Using Chinese / Mandarin in Restaurant - Part 1

I would like to make a few upcoming post topical. As for the first topic that I am going to introduce is that how to serve Chinese guests in the restaurant., especially for those restaurants which are based in Bali. For the past few years, Bali has seen huge increment of the Chinese tourists. Thus, equipping the employee/staff to serve the Chinese guests better, company is conducting Mandarin Language Training for its employee.

This post (and a few others followed) are dedicated to those waiter/waitresses who try their very best to serve the Chinese guest. They are the face of the Brand. I hope with this post (again, and a few other followed), they can understand a little bit of the Chinese culture, they can serve a little bit better the Chinese guests and at the end, they can represent their brand much better.

The very first post is the introduction of some vocabularies that are commonly used around the restaurant.

Just a reminder, to help grow your vocabularies, please use the help of PLECO. This app is very very useful! In the very beginning of this blog, I have explained the features and the how-to-use guidelines in Pleco. Please refer to those posts, start from here.

Here are some of the common vocabularies that you might find useful:
1.      Small Plate      : diézi                           碟子
2.      Big Plate         : pánzi                          盘子
3.      Bowl               : wǎn                           碗
4.      Fork                 : chāzi                          叉子
5.      Spoon              : shaózi                        勺子
6.      Chopstick        : kuàizi                         筷子
7.      Napkin             : zhǐjīn                          纸巾
8.      Sauce               : jiàng                          酱
9.      Chili Sauce      : làjiāojiàng                 辣椒酱
10.  Tomato Sauce : fānqiéjiàng                番茄将
11.  Soy Sauce       : jiàngyóu                    酱油
12.  Black soy sauce: shuāngchōu             双抽
13.  Table               : zhuōzi                        桌子
14.  Chair               : yǐzi                             椅子
15.  Cup/Glass        : bēizi                           杯子
16.  Waiter             : fúwuyuán                   服务员
17.  Bill                  : mǎidān                      买单
18.  Settle the bill   : jiézhàng                   结账
19.  Menu card       : càidān                       菜单
20.  Dish/Food       : cài / shíwù                 菜/食物
21.  Vegetable        : shūcài                        蔬菜
22.  Beverages        : yǐnliào                       饮料
23.  Wine                : pútǎojiǔ                     葡萄酒
24.  Liquor             : jiǔ                              酒
25.  Beer                 : píjiǔ                           啤酒
26.  Order               : diǎn                           点             
27.  Welcome                                 : huānyíng                   欢迎
28.  Please come in                         : qǐngjìn                       请进
29.  Please have a seat                    : qǐngzuò                      请坐
30.  Enjoy your food                      : qǐngmànyòng              请慢用
31.  Come again next time             : xiàcì zàilái                 下次再来
32.  Goodbye                                 : mànzǒu                      慢走
(Polite way to say goodbye to guests)
33.  Plain water                  : shǔi / bǎikāishuǐ                    水/白开水
34.  Mineral water              : kuàngquánshuǐ                      矿泉水
35.  Soda                            : qìshuì                                     汽水
36.  Fruit juice                    : shuǐguǒzhī                             水果汁
37.  Cold                            : lěng / bīng                             冷/冰
38.  Ice cube                       : bīngkuài                                冰块
39.  Hot                              : rè / shāo                                热/烧
40.  Warm                          : wēn                                        温
41.  Sugar                           : táng                                       糖
42.  Salt                              : yán                                        盐
43.  Milk                             : niúnǎi                                    牛奶   
44.  Cheese                         : nǎilào                                    奶酪
45.  Sweet                          : tián                                        甜
46.  Sour                             : suān                                       酸
47.  Salty                            : xián                                       咸
48.  Spicy                           : là                                           辣
49.  Bitter                           : kǔ                                          苦
50.  Chef                            : chúshī                                   厨师
51.  Recommend                : tuījiàn                                   推荐
52.  Bestseller                     : rèmài                                     热卖
53.  No smoking seat         : jìnxīyān zuòwèi                      禁烟座位
54.  Smoking seat               : kěxīyān zuòwèi                      可吸烟座位
55.  Self-service/ Buffet     : zìzhùcān                                自助餐


Before going into some common scenarios in the restaurant, please get yourselves familiar with the above vocabularies first.

