Summer is fast approaching, as children finish up their exams and parents scramble to schedule family vacations and summer camps. For Chinese kids, the learning never stops. While the summer holiday provides a much-needed break from the long days and stacks of homework at their school, there will most certainly be extra classes during the summer months – piano, English, kung fu, and swimming are all popular choices. Of course, there’s also room for some summer fun in between all those lessons. Beach destinations like Qingdao and Xiamen receive tons of domestic visitors throughout the summer, as do the usual tourist hotspots of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Zoos and amusement parks all across the country do their best business over the summer holiday, as families flock there to enjoy a day of fun together.

To help you talk about your summer plans in Chinese, here’s some useful summer vocabulary:

Summer Vacation

• summer (夏天 – xià tiān)

• summer vacation (暑假 – shǔ jià)

• vacation (假期 – jià qī)

Activities

• camping (露营 – lù yíng)

• cycling (骑自行车 – qí zì xíng chē)

• fishing (钓鱼 – diào yú)

• having a picnic (野餐 – yě cān)

• hiking (爬山 – pá shān)

• relaxing (休息 – xiū xí)

• sightseeing (观光 – guān guāng)

• swimming (游泳 – yóu yǒng)

• traveling (旅游 – lǚ yóu)

Places

• amusement park (游乐园 – yóu lè yuán)

• beach (海滩 – hǎi tān)

• lake (湖 – hú)

• mountains (山区 – shān qū)

• park (公园 – gōng yuán)

• swimming pool (游泳池 – yóu yǒng chí)

• summer camp (夏令营 – xià lìng yíng)

• water park (水上乐园 – shuǐ shàng lè yuán)

Clothing

• bathing suit (游泳衣 – yóu yǒng yī)

• bikini (比基尼 – bǐ jī ní)

• dress (连衣裙 – lián yī qún)

• hat (帽子 – mào zi)

• sandals (凉鞋 – liáng xié)

• shorts (短裤 – duǎn kù)

• skirt (裙子 – qún zi)

• sunglasses (太阳镜 – tài yáng jìng)

• t-shirt (T恤 – T xù)

Food & Drink

• BBQ (烧烤 – shāo kǎo)

• cold beer (冰的啤酒 – bīng de pí jiǔ)

• ice cream (冰淇淋 – bīng qí lín)

• iced tea (冰茶 – bīng chá)

• lemonade (柠檬水 – níng méng shuǐ)

• watermelon (西瓜 – xī guā)

Practice some of these words and a few others by following along with this YouTube video:

Questions

Try using some of these words by answering the following questions:

In the summertime – Where do you like to go? What do you like to do? What clothing do you wear? What things do you like to eat?

夏天的时候 – 你喜欢去哪里？你喜欢做什么？你穿什么衣服？你喜欢吃什么东西？

xià tiān de shí hòu, nǐ xǐ huān qù nǎ lǐ? nǐ xǐ huān zuò shén me? nǐ chuān shén me yī fú? nǐ xǐ huān chī shén me dōng xī?