Page 128 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Beijing

126 ❯❯ Top 10 Beijing

Phrase Book Communication Essentials
Hello Nihao
The Chinese language belongs to the Sino-Tibetan Goodbye Zaijian
family of languages and uses characters which are Yes/No Shi/Bushi
ideographic – a symbol is used to represent an idea or … not … bushi
an object. Mandarin Chinese, known as Putonghua in I’m from… Wo shi ... ren
mainland China, is fairly straightforward as each I understand Wo mingbai
character is monosyllabic. Traditionally, Chinese is I don’t know Wo bu zhidao
written in vertical columns from top right to bottom Thank you Xiexie ni
left, however the Western style is widely used. There Thank you very Duo xie
are several Romanization systems; the Pinyin system much
used here is the official system in mainland China. Thanks (casual) Xiexie
This phrase book gives the English word or phrase, You’re welcome Bu yong xie
followed by the Chinese script, then the Pinyin. No, thank you Bu, xiexie ni
Please (offering) Qing
Guidelines Please (asking) Qing wen
Pronounce vowels as in these English words: I don’t understand Wo Bu mingbai
a = as in “father” Sorry/Excuse me! Baoqian/
e = as in “lurch” Duibuqi
i = as in “see” Could you help Ni neng bang
o = as in “solid” me please? (not zhu wo ma?
u = as in “pooh” emergency)
ü = as the French u or German ü (place your lips to say
“oo” and try to say “ee”) Useful Phrases
Letter combinations My name is …. Wo jiao ...
Most of the consonants are pronounced as Goodbye Zaijian
in English. As a rough guide, pronounce the following What is (this)? (zhe) shi
consonants as in these English words: shenme?
c = as ts in “hats” Could I possibly Neng buneng
q = as ch in “cheat” have ...? qing ni gei
x = as sh in “sheet” (very polite) wo ...?
z = as ds in “heads” Is there … Zhe’r you ...
zh = as j in “Joe” here? ma?
Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language with four tones, Where can Wo zai na li keyi
represented in Pinyin by one of the following marks I get ...? de dao ...?
above each vowel – the symbol shows whether the How much is it? Ta yao duoshao
tone is flat, rising, falling and rising, or falling. The qian?
Chinese characters do not convey this information: What time is …? ... shenme shijian?
tones are learnt when the character is learnt. Teaching Cheers! (toast) Ganbei!
tones is beyond the scope of this small phrase book, Where is the Weishengjian/
but a language course book with a CD or app will help restroom/toilet? Xishoujian zai
those who wish to take the language farther. nali?
Dialects
There are many Chinese dialects in use. It is hard to Signs
guess exactly how many, but they can be roughly open kai
classified into one of seven large groups (Mandarin, closed guan
Cantonese, Hakka, Hui, etc.), each group containing a entrance renkou
large number of more minor dialects. Although all exit chukou
these dialects are quite different – Cantonese uses six danger weixian
tones instead of four – Mandarin or Putonghua, which emergency exit anquanmen
is mainly based on the Beijing dialect, is the official information xinxi
language. Despite these differences all Chinese people restroom Weishengjian/
are more or less able to use the same formal written toilet Xishoujian
language so they can understand each other’s writing, men nanshi
if not each other’s speech. women nüshi
Money
In an Emergency bank yinhang
Help! Qing bangmang cash xianjin
Stop! Ting zhu credit card xinyongka
Call a doctor! Jiao yisheng currency exchange waihui
Call an ambulance! Jiao jiuhuche office duihuanchu
Call the police! Jiao jiingcha dollars meiyuan
Fire! Huo pounds yingbang
Where is the Yiyuan/jingcha yuan yuan
hospital/police fenju zai nali ?
station?
Eyewitness Travel – Top 10 series LAYERS PRINTED:
Phrase book “UK” LAYER
(SourceReport v1)
126-128_Top_10_Beijing.indd 126 27/06/2017 14:33
Date 3rd June 2015
Size 100mm x 191mm