Chinese Language Blog

Learn how to count from 1-100 in Mandarin Chinese with the assistance of 100 people in Beijing! My students and colleagues were nice enough to help me put together this montage, so a big thanks goes out to them for their help. It clocks in at just under 2 minutes, so play it through a few times and try to follow along. If you need the pinyin transliterations, go back and review the written post from last week.

The capital of southwest China’s Sichuan province, Chengdu is both an ancient and a modern city, with a long history and traditional Chinese culture mixed in with brand new skyscrapers that seem to be sprouting up every few hours. A morning here is well-spent wandering the massive People’s Park, where locals gather to sip tea, take a boat ride, or get in the groove with live music and plenty of group dancing. From there, a stroll through downtown’s Tianfu Square gives you a glimpse into both Chengdu’s past and future.

成都 – chéng dū

Chengdu

四川 – sì chuān

Sichuan

毛主席 – máo zhǔ xí

Chairman Mao

人民公园 – rén mín gōng yuán

People’s Park

人民喜欢来这里租一条船 – rén mín xǐ huan lái zhè lǐ zū yī tiáo chuán

People like to come here to rent a boat.

茶馆 – chá guǎn

tea house

休息 – xiū xi

have a rest

看报纸 – kàn bào zhǐ

read a newspaper

喝茶 – hē chá

drink tea

扇子 – shàn zi

fan

他们有大提琴，一个歌手，萨克斯，小提琴，电子琴，和二胡

tā men yǒu dà tí qín, yī gè gē shǒu, sà kè sī, xiǎo tí qín, diàn zǐ qín, hé èr hú

They have a cello, a singer, a sax, a violin, a keyboard, and an er hu.

很多人喜欢来这里跳舞 – hěn duō rén xǐ huan lái zhè lǐ tiào wǔ

Many people like to come here to dance.

后空翻 – hòu kōng fān

backflip

水书法 – shuǐ shū fǎ

water calligraphy

二百五 – Èr bǎi wǔ

250 (stupid person)

帅哥 – shuài gē

handsome guy

棒球 – bàng qiú

baseball

本垒打 – běn lěi dǎ

home run

天府广场 – tiān fǔ guǎng chǎng

Tianfu Square

四川科技馆 – sì chuān kē jì guǎn

Sichuan Science and Technology Musem

钟水饺 – zhōng shuǐ jiǎo

Zhong Dumplings

拍黄瓜- pāi huáng guā

smashed cucumber

担担面- dàn dàn miàn

dan dan noodles

牛逼 – niú bī

f***ing awesome

麻婆豆腐- má pó dòu fu

mapo tofu

Learning common greetings is a very important part of studying any language. Of course, there are more words and phrases than the equivalent of “hello” and “goodbye.” With this short video, you’ll learn how and when to use some of the most common greetings in Chinese.

你好

nǐ hǎo

Hello

nǐ –> ní

您好

nín hǎo

Hello (formal)

你们好

nǐ men hǎo

Hello (to multiple people)

大家好

dà jiā hǎo

Hello everyone

老师好

lǎo shī hǎo

Hello teacher

早上好

zǎo shàng hǎo

Good morning

早

zǎo

Morning

你好吗?

ní hǎo ma

How are you?

你吃饭了吗?

nǐ chī fàn le ma

Have you eaten yet?

好久不见

hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn

Long time no see!

你最近怎么样？

nǐ zuì jìn zěn me yàng

How have you been?

欢迎光临

huān yíng guāng lín

Welcome!

喂

wéi

Hello (on the phone)

再见

zài jiàn

Goodbye

明天见

míng tiān jiàn

See you tomorrow

一会儿见

yí  huì er jiàn

See you later

拜拜

bài bai

Bye bye

晚安

wǎn ān

Good night

慢走

màn zǒu

Take care (lit. “walk slow”)

一路平安

yí  lù píng ‘ān

Bon voyage/have a pleasant trip

下次见

xià cì jiàn

See you next time