Languages at Berkeley: Chinese

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Where can you learn Chinese, or learn about Chinese, at UC Berkeley?

• Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
• Institute of East Asian Studies
• Center for Chinese Studies
• East Asian Library
• Center for Chinese Studies Library

A few expressions in Chinese:

English	中文	Zhōngwén
Hello/Hi	您好！你好！	Nín hǎo! Nǐ hǎo!
What’s your name?	您贵姓？你贵姓？	Nín guìxìng? Nǐ guìxìng?
My name is Weiming Gao. What’s yours?	我姓高，叫高卫明。 你叫什么名字？	Wǒ xìng Gāo, jiào Gāo Wèimíng. Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
Nice to meet you.	认识您很高兴！	Rènshi nín hén gāoxìng!
Thank you.	谢谢。	Xièxie.
I was born in China, but now I live in Berkeley.	我生在中国，可是现在住在伯克利。	Wǒ shēngzài Zhōngguó, kěshì xiànzài zhù zài Bókèlì.
One, two, three, four, five	一， 二， 三， 四， 五	Yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ
Go Bears!		Go Bears!

Listen to these expressions here: (file coming soon)

Is it difficult to translate any of these expressions into Chinese? Why?

Chinese has two forms of “you”, 您 (nín) and 你 (nǐ). The choice between these two is made on the basis of age or status as well as familiarity. As a rule of thumb, the elderly and the people who are older or at a higher rank are addressed with 您. At home grandparents, or even parents, are addressed with 您, as are teachers at school. On the contrary, 你 is used among people of the same age, friends, mates or colleagues. This distinction exists primarily in the North of China. In the South, while 你 is used exclusively in spoken Chinese, the distinction between 你 and 您 can be found in writing. Go Bears

Something else about Chinese…

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