My top 10 must learn Mandarin phrases

Mandarin is the number one spoken language in the world with 873 million native speakers and a total of 1.051 billion (#2 Hindi, #3 Spanish, #4 English). I must say I'm very lucky that 1- I was born in the UK, meaning English is my native language, as it's spoken in soo many different countries (and by 510 million people)! I'm also super lucky to have had the experience to learn (and also live) in Spain and China. But what I'm focusing on today is: Mandarin! If you are ever planning to visit China, it's not only super helpful, but also I think polite to know a few phrases. Personally, I like to do this to any country I visit as I think it's nice to make an effort to try and speak their native language. So, since I am in China, I thought I'd share with you some really useful day-to-day phrases that can help if you're planning to visit China.

One thing you need to understand about Mandarin is that it has four different tones. The tone is how you pronounce the word (I mean sometimes it's hard enough with 4, but in Cantonese there are six tones!). I sometimes like to do hand gestures when I'm reading/speaking to help with tones, yes I may look stupid but I think it helps me to focus and it makes it a bit more fun! The basics:

Hello/goodbye 你好／再见 Nǐ hǎo/zàijiàn
Thank-you 谢谢 Xièxiè

Useful phrases/questions:

3. Do you speak English?

你会说英语吗？

Nǐ huì shuō yīngyǔ ma?

4. Can you speak more slowly?

你能说的更慢吗?

Nǐ néng shuō dé gèng màn ma? 5. Where can I find a bus or taxi? 哪里是最近的公共汽车或出租车? Nǎlǐ shì zuìjìn de gōnggòng qìchē huò chūzū chē?

6. How much does it cost? 多少钱？

Duōshǎo qián? 7. I want this/one of... (Useful when picking foods as you can just point and say "zhège/yīgè) 我要这个/一个

Wǒ xiǎng zhège/yīgè

8. Where am I on the map? 我在地图上？

Wǒ zài dìtú shàng?

9. Excuse me... 请问 Qǐngwèn

10. Can you help me? 你能帮我吗?

Nǐ néng bāng wǒ ma?

Hope these help on any future travels, or maybe you just want to learn something new (Quizlet is super handy for language learning!). Whatever you plan, enjoy yourself!

PS. Some useful learning researches:

Quizlet - super handy for language learning and revision in general, I used it for A-level Biology and currently using it for Mandarin revision

Pleco - this will be your best friend, it's an offline dictionary and it's so good! You can download Pleco for iPhone here, for android here, and for other devices such as Kindle here.