11 Crucial Chinese Phrases You Must Know Before You Go to China
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 11 окт 2024
- Before you head off to China, you must know some basic Chinese. Besides the typical hellos and goodbyes here are 11 CRUCIAL must know Chinese phrases you need to learn before you go.
Please support our show: subbable.com/o...
Subscribe for more Off the Great Wall: e.ntd.tv/Subscr...
Make sure to share with your friends!
______________________________
Want more? Check out our favorite videos: e.ntd.tv/BestOf...
OTGW Merchandise! e.ntd.tv/OTGWmerch
Facebook: / offthegreatwall
Twitter: / ntdotgw
And let's not forget Google Plus: e.ntd.tv/Google...
Find Dan on Twitter: / danotgw
Find Mike on Twitter: / mikexingchen
NTD Television: e.ntd.tv/NTDtel...
______________________________
MOBILE LINKS: More OTGW Vids!
Hey Guys, I have a Joke about 'Nali Nali'...one day John a westerner was attending a friend's wedding in China. He walked up to the bride and groom and complimented the bride saying "你今天很美丽"（you look very lovely today. In which the bride replied "Nali Nali". John looked very confused and replied..."your eyes, your hair, your dress..."
Lol.
hahaha
and then the bride finally added: "do me on the counter... right here"
Nali nali means like 'no, no stop it, i dont' Alan Chang
Haha, I get it
I am chinese, I am born in china, and i still have no idea why I am watching this vid.
没关系，我觉的你们的视频挺好看的，继续努力，加油吧。
+Yoloanda hahahahahahahahaha this made me laugh
Yoloanda Me too. 😂😂😂
Yoloanda 那你怎么看到这个视频 哈哈哈哈哈
Yoloanda you are just like me
哈哈哈
funny story, when i first arrived in china to teach english, the teacher who met me at the airport and showed me my home, i looked in the bathroom and their was no TP, but she did not know what it was, so i had to try to use charades to explain and she still didn't get it, but she took me to a shop to see if i could find it, finally i did.
2 weeks later a guy from australia arrived, the same teacher went to meet him, the first thing she said to him was, do you want toilet paper
robert charlton Clearly she learned from you.
LMAO
Hi Great Wallers!
Question we want to post is why is it that when a westerner speaks Chinese it's so cool and fascinating but when an Asian speaks English it's not a big deal? Is it because it's rare to find westerners speak Chinese or because it's almost expected that everyone speaks English?
Also if you haven't already, PLEASE like our facebook page as we will post regular discussion topics so we can all discuss them together :-)
I think it's because it's rare for a Bai Ren/Gweilo to learn and speak an Asian language cool, It is also expected nowaday for anyone to speak english.
It would be like that with any other language I think, and asian languages even more, because a sort of popular conception has it, that they are complicated as hell with tons of symbols! :o
I think it's just the culture. As an American, I appreciate English speakers by listening to their ideas as they express them in my language and try my best not to interrupt them. To them, I feel, they must express the fact that they think it's cool that I learned Chinese (often in the form of 你的中文很好 when it is, in fact, abysmal) in order for me to understand their appreciation. Before I got here, I was told that the Chinese are quite subtle with their social cues - which is quite true in some ways - but they're quite straightforward in just as many ways, I believe.
English is very easy compared to *any* other language in the world and has become an international language. Chinese, on the other hand, is *very difficult* to write and pronounce for *all* people. I, for one, find Chinese fascinating when spoken by Chinese people. It is not *who* speaks it, it is *the language* that fascinates.
Quest for Truth disagree. English is one of the hardest languages to learn if you didn't grow up with it (in some form). Part of the reason being, there are so many 'exceptions to the rule' situations that are hard for English learners to pick up and understand. English is so difficult, even a large amount of native Enlglish speakers have a hard time using the language correctly.
This is not true. English speakers have just a fine time using English. It's their language; it's literally impossible for native speakers (barring abnormalities) to consistently misuse their own language.
English for non-Western language speakers tends to be very difficult to learn because it's so different to them. Questions are formed very differently (Chinese questions make a lot more sense to me: "you want go store (yes/no)?" You can even ask something like, "leave/not leave?") in English than most (if not all) Asian languages.
There are also many sounds that are made in English that aren't made in Chinese, and some sounds that they make that many speakers of different dialects/language (depending on the perspective you take) don't distinguish - the most common one probably being "s/sh," which gets confusing for me (WHAT DO YOU MEAN 10?! YOU CLEARLY SAID 4! Oh, second tone? Well, I forgive you.... today).
