Buzzwords in Chinese: Useful Phrases

Learning Chinese? Here's some phrases that may or may not be useful, but will definitely add some kick to your vocabulary.

Organic food: You ji shi pin. Organic food is catching on in China, just as it is in the United States. Especially with the food scares in the last couple of years, people are paying more attention to what they put in their mouths, and an organic label is definitely a draw for many consumers. The phrase "you ji" by itself means "organic," while "shi pin" means "food." So "you ji shi pin" means "organic food." Pretty straight forward.

Harry Potter: Ha li Bo te. This is pretty much a phonetic translation of the boy wizard's name into Chinese characters. Harry and his pals are pretty popular in China among young people. A lot of youth here have seen the newest movie in the first couple days it came out.

Uighurs: Wei wu er. The Uigher people have been in the news a lot lately, due to the riots in the Xinjiang Province in northwestern China. They are a people who have a unique language and culture from the Han people who make up most of mainland China.

Economic recession: jing ji shuai tui. The global recession has been on almost everyone's mind lately. While the recession has not affected China quite as much as it has hit other countries because of China's domestic expansion, the country has lost export sales recently due to other countries' economies contracting. "Jing ji" means "economy" in Chinese, and "shuai tui" means "recession."

Health care: bao jian. China is facing a health care problem much as the U.S. is, with many people unable to afford health care costs. There has been a lot of talk about universal health care. The phrase for "health insurance" in Chinese is "jian kang bao xian," with "jian kang" meaning "health" and "bao xian" meaning "insurance."

Swine flu: zhu liu gan. This phrase in Chinese is a direct translation of "swine flu." The H1N1 virus, or swine flu, has caused serious alarm in China, perhaps more so than in any other country. The news media was aflush in the last few weeks with stories about unsuspecting travelers who were quarantined upon arrival in Beijing or Shanghai. These measures by the Chinese government seem to have been somewhat loosened recently, although there is still a lot of wariness surrounding travelers from abroad.