WeChat (微信, wei xin) and Alipay (支付宝, zhi fu bao) are the most common mobile payment apps. Even in the most unlikely places, you can usually pay by scanning a QR code. Mobile payments are very common in China. The most useful phrase I learned in Mandarin was '可以微信吗 (ke yi weixin ma)?’. Learning to haggle was an exciting part of shopping in China and I found that learning a few key phrases provided me with enough to participate in it. I found the most useful phrases to learn in Mandarin were those concerning cost, such as ‘How much is that?’ 多少钱 (duo shao qian?) or ’Too expensive’ 太贵了(tai gui le). Use it when you've ordered too much at a restaurant or if the portions are too generous, and you want to take your food home. The most useful Mandarin phrase I learned was 请打包 (qing da bao). You can also say 我是素食 (wo shi su shi), which means ‘I’m a vegetarian’ for extra clarity, since ‘meat’ could exclude seafood in this context. I found a fantastic variety of vegetarian dishes in China, but sometimes had to be very specific about my dietary requirements. My most useful phrase was 我不吃肉 (wo bu chi rou). Some of those were 火锅 (huo guo), a hotpot cooking method common in Sichuan province, 回锅肉 (hui guo rou), twice-cooked pork or 冒菜 (mao cai), a hotpot served in individual pots rather than the classic sharing style. Using that phrase, sometimes with 还 (hai), which means ‘not yet’, usually resulted in exciting lunch plans or local recommendations. When I lived in Sichuan, my first conversations with people were often about food. My most useful phrase was 我没吃过 (wo mei chi guo). You can apply it to scenarios like ‘one bun, please’, ‘one pancake, please’ when in a restaurant. ‘Ge’ is the most commonly used measure word (or classifier) in Mandarin. Accompanied with pointing, this phrase got me pretty far in most restaurants and shops. It is informal and means ‘I want one of those…’. My most useful phrase was 我要一个… (wo yao yi ge…). I said this every day, and it helped me to bond with my Mandarin-speaking co-workers and friends. I lived in Chengdu, which was humid and very warm. The most useful phrase I learned when I went to China as a student was 天气太热了(tian qi tai re le). Responses have been edited for length and clarity. We asked participants from this year's Generation UK internship programme to tell us the most useful Mandarin words and phrases they learned when they moved to China.
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