Chinese speakers specifically have problems with grammar because morphology as we're familiar with it simply doesn't exist in that language. "Tenses" (I'm not sure you can truly call them tenses as you'd be stuck in the awkward situation of saying that things like 今天，昨天，明天 [today, yesterday, tomorrow] are "tensing" verbs, which gets pretty sticky) moods, and aspects (probably what we should mean when we say "tenses") all come from single-word particles that are tagged on to the end of verb phrases or sentences (I have yet to completely figure this rule out for myself, so apologies in advance for any mistakes in upcoming examples, but the point remains the same). They even distinguish things we'd never distinguish in a similar manner (e.g., "Did you ever go to that store?" 你去商店过吗？ (you go store (experiential past) (yes/no)?) v. "Did you go to the store?" 你去商店了吗？(you go store (past perfective) (yes/no)?) They have particles for things that we have to use adverbs for.
There are certainly many more differences that lead to Chinese English Learners having more language interference than your average English Learner, but from personal experience, morphological tense/inflection is very difficult for many Chinese English speakers. From close friends to my girlfriend, they'll often misuse or overapply the present progressive, perfective, simple present, or whatever. This is to say nothing of infinitival phrases, which I'm not sure how my girlfriend will react when I tell her that, sometimes, verbs are added into sentences in the exact same way as in Chinese.
Long story short, English isn't the most difficult language. It's truly a bastard language, to be sure, having its roots in Germanic origins and then having its mother country invaded many times, not least of which by the Norman French in 1066. And then it took over most of the world for a not insignificant period of time and is now considered the language of international business. But I wouldn't say it's any harder, on average, for someone to learn English than, say, Chinese. Each language has its own nuances and annoyances that one must deal with to successfully learn a language, and English is no different.
In Guangzhou, I got away with "WC" for bathroom since they influenced by Hong Kong (which was influenced by Britain). But when I traveled North, I had to use 厕所。For toilet paper (any type of tissue), I used 纸巾. And bargaining is a type of art in China; you all should do a video on 'how to bargain in China'.
hmmm....perhaps we will :-)
Yay!
Off the Great Wall Could you teach the sign language used for numbers that people use to bargain? That would be great :)
Annalisa Steinnes born in China, raised in China, spend a lot of time in China, I have never seen those hand signal numbers used.
Oyibo Boy Which region did you live in? I've seen them in Guangdong. Maybe they use them for foreigners. But once I could speak some of the language, I didn't see the hand signs as much.
Watching from the Philippines. I love Chinese topics like this. 🇵🇭😊❤
好胖。I think foreigners need to learn this so they can understand when people call them fat. Lol
lol
haha, I will make sure to remember the whole phrase 好胖老外
@Radio 4Men
I like it
Radio 4Men muscled is very different from fat tho
*"I don't want"* had me cracking up
I took Chinese my senior year in high school and I loved it so much! Our teacher was actually on a working visa and from China, so it was awesome having someone authentic teach us the class. It was more about just the language too, she taught us the culture and the etiquette for having tea or eating dinner. I wish I was able to take more than one year, it was definitely my favorite class. This video was awesome by the way, it reminded me how much I loved my Chinese teacher and how much fun I had learning the language! :D
That phrase at 3:00 literally means "you are very cow"
The most common phrase I used in china was 我要这个 (wo yao zhe ge) which means I want this. This phrase saved me a lot!
This is so true!!!! I've just returned from my trip to China and I used these "太贵了，不要，厕所在哪儿" and other phrases thousand times during just two weeks))
We have alot of Chinese massage shops and it would be helpful if you did a series on common parlance with that environment. Such as: I have pain right here. or Don't touch me here. or Really work the neck. etc.
這個影片很牛！
I love how I'm Chinese and still watching this video. I love you guy's accent. Also you should tell them what WC means.
Your guys' enthusiasm is amazing. THANK YOU!!
Wow, this is such a good video. Thanks! This'll help me a lot when I go on my Asian trip.
Cool, glad we could help!
My children are studying Chinese...I'll have to show this to them!
haha I was surprised about the 'hole in the ground', but fortunately most of the bathrooms had toilet paper
and for shopping...thank god I went with my chinese friend :D
I loved this! I’m traveling to China this year and this video is very helpful! Plus you guys taught it in a fun way that will help me remember.
2:48 'You're very cow?' Is what I first thought at first lol
Luv this,great job!
Thanks!
