Survival Chinese

Getting Started

Chinese is touted as being one of the World's most difficult languages to learn. This may be true; however, basic conversation skills can be picked up rather quickly. Refer to the Phonetic Guide to help you with pronunciation.

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Hellos and Goodbyes

Hello.	你好.	Nǐ hǎo.
How are you?	你好嗎?	Nǐ hǎo ma?
Goodbye.	再見.	Zài jiàn.
Take care. (said to someone leaving)	慢走.	Màn zǒu.

The Pronouns

I	我	Wǒ
My	我的	Wǒ de
You	你	Nǐ
Your	你的	Nǐ de
He	他	Ta
His	他的	Ta de
She	她	Ta
Her	她的	Ta de
We	我們	Wǒ men
Our	我們的	Wǒ men de
You	你們	Nǐ men
Your	你們的	Nǐ men de
They	他們	Ta men
Their	他們的	Ta men de

Basic Verbs

Want	要	Yào
Go; Depart	去	Qù
Eat	吃	Chi

Places

Bus Station	公車站	Gong che zhàn
Train Station	火車站	Huǒ chē zhàn
Taiwan High Speed Rail Station	台灣高鐵站	Tái wan gao tiě zhàn
Police Station	警察局	Jǐng chá jú
Gas Station	加油站	Jia yóu zhàn
Post Office	郵局	Yóu jú
Hotel	大飯店	Dà fàn diàn
Restaurant	餐館	Can guǎn
Department Store	百貨公司	Bǎi huò gong si
Pharmacy	藥局	Yào jú
Hospital	醫院	Yi yuàn
Park	公園	Gong yuán
Airport	機場	Jī chǎng

People

Mother	媽媽	Mā ma
Father	爸爸	Bà ba
Older Brother	哥哥	Gē ge
Older Sister	姐姐	Jiě jie
Younger Brother	弟弟	Dì di
Younger Sister	妹妹	Mèi mei
Family	家人	Jia rén
Teacher	老師	Lǎo shī
Person	人	Rén
Mr., Mr. Zhang	先生, 張先生	Xiān sheng, Zhāng xiān sheng
Mrs., Mrs. Zhang	太太, 張太太	Tài tài, Zhāng tài tài
Miss, Miss Zhang	小姐, 張小姐	Xiǎo jie, Zhāng xiǎo jie
Friend	朋友	Péng you
Doctor	醫生	Yī shēng
Dentist	牙醫	Yá yī
Police Officer	警察	Jǐng chá
Businessperson	商人	Shāng rén
Server	服務員	Fú wù yuán