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

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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

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