Introduction to Chinese Writing III that you don’t recognize; · 2020. 1. 3. · 70 • CHINESE: COMMUNICATING IN THE CULTURE UNIT 5 STAGE 5 Introduction to Chinese Writing III

70 • CHINESE: COMMUNICATING IN THE CULTURE

UNIT 5 STAGE 5

Introduction to Chinese Writing III

Traditional SimplifiedThis section is intended to upgrade your ability to read Chinese business cards and further interact with people. Specifically, this section will (1) intro-duce you to some more Chinese surnames and titles; (2) help you learn how to ask about surnames and given names, and hànzì that you don’t recognize; and (3) help you inquire about people’s occupations, majors, and addresses.

I. ASKING FOR PEOPLE’S NAMES

In this section, eleven more Chinese surnames are introduced:

Xú

Sün

Zhü

Hú

Guö

Lín

Hé

Liáng

Zhèng

Dèng

Öuyáng

徐徐

孙孙

朱朱

胡胡

郭郭

林林

何何

梁梁

郑郑

邓邓

欧阳欧阳

Unit 5, Stage 5 • 71

When meeting people for the first time, Chinese consider it polite to ask for surnames instead of full names.

Nín guìxìng? May I ask what your surname is?

Compared to xìng, míng is the given name. Xìngmíng means “full name”, and is only used formally such as on IDs cards, signed forms and so on.

If you want to ask about the full name, you would use another term: míngzi. When you meet someone of your age or younger in an informal situation, you can ask:

Nî jiào shénme míngzi?What is your name?

Reading Chinese surnames can sometimes be a challenging task because some Chinese surnames are uncommon characters that few people recognize. It is important to learn how to say a person’s surname correctly. You really do not want to take the chance that you might greet a person incorrectly at the first meeting by misreading his or her surname.

To ask for the correct reading of a character, you can ask: zênme niàn?

Niàn is the verb for reading aloud.

繁体字简体字

念念

我姓冯／我姓冯。

您贵姓？您贵姓？

怎么念？怎么念？

姓名姓名

名字名字

你叫什么名字？

你叫什么名字？


If you have trouble reading someone’s surname on his/her business card, you can ask politely—

Duìbuqî, qîngwèn nínde xìng zênme niàn? Excuse me, could you please tell me how to read

your surname?

Likewise, when having trouble reading full names, you can ask—

Duìbuqî, qîngwèn nínde míngzi zênme niàn? Excuse me, could you please tell me how to read

your full name?

Duìbuqî means “I’m sorry” or “excuse me”. This is used to express that you have inconvenienced or will inconvenience someone, or cannot comply with a request. You can replace nín with nî, but being polite is usually preferable.

If you are meeting Mr. Chen, Chén xiänsheng, for the first time, and you would like to confirm that he is Mr. Chen, you can ask him politely—

Qîngwèn, nín shi Chén xiänsheng ma?Excuse me, are you Mr. Chen?

If he is Mr. Chen, he may respond to you—

Shì, wô jiùshì.Yes, I am.

Jiùshì means “exactly”.

对不起对不起

您，你您，你

陈先生陈先生

对不起，请问您的名字怎么念？

对不起，请问您的名字怎么念？

请问，您是陈先生吗？

请问，您是陈先生吗？

繁体字简体字

对不起，请问您的姓怎么念？

对不起，请问您的姓怎么念？

是，我就是。是，我就是。

就是就是


If you look at Mr. Chen’s name card or name tag and you don’t know how to pronounce his name, you may ask—

Chén xiänsheng, nínde míngzi zênme niàn?Mr. Chen, could you tell me how to pronounce

your name?

If you want to confirm the person attending the meeting is Ms. Zhu, the accountant, you can ask the person next to you:

Qîngwèn, tä shi Zhü kuàijì ma? Excuse me, is she Ms. Zhu, the accountant?

If she is Ms. Zhu, the accountant, the response may be:

Duì, tä jiùshì Zhü kuàijì.Yes, she is Ms. Zhu, the accountant.

Bù negates verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.

