Useful Words and Phrases

English	Pinyin/ Characters	Phenetics English
Greetings:
Hello		knee how
Where are you from?		knee tzaun nar lee lei
What is your name?		neen gway shing
Good Bye		zi gee¡¯en
Useful sayings:
Yes		shr
No		boo shr
Right or Correct		dway
Wrong		boo dway
No, thanks		boo yong la, sheh sheh
Thank you		sheh sheh
You are welcome		boo yong sheh
Excuse me		dway boo chee
I do not understand		wore ting boo dong
I would like		wore yeow
How much?		dor sheow chen
Too expensive		tie gway la
Make Directions:
Stop!		ting
Left		zaw
Right		yo
Go straight		chee¡¯ an
There		nar lee
Here		jur lee
Toilet		tsur saw
In the restaurant:
Chopstick		kwhy za
Knife		dow
Fork		char z
Spoon		sheow z
Water		shway
Settle the Bill		my dan
Pronouns:
I / Me		wore
You		knee
He / She / It		tar
Numbers:
1		e
2		r
3		san
4		sz
5		oo
6		leo
7		chee
8		bah
9		jeo
10		shr

USEFUL CHINESE WORDS AND PHRASES

Pronunciation Key

Once you begin to realize the difficulty of the Chinese language, you'll learn to be very patient with your English students in Taiwan. Mandarin Chinese (the main dialect spoken in Taiwan) has four different tonal inflections. By changing the tone of one word, it takes on a different meaning. On top of this, an alphabet, as we know one, does not exist. Instead, the Chinese written language consists of over 5,000 characters, and almost every word is made up of one or two characters. Luckily, aside from tonal changes, the spoken language isn't any more difficult to learn than any other language. Here are some pronunciation tips to get you started.

a = "o" in pop, copy, stop, top
ai = "i" in pie, high, tie
ao = "ow" in flower, power, shower
e = "e" in heard, fervor
i = "ee" in keep, meet, fleet
o = "o" in store, more, core
ou = "oa" in float, boat, moat
uo = "wo" in wore, "wa" in war
q = "ch" in chin, chief, choose
x = "sh" in shift, shin, shell
z = "ds" in kids, bids, lids

Words and Phrases

English	Chinese	Phenetics English
Hello	Ni Hao	knee how
Goodbye	Zaijian	zi gee¡¯en
Thank you	Xie Xie	sheh sheh
You're welcome.	Bukeqi	boo yong sheh
No	Meiyou	boo shr
Where is the bus station?	Gongche zhan zai nali?
Where is the train station?	Huoche zhan zai nali?
Where is the bathroom?	Xishoujian za nali?
I don't understand.	Wo ting budong.
Do you understand?	Dong budong?
I'm lost.	Wo mi lu.
What time is it?	Ji dian?

Chinese Numbers

English	Chinese	English	Chinese
one	yi	six	liu
two	er, liang	seven	qi
three	san	eight	ba
four	si	nine	jiu
five	wu	ten	shi

Useful Words and Phrases

Useful Words and Phrases