Having just returned to Beijing after a month and a half back in the States, with a friend who is here in China for his first time and speaks no Chinese, I figured a post with some useful travel phrases would be a good idea. If you are a total China n00b like my friend, these phrases should help you get by in your first few days:

MONEY

How much (does it cost)?  – 多少钱 – duō shǎo qián : When traveling in China, and anywhere else for that matter, this is incredibly useful.

Can it be cheaper? – 便宜点吧 － pián yi diǎn ba : When shopping in China, bargaining is a must.  Use this phrase to your advantage so you don’t get ripped off.

IN A TAXI

Please take me to ____ – 请带我去 ____ – qǐng dài wǒ qù _____ : When you get in a taxi, say this and fill in the blank with your preferred destination.  If you don’t have confidence in your ability to pronounce the name correctly, print out the address and say “请带我到这个地址 – qǐng dài wǒ dào zhè ge dì zhǐ”, which means “Please take me to this address.”  When cab drivers hear you speak Chinese, they are less likely to rip you off.

Speaking of cab drivers, if you are traveling outside of Beijing, Shanghai, or other big tourist friendly cities, be prepared with this phrase…

Please turn the meter on – 请打表 – qǐng dǎ biǎo : This phrase has proven to be useful on many occassions here for me, as drivers in smaller cities tend to try to take advantage of oblivious 老外.

Here’s a short YouTube video that has some more useful phrases.

ASKING DIRECTIONS

Where is ____?  – ____ 在哪里 – ____ zài nǎ lǐ : In Chinese, you put the name of the place first, and then ask “at where?”.

How do I get to ____? – _____ 怎么去 – ____ zěn me qù : This goes along with asking for directions, and can be helpful in determining whether to walk, run, bike, swim, or taxi it to your desired destination.

IN A RESTAURANT

What do you recommend? – 你推荐什么菜 – nǐ tuī jiàn shén me cài : If you can’t read the menu, use this as your go-to phrase.  Sometimes you’ll end up with something you love, and sometimes you’ll end up with something really funky.  If you’re in China and you can’t really speak Chinese, you are just going to have to deal with this.  Don’t be a lame foreigner and eat McDonald’s every day…

What specialties do you have? – 你们有什么特色菜 – nǐ men yǒu shén me tè sè cài : If you are OK with eating just about everything (like I am), just utter this phrase and take what you are given.  In my experience, the specialty dishes in local restaurants are usually amazing.  Of course, if you are a pickier eater, you may need to equip yourself with a few more phrases, such as…

I don’t eat meat – 我不吃肉 – wǒ bù chī ròu : I hang out with a lot of vegetarian hippies at home, so I think this one is useful as well.  If you tell this to your waiter, they will understand and will bring you only veggie dishes.

I like/don’t like spicy food – 我喜欢吃辣/我不喜欢吃辣 : wǒ xǐ huan chī là/wǒ bù xǐ huan chī là – As a lot of Chinese food is really spicy, this is pretty important.  If you can’t take the heat, well, you don’t need to get out of the kitchen… Just say this and they will cool it down a bit for you.