Check out the next post more

Regards, 
Linda Tan 

The Answers for 1st Revision in 2017

Here is the answers for the previous post:

1. 今年是2017年。
Jīnnnián shì 2017 nián
This year is 2017

2. 我今年年底要去日本。
Wǒ jīnnián  niándǐ yào qù Rìběn
End of this year I will go to Japan.

3. 他们都没去过日本。
Tāmen dōu méiqùguò Rìběn
All of them have never been to Japan

Note: 都dōu is used to describe that all of the subject (in this case: tāmen they). It is always written after the subject.

过guò is used to describe an activity that has/hasn’t been done before. It comes after the verb (in this case: qù  go)

4. 这几天过的怎样啊？
Zhè jǐtiān guòde zěnyàng a?
How are (the condition) these few days?

Note: This question can be interpreted in 2 ways, that the person is asking about the condition/situation in general or the condition of another person. To be specific, we can say Zhè jǐtiān nǐ guòde zěnyàng a?, by adding nǐ after or before the adverb of time, our question becomes clearer, that we want to know how is the person doing, more to the feeling he/she feels, not the house, not the problem, not work, and so on.

5. 这个周末你打算做什么？
Zhè zhōumò nǐ dǎsuàn zuò shénme?
What are you planning/do you plan to do this weekend?

Note: Remember that in Chinese, we have to place the adverb of time in front of or behind the subject (in this case: nǐ you) and question seldom come in front of the sentence. For question word “what” refer to the previous post

6. 我在北机场等我的朋友。
Wǒ zàijīchǎng děng wǒdepéngyǒu
I wait for my friend at the airport

Note: If we would like to give more details on our statement about where an activity takes place, we put it right after the subject, before the activity.

7. 你告不告诉他我的秘密？
Nǐ gàobùgàosù tā wǒdemìmi?
Do you tell him/her my secret?

Note: This question doesn’t end with the word 吗 ma? that is usually used to form a closed ended question. Instead  it uses 告不告诉 gàobùgàosù format, which has the same function as 吗 ma? The above sentence can be changed to: 你告诉他我的秘密吗？

Look at the following sentence structures:
Verb + negative bù + Verb = Verb ma?
Example: chī bù chī = Chī ma?          = Does Someone eat?

Adjective + negative bù + Adjective = Verb ma?
Example: hǎo bù hǎo = hǎo ma? =  Is it good?

Shì + negative bù + Shì + Noun = Shì Noun ma?
Example: Shì bù shì māma = Shì māma ma? = Is it mother?

8. 这次新年你要去哪儿玩儿?
Zhèci xīnnián nǐ yàoqù nǎr wǎnr?
This new year where are you going (to play/explore)?

Please translate the following to Chinese.

1. I will see you tomorrow morning at the airport
我明天在飞机场见你
Wǒ míngtiān zài fēijīchǎng jiàn nǐ.

2. Whose friends are you picking up?
你接谁的朋友？
Nǐ jiē shuídepéngyǒu?

3. Chen Family is travelling to Europe next month.
陈家下个月要去澳洲
Chénjiā xiàgèyuè yào qù Àozhōu.

4. Japan often snows on January.
日本一月份常常下雪
Rìběn yīyuèfèn chángchang xiàxuě

5. How is the weather today?
今天的天气怎样/怎么样？
Jīntiān de tiānqi zěnyàng / zěnmeyàng?

6. She told me that her mom is coming to pick her up.
她告诉我她的妈妈来接她
Tā gàosù wǒ tādemāma láijiē tā.

7. Last weekend, she brought the kids to the zoo.
上个周末他带他的孩子们去动物园
Shànggezhōumò tādài tādehaízimen qù dòngwùyuán.

8. Are you nervous?
你紧张吗？or 你紧不紧张？
Nǐ jǐnzhāng ma? Nǐ jǐnbùjǐnzhāng?

Please digest the above and learn to pronounce the words and read the sentence OUT LOUD. This will help your pronunciation. To confirm if you have gotten the right pronunciation, please check it out on Pleco (download the app, if you haven’t had one), word by word!

If you confuse why certain sentence is translated that way, check the relevant topic form last year posts! If you can’t find one, do not hesitate to drop a comment or email me at linda_yunitan@yahoo.com.