I'm going to china in 14 days, I only know basic Chinese like, ni hao, zaijian,ni hau Ma! This is so helpful!
I think Ni hen niu started trending about 5 years ago. A few years ago "gei Li" or "give energy" and "zhen neng liang" positive energy was used as recently as last year. These trending phrases are like "FTW" "epic". Pretty germane. If you don't watch Chinese programming, u won't see it catching on.
Do people still use gei li and zhen neng liang...? As in, would it still be "cool" to use it...? xD I've heard of gei li before. :)
I'm Sarah Some still do on weibo. I've seen it.
Wo yao cafe; This phrase was the building block for my long Taiwan adventure..
It's I want coffee.
This is really helpful - a definite must watch!
3:27
That's a 1st tier urban bathroom!
If you ACTUALLY go into the countryside, #2 bathrooms are actually concrete pits with no barriers, no privacy, no flush, all stench. latrines are undivided, just a horizontal concrete thing that drains into a hole. The pits are usually too dark to see the bottom of, but do not try; you'll just smell a ton of dung.
Just go on a road trip to 壶口瀑布, and you'll understand. The view is beautiful, but the latrines in the surrounding villages are often as described above
One of the best Spanish phrases I learned was, "estoy bien borracho no entiendo lo que se dice." Essentially, I am really drunk I don't understand...
As I am sure you know, often a touch of humor defuses tension in an otherwise bad situation.
YOU DA COW
Haha, I said "nali nali" to a Chinese person when they complimented my pronunciation. Her reaction was great!
Yea if your western especially, Chinese people would be very surprised you would know that phrase
This is great! I don't know when I'll get to China but I will use this for my students (they are Chinese and learning English).
Thank you! It is really cool video and really important phrases in Chinese!!! I wish I learned thm before I caome to China)))
你很牛 哈哈哈哈哈哈 literrary ... you're very cow =)))))))
Really guys, really?:))
+Marcu Andreea Look up the term: idiom, English has tons of them, too
Can you do it in Cantonese for Hong Kong.
"I don't want" is amazing. My boyfriend has mastered this, particularly in Suzhou when we were exploring the streets to find the gardens. We were a Chinese family plus one white dude, but because we weren't with a tour, we got harassed big time.
Nice!
How did you guys know I'm going to China next year? ;)
I could have definitely used some of these phrases when I was there last time. I just started learning some Mandarin, so hopefully I can get by a little in next June.
where do u want to go ? I'm Chinese here ! Are u going to travel ? Maybe I can recommend some places if u need :)
Matt Bai
Thanks for the suggestion, but I have it planned already. :)
I found out about this place wikitravel.org/en/Pingyao and now it's the main attraction for my visit this time. I'm also going to spend some time in Beijing, but it will be my second time there, so I'll mostly know my way around there.
I'm taking Chinese at university (I want it to be my minor), and I'm happy I found this channel :D It can help while I practice over break ^~^
we are happy you found us as well :-)
Wonderfully funny and useful.
Not just China, here in la, Chinese and Spanish are very useful.
Canton version please but with more pick up lines or cheese catch phrases for the ladies ;D
I just told my Chinese friend "Ni hen niu!" and he wrote back "Wooo! You know a lot about Chinese!" =D
Yea it's an impressive phrase :-)
Thank you for this delightful way of presenting important phrases to know. I had to laugh out load several times and you both made me feel good. My grand daughter 6 yrs. old is going to see them today- she likes doing the characters just for the love of doing them.
Looking at going next fall (to get our son!) so this was super helpful. Thanks guys!
No problem, have fun! Congrats on your son :-)
i enjoy this cause i understand all of these
My favorite Chinese phrase is 搞砸迪克黑德笑🤭
Haha. The "Asian squat" xD
Much more powerful than regular squats!
Hey! Thanks for this useful video. By the way, I notice a lot of people keep on talking about Rocelangue Method (search on google), but I'm not sure if it is good. Have you tried this how to speak practical foreign language tutorial known as Rocelangue Method? I have heard several great things about it.
+Sumaiya Afrin Thanks for the advertisement... -_-
Aha I know someone called nali...
Awesome video guys!
Thanks!
The first one I thought of was, "我不會說中文" :P
Pretty sure you speak 漢語. 中文 is the written language I think.
both are okay :)
+Petrifyer saying 我不會說漢語 is pretty wierd
I'm partially Chinese so I think it would be great if I could speak it. (If I went to China with my dad it'd be more convincing cause he looks more Chinese than me.)
