Eating out in China

Have you ever been to a Chinese restaurant and wanted to use some Chinese language? In this blog post we will learn basic Chinese which will enable you to order food in a Chinese restaurant.

First of all how do we say restaurant in Chinese language?

餐厅 (cāntīng)

饭馆 (fànguǎn)

Once you are in the restaurant

服务员 (fúwùyuán): waiter/waitress

菜单 (càidān): menu

点菜 (diǎn cài): to order food

上菜 (shàng cài): to serve food

慢慢吃 (màn man chī): Bon appétit (eat slowly)

请慢用 (qǐng màn yòng): please eat slowly

好吃 (hào chī): delicious; tasty

味道 (wèidào): taste; flavor

And after you are done eating

埋单 (máidān): to pay bill

一起付 (yīqǐ fù): pay together

分开付 (fēnkāi fù): pay separately

小费 (xiǎofèi): tip

Next time you go to a Chinese restaurant, try using these words. 慢慢吃!!!

球迷 (qiúmí)

对不起， 好久不写。最近我很忙。每天看足球， 没有时间。足球比赛结束了， 所以我会常写。

Duìbùqǐ, hǎo jiǔ bù xiě. Zuìjìn wǒ hěn máng. Měi tiān kàn zúqiú, méiyǒu shíjiān. Zúqiú bǐsài jiéshù le, suǒyǐ  wǒ huì cháng xiě.

Sorry I haven’t written in a long time. I was really busy these days. I was watching soccer everyday and had no time. The tournament is over now and I will write more often. 

Below are some useful sports related terms:

比赛 (bǐsài): game; competition; tournament

球赛 (qiúsài): match; ball game

球队 (qiú duì): team

球星 (qiúxīng): star player

球场 (qiúchǎng): field; court

球迷 (qiúmí): fan

Chinese GPS

Have you ever wondered how a chinese GPS might sound? Well it might not say these exact words, but here is a direction from 银行 (Yínháng) to 邮局 (Yóujú) in the map below:

出门往左走，走到河边，左转。沿着河走，你会看到一座桥。走过桥，在第二个路口左转。沿着这条路走过三条街，右转，直走，邮局在左边。

Chūmén wǎng zuǒ zǒu, zǒu dào hé biān, zuǒ zhuǎn. Yánzhe hé zǒu, nǐ huì kàn dào yī zuò qiáo, zǒu guò qiáo, zài dì èr gè lùkǒu zuǒ zhuǎn. Yánzhe zhè tiáo lù zǒu guò sān tiáo jiē, yòu zhuǎn, zhí zǒu, yóujú zài zuǒ biān.

Go out and go left. When you arrive the river, turn left. Walk along the river and you will see a bridge. Cross the bridge and turn left on the second intersection. Keep walking on this road and take the third right. Go straight and the post office is on your left.

Some vocabulary from the map:

银行 (yínháng): bank

邮局 (yóujú): post office

桥 (qiáo): bridge

河 (hé): river

And few more useful vocabulary:

路口 (lùkǒu): intersection

路灯 (lùdēng): traffic light

超市 (chāoshì): supermarket

电影院 (diànyǐngyuàn): cinema

医院 (yīyuàn): hospital

Jay Chou – Fearless

I know it’s been a while since we learned a song. Today I will share with you all a song which was pretty popular when I was in China. Fearless was sung by Jay Chou as a theme song to Jet Li’s 2006 movie ‘Fearless’.

霍元甲(Huò yuán jiǎ): Fearless

命有几回合擂台等着

mìng yǒu jǐ huíhé lèitái děngzhe

Life has few rounds and the ring is waiting

生死状嬴了什么冷笑着

shēngsǐ zhuàng yíngle shénme Lěngxiàozhe

The death contest wins nothing but hostile sneering

天下谁的第一又如何

tiānxià shuí de dì yī yòu rúhé

Does it matter who is the number one in the world?

止干戈我辈尚武德

zhǐ gāngē wǒ bèi shàngwǔ dé

My generation still respects martial arts as means to stop war

The Chinese Times

We just learned how to say year, month, week and days in Chinese language. One of the readers asked how to write dates in Chinese language. As promised here it is:

(year) 年 (month) 月 (date) 日

So today’s date would be

2012 年 5月 14 日 (2012 nián 5 yuè 14 rì)

And December 31, 2012 would be

2012 年 12月 31 日 (2012 nián 12 yuè 31 rì)

Next we will learn how to say time in Chinese language. Here’s some useful vocabulary first:

点 (diǎn): hour

分 (fēn): minute

刻 (kè): quarter

半 (bàn): half

And some examples:

3:00 – 三点 (sān diǎn)

4:15 – 四点一刻 (sì diǎn yī kè)

5:30 – 五点半 (wǔ diǎn bàn)

6:45 – 六点三刻 (liù diǎn sān kè)

7:14 – 七点十四分 (qī diǎn shísì fēn)

8:41 – 八点四十一分 (bā diǎn sìshíyī fēn)