Sick leave in Chinese is 病假 (bìng jià), and the act of asking for leave is 请假 (qǐng jià). If you wake up feverish in China, one sentence covers it: 我想请一天病假 (wǒ xiǎng qǐng yì tiān bìng jià), “I would like to take one day of sick leave.” This guide gives you the exact words […]
Overtime in Chinese is 加班 (jiā bān): 加 (jiā) means to add and 班 (bān) means a work shift, so the word is literally “add a shift.” The follow-up words you will need just as often: 加班费 (jiā bān fèi, overtime pay), 调休 (tiáo xiū, comp time), and 准时下班 (zhǔn shí xià bān, leaving work […]
The Taobao package finally arrives after a week of tracking, you open it, and the jacket is two sizes too small. Your money is sitting in the seller’s account, the interface is all in Chinese, and the clock on your return window is ticking. The word that gets your money back is 退款 (tuì kuǎn), […]
It was 3 AM in my first Shanghai summer when I learned the most urgent vocabulary of my life: a high-pitched whine circling my ear, lights on, me standing on the bed with a slipper. I did not know the word for my enemy. Now I do, and so will you: how to say mosquito […]
The check-in agent at Pudong Airport pointed at my backpack and said something fast. I caught 托运 (checked) and 随身 (with you), and realized the question was simply: is that bag flying with you or under the plane? That was my introduction to how to say carry-on luggage in Chinese: 随身行李 (suí shēn xíng lǐ), […]
The Airbnb listing said “fully equipped,” and the bathroom was, sink, toilet, even a heated floor. What it did not have was anything to dry myself with after the shower. So there I stood, dripping, typing into a translator: how do you even ask for this? The answer is how to say bath towel in […]
The message came on a Thursday: “周六的营地我订好了，记得带睡袋.” I understood 睡袋 (sleeping bag), nodded at the date, and then quietly opened a dictionary for the word in the middle: 营地. That was my introduction to how to say campsite in Chinese: 营地 (yíng dì), the word on every booking app, road sign, and group-chat plan for […]
My first autumn in China, a colleague invited me to a campsite outside the city, and as the sun dropped someone shouted three words that sent twenty people scrambling toward a pile of wood: 篝火晚会开始了! That night, singing, roasting sweet potatoes, sparks rising into an enormous sky, was my first lesson in how to say […]
Six months into my life in China, a colleague got promoted and the whole office gathered around his desk. Everyone shouted two syllables I had only ever heard at Chinese New Year, and he grinned and cupped his hands in thanks. That was my first real lesson in how to say congratulations in Chinese: 恭喜 […]
My first week in China, a shopkeeper chased me down the street to return the five kuai I had overpaid. Breathless, I said 谢谢 (xiè xiè), and she waved her hand and said two words I did not catch. That was my first lesson in how to say you’re welcome in Chinese: 不客气 (bù kè […]
Two weeks after I moved to China, my office gathered around a cake, and everyone started singing, in Chinese, to the exact melody I had known since childhood. That was my first lesson in how to say happy birthday in Chinese: 生日快乐 (shēng rì kuài lè), literally “birthday happy.” I mumbled along, mangled the tones, […]
A colleague in Tianjin once asked me how I was settling in, and I proudly answered 我很快乐 (wǒ hěn kuài lè). She burst out laughing. My grammar was perfect, but I had just answered a casual “how are you” with something that sounds like a line from a poem. That is when I really learned […]
