List of the major Mandarin instructional websites with short reviews
• a keyboard for typing Chinese characters for Firefox
• Mandarin phrasebook app for travelers
• Dear Dim Sum, daily small bites Chinese lessons

This is a guide phrasebook. It covers all the major topics for traveling without resorting to English. But please Plunge forward and help us make it a star!