Asking for wei4 sheng1 zhi3 when going to ce4 suo3 is definitely helpful not only in China but also in most South East Asian countries. Pretty much the single most annoying thing when travelling
Love this! :D
太贵了 and 便宜点儿 must be the phrases I used most when I was living in Shanghai.
Also, 哪里哪里 is my favourite phrase ever!
What language are they using in Hongkong? Is it the same?
My boyfriend is working in Hongkong now. He said most people can't speak english, so it's often hard to communicate for him.
In Hong Kong you can speak Cantonese and mandarin
Yeah... My boyfriend just told me that he's learning cantonese now. He said there are a lot of people who only speak cantonese and can't speak mandarine. Is that so?
That sounds kinda complicated :-)
Some of my boyfriend's colleagues there are originally chinese, but grew up in Indonesia. My boyfriend's mom is also chinese, so he's mixed. And they learned mandarine before. But when they tried to use the language, the Hong Kong people just laughed at them. Maybe it just sounds really, really funny to them :-)
His stories seems very exciting but hard to imagine for me.
I'm going to china with my bf in january to visit his grandparents. I think I'll try to impress them with the complement! (My cultural background is vietnamese)
Nice! See how many of these you can use :-)
I think it's cool and great when I see a Chinese person speaking English . Plus u can really hear they're Chinese accents make the English sound better lol
there's an important sentence missing, when you're invited to a Chinese dinner then 吃饱了 (i'm full) will also come in very handy because Chinese will keep giving food until you actually say you're full
Very true
I was adopted from china, and trying my very best to learn it, and this is deffo a funny way to do it 哈哈 xx
First comment! Anyways, I should have known this 2 years ago. I was so lost in Shanghai.
Did you run into a situation where you could have used one of these? lol
Off the Great Wall man, I should have known that 3 years ago, half of that happened to me -.-'
Thanks to you I'm now prepared for my next trip! YAY!
Some of these were pronounced so differently than what they're supposed to sound like, I didn't understand them. Nonetheless, these phrases are very useful in China, I should know. (Okay I know I sound a stuck up know-it-all but I *can* speak Chinese and I am half Chinese too.)
also, learn how to ask for another glass of coke (or water), im not sure if it was just me but with my class the most common shit i had to translate for them was getting another glass of soda (also pack your own toilet paper, just keep some in a bag)
哪里，哪里 (nali nali) the origin of this particular phrase is from “哪里的话” (nali de hua),
literally it means "which (foreign) language (you're talking)".
Chinese speaking habit like to replicate the words to emphasize "a little more than ordinary", or "(it looks like) tend to be", for example "辣辣的“ (lalade) a little spicier or hotter than ordinary, ”贵贵的”(guiguide) it tend to be pricey.
instead of saying 哪里的话，哪里的话 (nali de hua x2), Chinese always tend to shorten it down became 哪里哪里。
haha so i noticed that traditional chinese was used throughout the vid but "贵" was used instead of "貴"! 太貴了
Thanks guys, 谢谢你们！When I said 你很牛！ to my Chinese boyfriend, he went totally nuts, he was so impressed and happy! ^___^
I think it's amazing you want to help us this way, I really thank you sincerely!
Lol these lads are a riot.
nice presentation👌
Can you guys do a video where you show us the formal words to say to chinese parents please? I want to memorize it for when the time comes
Surely "Zhe ge" - which means "this one". If you can't speak it fluently, then "zhe ge" will be your most commonly used phrase. At any restaurant, just point and say "zhe ge" and bam, they know what you want.
I lived in Shenzhen for a while and "Wai Guo Ren" was used a lot for foreigner. Also "W.C." for bathroom as well, everyone seemed to know that more than "ce suo".
Haha, that's a very... generous picture of the squatting toilet you got there. ;P I remember something slightly different when I was in SH...
Yes we didn't want to blindside ppl with some of the rural 'toilets'
I've been to China lot of times, like 10 times. I just went to China last year. I saw my grandparents. I live in USA. So its very different from america. Lol
Hey tengo ya meses viéndolos y he aprendido mucho! se los agradezco muchísimo!! y de verdad no hay vídeo que no me guste son fabulosos! LOS ADORO
So helpful!
Your enthusiasm is contagious so easy to understand! I wish you would repeat the sentence more than just one time, please.
❤❤❤
I'm going to hong kong in a few weeks. Could you please upload a cantonese version, please? (:
This is awesome!! :D
great video, OTGW!