Bù, tä búshì Chén xiänsheng. No, he is not Mr. Chen.

Bù, tä búshì Zhü kuàijì.No, she is not Ms. Zhu, the accountant.

请问，她是朱会计吗？

请问，她是朱会计吗？

不不

对，她就是朱会计。

对，她就是朱会计。

不，他不是陈先生。

不，他不是陈先生。

不，她不是朱会计。

不，她不是朱会计。

陈先生，您的名字怎么念？

陈先生，您的名字怎么念？

繁体字简体字


繁体字简体字When you are trying to find out who the head of a department is, you can use shuí, “who” or “whom”, in a general question to ask about identity.

Qîngwèn, nîmen zhûrèn shi shuí? Excuse me, who is your department head?

To find out what his or her name is, you can ask in various ways—

Qîngwèn, nîmen zhûrèn xìng shénme? Excuse me, what is the surname of your department

head?

Qîngwèn, nîmen zhûrèn jiào shénme míngzì? Excuse me, what is the name of your department

head?

If you think Deng might be his or her surname, you can ask—

Qîngwèn, nîmen zhûrèn xìng Dèng ma?Excuse me, is Deng the surname of your

department head?

To find out who the person is that you have just seen at a party or in a meeting, you can ask someone else—

Qîngwèn, tä shi shuí?Excuse me, who is she?

Qîngwèn, tä jiào shénme míngzì?Excuse me, what is his name?

Tä jiào Xú Dàhâi.His name is Xu Dahai.

请问，你们主任是谁？

请问，你们主任是谁？

谁谁

请问，你们主任姓什么？

请问，你们主任姓什么？

请问，你们主任姓邓吗？

请问，你们主任姓邓吗？

请问，她是谁？

请问，她是谁？

请问，他叫什么名字？

请问，他叫什么名字？

请问，你们主任叫什么名字？

请问，你们主任叫什么名字？

他叫徐大海。

他叫徐大海。


繁体字简体字

会计会计

工程师工程师

II. TITLES AND TERMS OF ADDRESS

In Chinese, some titles may indicate people’s position and occupation. For example:

zôngjïnglî general manager

dôngshìzhâng chair of the board

zôngcáipresident of a company

kuàijìaccountant

göngchéngshï engineer

yïshëng doctor, physician

You may use these titles to address people in a professional and formal manner. For example:

Hú dôngshìzhâng, nín hao!How do you do, Mr. Hu (the chairman of the

board).

Some of the terms can be shortened this way:

Sün zôngjïnglî = Sün zông

Hú dôngshìzhâng = Hú dông

Zhèng göngchéngshï = Zhèng göng

董事长董事长

医生医生

总经理总经理

总裁总裁

孙总经理＝孙总

孙总经理＝孙总

胡董事长＝胡董

胡董事长＝胡董

郑工程师＝郑工

郑工程师＝郑工

胡董事长，您好！

胡董事长，您好！


繁体字简体字

In informal situations, you may also address a medical doctor using the term dàifu instead of yïshëng. For example:

Qîngwèn, Hé dàifu zài ma?Excuse me, is Dr. He in?

You may ask people what their occupations are:

Nín zuò shénme göngzuò?What’s your occupation?

Or

Nín shi zuò shénme göngzuò de?What do you do?

Wô shi göngchéngshï.I’m an engineer.

您做什么工作？

您做什么工作？

您是做什么工作的？

您是做什么工作的？

大夫／医生大夫／医生

请问，何大夫在吗？

请问，何大夫在吗？

他是邓总／他是邓总。

我是工程师。

我是工程师。


If you are talking to someone in academia, you can exchange professional information by asking one’s academic field - zhuänyè, which means “major”.

Nínde zhuänyè shi shénme?What is/was your major?

Wôde zhuänyè shi wùlî.My major is/was physics.

Or you may use yánjiü, “research”, to answer such a question if you are an expert doing research in this field.

Wô shi yánjiü qîyè guânlî de. My research interest is/was business administration.

For a student, you may use xué “to learn” to ask and answer the same question:

Nî shi xué shénme zhuänyè de?What is your major?

