Learn to order Japanese food in Mandarin Chinese. This lesson includes many very useful expressions and examples. Sign up now to download the PDF transcript of this lesson.
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Serge,
Wanted to say thanks for your website. I have a private teacher here in
Sao Paulo, Brazil and I use your site to practice after lessons, when in the
car etc.
I find your lessons and your pronunciation a great help to my language
development.
I am now plannnnig my first trip to China for July to Beijing and Shanghai,
and I hope that it will be a great experiences so that the following July I
can return to study the language in a more immersion setting.
Do you have any good schools that you can recommend in either Beijing or
Shanghai that I could check out when I am there?
Once again, thanks for your hard work and dedication on site!!!
Lyle
Serge – so glad I stumbled onto your site. I am sure you have answered this question before – but I can’t find it. For introductions and gretings – you use “ni” – as in “Ni hao ma?” and “ren shi ni hen…” – but I will be traveling for work – I think I need to say “Nin hoa ma?” and “Ren shi nin…” to coworkers that I have not met before? Please clarify all greetings and introductions which should be nin instead of ni! Thanks so much!
Nihao Jessica,
Nin is a polite form of ni, if you know French, it’s just like tu and vous.
If you want to look extremely polite, use nin2, but nowadays ni3 is used almost with everyone. Also, the nin and ni difference is mostly followed in Beijing. In Shanghai, for instance, nin is almost nonexistent.