Rocket Chinese Community

In lesson 3.1 HOTEL- it's traslated as /fàndiàn/. Nevertheless my dictionary says 旅 馆 /lûguân/. Both accepted? Any difference?

By the way...In lesson 1.4 (ordering a drink) To ask for the amount owed after ordering a drink, you say /duo shâo qián/. But, how can I ask specifically for 'the bill(UK)==the check(US)'? I asked for it in a Chinese restaurant close to my home, and they said me something like /qîe qián/ or also valid /mâi tàn/... ; I have checked the dictionary and I cannot find something similar like these...it says:

(BRIT, in restaurant) 账 单 [zhàngdān] 美 = check 美 = check

Can you say me all the posibilities including the writing?

feicháng gânxiè!

Hi....It can be confusing asking for translations etc at a Chinese restaurant for a number of reasons.
1) They may not speak Mandarin (Hanyu) as their primary language. Often they may speak some Mandarin, but not be fluent. eg: They could be Cantonese or speak Shanghaiese or some other dialect.

2) They may have difficulty in your pronunciation but do not wish to embarass you by saying so.

So, first you should ask if they speak Mandarin as their primary language to be sure they know what they are talking about. In one of the lessons the term "Nide Hanyu hen bang"...this term "Bang" is common in the Beijing area but not necessarily used in Shanghai.

BH

Hi there,

Hotel can be translated as either binguan or fandian. They both refers to four-star or more hotels with very good conditions. The first one is a better choice because fandian, besides meaning hotels, sometimes also refers to restaurants. Yet in Beijing, there are many hotels named fandian. They have become popular proper nouns as most of them are very good and famous hotels.

lûguân also refers to a place where people can rest their heads, but they are not as comfortable as four or five star hotels. They are more like a tavern or a motel.

我可以看一下账单吗？（Can I have a look at the check? ）wǒ kěyǐ kànyíxià zhàngdān ma?

I think mǎidān is what the restaurant employee said to you when you asked for check there. it writes like "买单" and we say it when going to the counter after finishing the meal, which means "I wanna pay the bill"

I am not sure whether you remembered the sound /qîe qián/ correctly. if the restaurant employee said something like that, and it means something similar to mǎidān 买单, then I presume the right sound should be jiézhàng 结帐，which means exactly the same as mǎidān 买单.

I hope that helps.

I've just completed lesson 1.1 Talking about you and I'm neither American nor Chinese.

I was wondering what the word for Canadian is so I can replace it for Meiguoren and Zhongguoren.

Xie xie Ni

Jhansen

Hi there,

the word for Canadian is
加拿大人

Hi again, perhaps I should also mention the pinyin for it:

Canada is "jianada"

Canadian is "jianadaren"