Wô shi xué wùlî de. My major is physics.

我是研究企业管理的。

我是研究企业管理的。

你是学什么专业的？

你是学什么专业的？

研究研究

学学

繁体字简体字

您的专业是什么？

您的专业是什么？

专业专业

我的专业是物理。

我的专业是物理。

我是学物理的。

我是学物理的。

广州市／广州市


III. COMPANY NAMES AND ADDRESSES

When talking about your occupation, Chinese would also ask about where you work. For example:

Nín zài nâr göngzuò? Where do you work?

Or you may ask in a more polite way:

Nín zài nâr gäojiù? Where do you work?

Gäojiù is a more polite phrase to ask where one works by implying that the other person has a high or prestigious position. You should never use this term to refer to yourself.

If you are working in a company, göngsï, you may say:

Wô zài Huámêi Màoyì Göngsï göngzuò. I work at the Sino-American Trade Company.

You may find information about where people work from their business card. Besides göngsï, you will probably encounter gûfèn yôuxiàn göngsï, a joint stock limited liability company. For example:

Huámêi Gûfèn Yôuxiàn Göngsïthe Sino-American Company, Ltd.

高就高就

我在华美贸易公司工作。

我在华美贸易公司工作。

华美股份有限公司

华美股份有限公司

您在哪儿高就？

您在哪儿高就？

您在哪儿工作？

您在哪儿工作？

公司公司

杭州市

股份有限公司

股份有限公司

繁体字简体字


Jítuán, group, is the word used for a large trading and/or holding entity. For example:

Zhöngguó Zhöngxìn Jítuán Göngsïthe CITIC Group

In a large organization such as jítuán or göngsï, there will be specialized offices. Two such offices are the Foreign Affairs Office, wàishìchù,

and the Human Resources Office, rénshìchù.

Wài means “outside” or “foreign.”

Shì means “affairs” or “official matters.”

Chù means “office” or “agency.”

The Human Resources Office includes the term rénshì, which literally means “human-matters”.

More often than not, you may also find a foreign trade center in those large organizations. Foreign trade is duìwài màoyì.

Duìwài literally means “facing-outwards.”

人事人事

繁体字简体字

外事处外事处

处处

人事处人事处

事事

外外

对外对外

对外贸易对外贸易

中国中信集团公司

中国中信集团公司

集团集团

江西省

集团／公司集团／公司


A “center” is zhöngxïn. A “foreign trade center” is:

Duìwài Màoyì Zhöngxïn

If you want to know where the company is located, you can ask:

Nîmen göngsï zài nâr? Where is your company?

Or

Nîmen göngsï de dìzhî shi shénme? What is the address of your company?

When locating a place, Chinese put larger places before smaller ones. So to answer this question about the address, let’s first take a look at the Chinese hierarchical administrative system. In the Chinese government, the largest administrative division after the nation is shêng, “province”, which is equivalent to “state” in the US. Under shêng, there are shì, “cities”. And within one city, there may be many qü, “districts”. Then comes the street and street number. For example:

Shändöng shêng Shandong Province

Shändöng shêng Qïngdâo shìQingdao, Shandong

对外贸易中心

对外贸易中心

繁体字简体字

中心中心

你们公司的地址是什么？

你们公司的地址是什么？

你们公司在哪儿？

你们公司在哪儿？

省市区

省市区

山东省山东省

山东省青岛市

山东省青岛市


区

Shändöng shêng Qïngdâo shì Shìnán qüShinan District, Qingdao, Shandong

Shändöng shêng Qïngdâo shì Shìnán qüXiänggâng lù liùshíbä-hào

68 Xianggang Rd., Shinan District, Qingdao, Shandong

Now you can answer the question regarding the address of the company:

Wômen göngsï de dìzhî shi Shändöng shêng Qïngdâo shì Shìnán qü Xiänggâng lù

liùshíbä-hào.The address of our company is 68 Xianggang Rd.,

Shinan District, Qingdao, Shandong.