 

Love Learning,

Linda Tan

Answer to Lesson 8: Expressing Wants / Desire

Here are the answers for Lesson 8 (Expressing wants / desire)

1. I want to see your teacher

我想见你（的）老师
Wǒ xiǎng jiàn nǐ (de) lǎo shī

2. My elder brother wants a bike

我 (的) 哥哥要一辆自行车
Wǒ (de) gē ge yào yī liàng zì xíng chē

(Measure word for bike is 辆 liàng)

3. Dad and mom want to go out tonight 

今晚爸爸和妈妈要出去
Jīn wǎn bàba hé māma yào chūqù

(Note: In Chinese, Adverb of time is used in the beginning of the sentence) 

4. My younger sister wants to eat spaghetti
我 (的) 妹妹想吃意大利面
Wǒ (de) mèi mei xiǎng chē yì dà lì miàn

(when we use xiǎng it seems to mean that my sister hasn't eaten spaghetti for sometimes, I feel like eating it now)

我 (的) 妹妹要吃意大利面

Wǒ (de) mèi mei yào chē yì dà lì miàn

(When we use yào the meaning seems to change from "feeling like" to she just "opt" for spaghetti, not because of any particular reason)

5. My dog wants that ball!
我的狗要那个球
Wǒ de gǒu yào nà gè qiú

Listen to the following:

Want More? Watch out for Next Post!
Linda Tan

Lesson 6: Day and Date in Mandarin (A)

If you first visit this blog, you should know that it will only be useful if you know how to read hanyu pinyin (the phonics in Chinese), so feel free to learn in our first post!

For those who have been following, how is the learning going? So far, we have covered the following:

1. Numbers

2. Greetings

3. Addressing Family Members

If you have committed every 20-30 minutes to review the lessons for the past month, you should be able to greet your family member and people around you in General.

Here is some example:

Moving on, let's learn about date:

Here is a few words that you need to know to be able to tell day and date in Mandarin.

星期           Xīng qī               .... day

1. Monday               Xīng qī yī             星期一

2. Tuesday              Xīng qī èr             星期二

3. Wednesday         Xīng qī sān           星期三

4. Thursday             Xīng qī sì             星期四

5. Friday                  Xīng qī wǔ           星期五

6. Saturday              Xīng qī liù            星期六

7. Sunday                Xīng qī tiān/rì      星期天 / 星期日

However, when we say;

一个星期          yī gè xīng qī            One Week

How about date???

In English we will write Date as the following:

1st Aug 2016 or Aug 1st, 2016

In Chinese, we have to start from the year, then month, then end with date. Here are a few words you will need:

1. 日                rì                       Date (use only in writing)

2. 号               hào                     Date (use in spoken language)

3. 月               yuè                      Month

4. 年               nián                    Year

How to say 2nd of Aug 2016?

2016年    8月    2日

        nián    yuè      rì

OR

二O一六年  八月   二 日

               nián    yuè        rì

In spoken language... we say:

Simple right?

Here is a few words that you should know to be able to form a full sentence in telling day/date.

Today (Hari ini)                                  今天              jīn tiān 

Tomorrow (Besok)                             明天              míng tiān

Yesterday (Kemarin)                          昨天              zuó tiān

Day after tomorrow (Lusa)                后天               hòu tiān 

2 days ago (2 hari lalu)                       前天              qián tiān 

verb to be, is/am/are  (adalah...)        是                  shì 

Asking amount (berapa)                    几                   jǐ     --> It can also means "a few" or "some"

So you can form a sentence to say:

Today is Tuesday, 2nd of August

今天是星期二，八月 二号

jīn tiān shì xīng qī èr, bā yuè èr hào

Tomorrow is Wednesday, 3rd of August 2016     

明天是星期三，2016年  八月  三号

míng tiān shì xīng qī sān, èr ling yī liù nián bā yuè sān hào

To form a negative sentence, we use 不是 bù shì

For example:

Today is not Friday.

今天不是星期五

jīntiān bùshì xīngqīwǔ

When you need to ask QUESTION, here is the example:

What date (and month) is today?
今天是几月几号？
jīn tiān shì  jǐ yuè jǐ hào?

What if you are would like to ask for a date only (assuming you are aware what month we are in now)?
Yup! You can say:

What date is today?
今天几号？
jīn tiān jǐ hào?

What day is tomorrow?
明天星期几？
míng tiān xīng qī jǐ?

Listen to the following:

Please translate the following:
1. What date is the day after tomorrow?
2. The day after tomorrow is Thursday.
3. What day is yesterday?
4. Yesterday is Sunday
5. What date and month is 2 days ago?
6. 2 days ago was 31st of July

(Answer to be revealed in next post by the end of this week)

Happy Tuesday,
Linda Tan