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 

Answer for the Exercise on "Perfect" Tense in Mandarin

Here is the answer for the exercise from the previous post on Perfect Tense

1. My little brother has graduated
我的弟弟已经毕业了
Wódedìdi yǐjīng bìyè le


2. Her office had been renovated before.
他的办公室装修过了
Tādebàngōngshì zhuāngxiūguòle


3. My uncle has taken my grandma to the hospital
我的叔叔已经送我奶奶去医院了。
Wǒdeshūshu yǐjīng sòng wǒnǎinai qù yīyuàn le


4. They hasn’t called me yet.
他们还没给我打电话
Tāmen háimei gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà


5. They had never called me before.
他们没给我打电话过
Tāmen měi gěiwǒ dǎdiànhuà guò


6. Have you read this book before?
你读过这本书吗？
Nǐ dúguò zhèběnshū ma?


7. Has she returned your book already?
他把书还给你了吗？
Tā bǎ shū huán gěi nǐ le ma?
(Please refer to the information below regarding the use of 把 bǎ in the sentence)

他还你的书了吗？
Tā huán nǐ de shū le ma?


8. His Wife has prepared the breakfast
他的老婆已经准备早餐了
Tādelǎopo yǐjīng zhǔnbèi zǎocān le



THE USE OF 把 bǎ  IN SENTENCES
 
In Mandarin, there are some active form sentences that do not follow the common sentence structure where an object usually comes after the verb. This sentence structure doesn’t commonly found in other languages

The sentence structure that use 把 bǎ is as followed:
S +把 bǎ + O + Verb + Adverb of Place, if any


Example:
Compare the following sentences that mean:
She hangs the/a picture on the wall


1. 她把图画掉在墙上了
Tā bǎ túhuà diào zài qiáng shàng le


2. 她在墙上掉了一幅图画
Tā zài qiáng shàng diào le yīfú túhuà


The difference here is sentence (1) emphasize on the picture, while sentence (2) emphasize on the activity of hanging up something.


 Look at the following situations below:
a.       When someone ask “where is the picture?”
It is only proper that we answer using the first sentence.
b.      When someone asks “what’s she doing with the wall?”
Then, we answer with the second sentence.



Let’s look at more example to see the differences between the usual sentence structure and the sentence with 把 bǎ.
 
1. 他把我的杯子弄破了。
Tā bǎ wǒdebēizi nòngpò le.


2. 他弄破了我的杯子。
Tā nòng pò le wǒdebēizi


Both sentences mean “he has broken my cup.”


Which sentence do you think is suitable to be used to answer these questions:
a.       What has he done?
b.      What happened to your cup?

If you answer question (a) with sentence (2), then you get it right J and question (b) should be answer with sentence (1)


So in general, the above is how we use the word 把 bǎ in Chinese. There are of course more to it. We will go through it in another post next time.


Happy Learning,
Linda Tan

Answers to Lesson 6

In Lesson 6, we learn about telling day and date. There are some exercises given at the end of the post. Check your answer here:

1. What date is the day after tomorrow?
hòu tiān shì jǐ hào?

2. The day after tomorrow is August the 4th
hòu tiān shì bā yuè sì hào

3. What day is yesterday?
 zuó tiān xīng qī jǐ?

4. Yesterday is Sunday
zuó tiān (shì) xīng qī rì

5. What date and month is 2 days ago?
qián tiān shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào?

6. 2 days ago was 31st of July
qián tiān shì qī yuè sān shí yī hào


Listen to the following

Practice it everyday! Wake up in the morning and tell yourselves that:
Today is Monday, Yesterday is Sunday, Tomorrow is Tuesday, 2 days ago is Saturday, and the day after tomorrow is Wednesday.

Also... Today is Aug 2nd, Tomorrow is Aug 3rd, Yesterday is Aug 1st, and so on...

It will not take long, do it while you are showering, etc... In a month time, you will be very fluent in asking and telling day and date as well as in numbers! :)

Happy Weekend,
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