Nationalities in Chinese

Jīntiān nǐhǎo ma? In this lesson, you'll learn how to answer that all important question that you'll be asked frequently – 你从哪儿来?Nǐ cóng nǎr lái? – Where are you from?

No matter how good your Chinese is, most people in China will know you're not a native speaker. As such, this is one of the first questions someone new you meet will ask you. You can answer this simply with the country you're from – 我从英国来 Wǒ cóng Yīngguó lái – I'm from the UK. Or, you can also answer by using the nationality form – 我是英国人 Wǒ shì Yīngguórén – I'm British.

This time we'll be going over the second way of talking about where you're from, and nationalities in Chinese.

Resources for further reading:

Pronouncing nationalities in Chinese

Let's get started...

Practice Your Pronunciation With Rocket Record

Rocket Record lets you perfect your Chinese pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!

巴西人

Bāxīrén

Brazilian

澳大利亚人

Àodàlìyàrén

Australian

加拿大人

Jiānádàrén

Canadian

智利人

Zhìlìrén

Chilean

中国人

Zhōngguórén

Chinese

哥伦比亚人

Gēlúnbǐyàrén

Colombian

葡萄牙人

Pútáoyárén

Portuguese

法国人

Fǎguórén

French

德国人

Déguórén

German

美国人

Měiguórén

American

英国人

Yīngguórén

British

日本人

Rìběnrén

Japanese

威尔士人

Wēi’ěrshìrén

Welsh

爱尔兰人

Ai’ěrlánrén

Irish

苏格兰人

Sūgélánrén

Scottish

你从哪儿来?

Nǐ cóng nǎr lái?

Where are you from?

我从英国来。

Wǒ cóng Yīngguó lái。

I'm from the UK.

我是英国人。

Wǒ shì Yīngguórén。

I'm British.

How'd you do? How do you feel answering this question now? Many of these words have some similarity in pronunciation to their English counterparts. But the spelling and pronunciation can be a bit tricky so don't forget to practice! Jiāyóu!

Here are a few recommended Chinese lessons to try next!

回头见!Huítóu jiàn!

Lin Ping: Rocket Chinese

Make It Stick With Rocket Reinforcement

Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!