About Real-Life Chinese
50 Mandarin phrases for the moments you actually run into — ordering food, getting a taxi, checking in, paying, and getting through the day.
How the phrases are chosen
- Situation first. Every phrase belongs to a real moment, not to a textbook chapter.
- What people actually say. Short, natural, safe to use with strangers.
- Always with pinyin. So you can read it out loud even before you know characters.
Audio, and why it works offline
Every phrase is read by your device’s built-in Chinese voice (zh-CN). We ship no audio files, which is why the whole site keeps working on a plane, in a basement restaurant, or anywhere else with no signal. Install it to your home screen and it behaves like an app.
What this is not
Not a full course, not a dictionary, and not an exam-prep tool. There is no HSK track, no grammar lessons, no login and no subscription — just the sentences you need next.
Start with a situation
- 🍜 Restaurant — Order food, ask for the bill, handle spice levels.
- ✈️ Travel — Airports, trains, directions and asking for help.
- 🏨 Hotel — Check in, check out and fix things in your room.
- 🛍 Shopping — Prices, sizes, bargaining and paying.
- 💬 Everyday — Greetings, thanks and the small words you use all day.
Who makes this
Real-Life Chinese is an independent, ad-free project. If a phrase is wrong, unnatural, or missing, tell us — corrections are the most useful thing you can send.