Learning simple Mandarin Chinese phrases and words is easier than it seems.
With so many speakers, its an extremely useful language to know.
Here are some essential Chinese phrases to practice before your next trip.
Scenic view’s of Hong Kong Park in Central, Hong Kong.Credit:Andrea Pistolesi/Getty Images
Chinese is a pictorial language, which means the characters are symbols or representations of real-world objects.
Take the word for fire, for examplewhich quite literally looks like a fire.
However, unlike English, Chinese characters do not indicate how theyre pronounced.
Keelung, Taiwan’s cityscape and temples at dusk.Sean Pavone/Getty Images
But theres an easy way to learn Chinese pronunciation quickly: through pinyin.
Pinyin is a system of romanizing Chinese characters, a.k.a.
writing Chinese words with the Roman alphabet.
A red junk boat crossing the Hong Kong harbor.baona/Getty Images
For example, the word for hello, , would be written ni hao.
Pleco is one of the most helpful Chinese dictionaries out there.
Take dumpling (shuijiao), for example.
Visitors walking through the Supertree Grove at Garden By the Bay in Singapore.Tuul & Bruno Morandi/Getty Images
Chinese lanterns at the Kek Lok Si temple in Penang, Malaysia.Inti St Clair/Getty Images