When referring to a particular office such as the human resources office in a company, be sure to mention the company name first:

Huámêi Màoyì Göngsï rénshìchùthe Human Resources Office, Sino-American Trade

Company

Sometimes qü may not be included in the address. If you are not familiar with the streets, you can ask:

Nîmen göngsï zài nâge qü? Which district is your company located in?

Hâidiàn qü. Haidian district.

区

山东省青岛市市南区香港路６８号

山东省青岛市市南区香港路６８号

山东省青岛市市南区

山东省青岛市市南区

海淀区。海淀区。

你们公司在哪个区？

你们公司在哪个区？

繁体字简体字

华美贸易公司人事处

华美贸易公司人事处

我们公司的地址是山东省青岛市市南区香港路６８号。

我们公司的地址是山东省青岛市市南区香港路６８号。


青海省

Here is a map showing some of the provinces, shêng, the municipalities directly under the central government, zhíxiáshì, autonomous regions (which are also provinces), zìzhìqü, and the special administrative regions, tèbié xíngzhèngqü.


Here are some provinces in China:

Shänxï

Hénán

Hébêi

Guângdöng

Guângxï Zhuàngzú zìzhìqü Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Húnán

Húbêi

Qïnghâi

Hâinán

Sìchuän

Jiängxï

Yúnnán

Nèimênggû zìzhìqüInner Mongolia Autonomous Region

Táiwän

广西壮族自治区

广西壮族自治区

山西山西

河南河南

河北河北

广东广东

内蒙古自治区

内蒙古自治区

湖南湖南

湖北湖北

青海青海

海南海南

北京市

台湾台湾

四川四川

江西江西

云南云南

繁体字简体字


There are four cities which are directly under the central government, called zhíxiáshì:

Bêijïng (shì)

Shànghâi (shì)

Tiänjïn (shì)

Chóngqìng (shì)

Xiänggâng, Hong Kong, and Àomén, Macau, are two special administrative regions under the central government.

Xiänggâng tèbié xíngzhèngqü

Àomén tèbié xíngzhèngqü

Here are some other large cities in China:

Xï’än

Guângzhöu

Nánjïng

Wûhàn

Qïngdâo

Dàlián

Hángzhöu

北京(市) 北京(市)上海(市) 上海(市)天津(市) 天津(市)重庆(市) 重庆(市)

直辖市直辖市

香港特别行政区

香港特别行政区

西安西安

广州广州

南京南京

武汉武汉

青岛青岛

大连大连

澳门特别行政区

澳门特别行政区

杭州杭州

青岛市

繁体字简体字

香港，澳门香港，澳门


You already know how to ask politely about a character you don’t know:

Qîngwèn zhège zì zênme niàn?Excuse me, how do I pronounce this character?

You may make your inquiry in different ways. For example, you can ask about the name of a road as follows:

Duìbuqî, wô bú-rènshi zhè liângge zì, zhèshì shénme lù?

Sorry, I don’t know these two characters. Could you tell me which road this is?

Zhèshì Jiêfàng Dàjië. This is Jiefang Street.

Rènshi means to recognize or to know. It also can be used to express whether or not you know someone. For example:

Wô hái bú-rènshi Huáng zhûrèn, nî néng gêi wô jièshào yíxià ma?

I don’t know Mr. Huang, the director, yet. Could you introduce him to me?

Dängrán kéyi.Of course.

Xièxie.Thanks.

Bú-yòng xiè.Don’t mention it.

请问，这个字怎么念？

请问，这个字怎么念？

认识认识

当然可以。当然可以。

内蒙古自治区／内蒙古自治区

对不起，我不认识这两个字，这是什么路？

对不起，我不认识这两个字，这是什么路？

这是解放大街。

这是解放大街。

我还不认识黄主任，你能给我介绍一下吗？

我还不认识黄主任，你能给我介绍一下吗？

繁体字简体字

谢谢。谢谢。

不用谢。不用谢。

Introduction to Chinese Writing III that you don’t recognize; · 2020. 1. 3. · 70 • CHINESE: COMMUNICATING IN THE CULTURE UNIT 5 STAGE 5 Introduction to Chinese Writing III

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