Thursday, March 05, 2009

"Rock Bottom" Chinese lesson #1

HAO
Hao (how) is the word for good, and can be used in many ways.

Hao chir = Good food.
Fei chung hao = Very good.
Ni hao = translated as "you good", it would be used as the equivalent of Hello.
Ni hao ma? = Are you good? or as we would say "how are you?".
Wo hen hao = "I am good" this is a response to "How are you", and really means "I am fine".
Bo hao = A polite way of saying "I don't want, I am good". "Do you want tea?, "No I am good".
Daja hao = "Everybody good" or "Hello everyone".

You can communicate in the simplest of ways even by nodding your head and saying "Hao" people will know what you are trying to say, or at least pretend to. Don't be surprised if you try to speak Chinese, and everyone bursts out laughing the Chinese will laugh to cover up their surprise or shock, and they are not actually laughing at you. This is a hard pill to swallow, as in Ireland laughing like this at a person could warrant a fist in the face.

You have also learnt other words today such as:

You =Ni
No = Bo
Food = Chir
Very = Fei chung
Everyone = Daja

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