Thanks!!!
Well, non-Chinese Asians like myself don't get the 老外 laowai treatment in China, but are treated just like any other locals :) That means instant low prices and no one trying to sell me something I don't want or always get a taxi (where a lot of taxi drivers often refuse to take laowais because of not wanting to speak English). But also I would get asked directions, so my most used phrases were "我不知道" or "我听不懂。。。" (till my mandarin improved).
coz most of them cannot speak English well so ...
Matt Bai
They always told me in mandarin that they thought I was a local
And what about phrase 救命啊 ‘help me ’ ^o^
haha very helpful
谢谢你们~! 一个月以后, 我要去中国。在河南大学，我要学习中文。^^ I love learning from your videos, wish me luck!
Oh cool! Seems you know some Chinese already :-) Thanks for watching :-)
Miss cocokitty when will you post more videos we miss you
You forgot one very important phrase. HELP!!! 救命啊！！jiu ming a!!!
Jeffrey Ang That would make anybody run.... but not towards you...
thank for you help we planing to go china next year don't stop doing videos because firts time visitors we need it I hope don't get lost lol
I've been learning 仪电 Chinese Mandarin and trying to practice with natives :). One guy asked me how I learned and I said "online". He said "you're very smart" and I forgot how to say "nali nali" and said thank you instead. so I looked like the arrogant American i am LOL
I'm use to chilie food cause I'm Vietnam
there are chinese tourists in my small town during summer any advice on if and how i can aproach them im interested in learning mandarin aswell as about the culture
Cool lesson ! Thanks!
I was under the impression that the tone on 不 changes from a falling tone to a rising tone when it precedes another falling tone. Yet they have 不要 as two 4th tones. Am i mistaken or is there a mistake?
can you please do the cantonese version? :DDD
You are obsessed with toilet paper, aren't you? :p
Cool Video! (Although I cannot say I learned to pronounce these phrases ;) ).
It is very important
Off the Great Wall Most people don't know how important it is until there's none when they need it.
Cass Carter
Not at all, really. But, I guess people seem to be addicted to worthless stuff these days. Sad but, well, what can you do? ;)
It's only worthless if you don't mind smelling like laduzi.
Cass Carter
Right. As if toilet paper removes odor. You are funny while trying to convince me that something worthless is actually useful. Toilet paper is just an emergency aid. When you have water, you need no toilet paper. My previous comment said everything that is really needed for smart people to understand what I am talking about. You may like it and you may like using it and this is fine of course. But, *important*? People, open your eyes and understand what is important. It is important to have water in your house, not toilet paper. Water does the same job, better. ;)
When are the Skits coming? I really like the skits.
Can u please do more video like this one it could do with some more new words and u make it fun too
Good job guys
Thanks for watching!
thankyou so much!!
I like the phrases in this video however I feel like they speak too fast and don't really break down how to say it I had to rewind a bunch of times and slow it down myself it would be helpful to hear it a little bit slower a couple of times
The Flying Spaghetti Monster I agree with you 100%, I think it Chinese way Fast and Loud.
+Thimm eE. usually languages you don't speak sound faster than your native language
No, Chinese is just naturally faster than English
This is actually useful.
HELLO
Great video
Thankyou
whilst walking through a small town in dong bei... some ladies dog started barking at me.. to which I said. ta bu xihuan laowai ma? she laughed very hard and had the most shocked look on her face :o
Yea I assume you're not Chinese :-)
Off the Great Wall correct :)
Thanks!! LUV THIS!!! Please make more like this.
Bernadette
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching :-)
As a white laowai, both MSG and chili-oil lajiao have my stamp of approval. yum... Also, the MSG phrase was the only one I didn't know, which makes me feel proud of my limited mandarin :)
Nice! And you like MSG so that was not useful for you lol
lol true. The whole no MSG thing is stupid anyway, people don't realize that MSG is in TONS of american products, Including much-loved Doritos...
I visited Beijing just a week ago and i think the most crucial phrase for a eastern foreigner is 听不懂..... People were keep asking me something because they thought i am chinese.... (i'm korean)
also 便宜点儿 is important!!
Very true
MIKE's HAIRLINE! Did he find the Fountain of Youth in Hong Kong??
Yass I'm going to China next year
To a Taiwanese n South Fujianese , ni hen niu 你很牛, can be slightly derogatory, meaning you are a hard headed person, difficult to convince you to change. or a hot temper person.
Great Basics which is very useful.
you guys are brilliant