To sound more polite, put a 请问 ( qǐngwèn), meaning “excuse me, may I ask…,” in front of your question. There are also a lot of terms to learn about giving directions in Chinese which 100 common phrases are provided below. Quite a read. I have given an introduction and tips as to why asking, receiving and giving directions in Chinese is one of the great ways to practice listening and speaking Mandarin.

Position directions are those that only tell us the position of an object relative to the position of another object. They’re words like above, below, left, right, and toward that use another object as a reference to help guide us closer to our destination. Unless you’re a pirate navigating the high seas, these will be much more useful to you on a day-to-day basis than the cardinal directions. It’s generally easier to understand “turn left at the pharmacy” than “turn east at the pharmacy,” so choose wisely! Just like in most languages, we rarely use cardinal and intercardinal numbers when giving directions – we tend to use positional related vocabulary. After you get the directions, don’t forget to thank the person who helped you for their kindness. Here are some common thank-you phrases to use in this situation. Even with some of the confusion, there were a few tips in thelesson that I really enjoyed. My consultant Nancy was really knowledgeable and taught me additional words like 迷路 (Mí Lù). It means to "get lost," which is something I often do without the help of my GPS. When it came to learning the continents, it was easy. They all end in "洲 (Zhōu)", and three of them are directional (The Americas and Antarctica). Being from the North America, I love that the literal translation of北美洲 (Běi Měi Zhōu), meaning "north beautiful continent."How to Say “Ask” in Chinese with 问 Wen Mandarin & Responding to Indirect Questions or Reported Speech? PRO TIP There are many ways in everyday usage in which you can ask/give directions, and it’s not possible to mention all variations. Being able to ask for and give directions is one of the practical skills we need to learn in life. It’s also one of the survival skills we need to equip ourselves with before visiting a new place. Another common way of asking for directions is by asking how to go somewhere. For this, we use the structure 去____怎么走？(qù ___ zěn me zǒu?), which roughly translates to “How do I get to ____?” Here are some example sentences: English

The nearest subway station is not far from here. Go straight. After a bus stop, cross the road, and you will arrive. Localizers are always used after other words to make a 方位词组(fāngwèi cízǔ)Localizer phrase. These are used to express a location or time. nǐ jiā lí túshūguǎn jìn ma?)Is your home close to the library? Directions in Chinese Asking Where a Place is Also, in English we say Northeast and Southwest but in Chinese, East and West are most important so they say dōng běi 东北 or xīnán 西南. Talking about directions in ChineseA good sense of direction goes a long way when you’re traveling, and if you’re comfortable using cardinal directions it’ll pay off. Just as in English, these words can be combined, though you’ll notice east and west come first, as opposed to English where north and south are prioritized. In this article, we’ll show you not only how to ask for directions in Chinese, but also everything you need to know to understand them. From the names of buildings to parts of the road and public transit, we’ll cover everything you need to know to get to where you need regardless of your mode of transport. When talking about distances, we frequently use the character 离(lí), which means ‘away from’. The sentence will be something like, ‘this place + away from + this place +[is] far/near’.