Must-Know Words and Phrases in Mandarin Chinese to Deal with Money and Banks

Are you planning a trip to China, or better, heading there for a while to work? While in the big cities you might find some English speakers, in smaller towns or even in daily chores you will need to know some basic expressions in Mandarin to help you get by when dealing with money and you are at a bank.

Expressions in Mandarin - Bank, money and currency exchange
Some of the foreign currencies I have laid on my worn-out map of Shanghai

Dealing with money in Mandarin Chinese

In this post I will write some tips and expressions in Mandarin Chinese you will need if you have to deal with money-related problems.

The most common issue when travelling is money exchange. Sure you can also directly withdraw from the ATM, but in case you have brought cash, Euro, pounds sterling or US dollars, you might want to exchange them into the local currency. Usually, if you do it at the arrival at the airport you are very likely to find English-speaking people at the counter, but if you need to exchange some money once in the city, the chances become quite a little.

Chinese words you need at the bank

Here are some of the words and expressions in Mandarin Chinese you might need at the bank:

Money: qián (钱)

Withdraw money: qu qián (取钱)

Check (or cheque in the UK): zhi piào (支票)

Account number: zhàng hào (帐号)

Password: mì ma (密码)

To open an account: kai zhànghù (开帐户)

Bank transfer: zhuan zhàng (转帐)

Exchange rate: huì lù (汇率)

Foreign currency: wài huì (外汇)

To sign: qian zì (签字)

To agree: tóng yì (同意)

US dollars: mei yuán (美元)

Euro: ou yuán (欧元)

British pound: ying bàng (英镑)

Japanese yen: rì yuán (日元)

To exchange money: huàn qián (换钱)

Speaking Mandarin Chinese at the bank counter

There are many banks in China, but the most popular two are Bank of China (Zhong Guó yínháng, 中国银行) and ICBC (Gongshang yínháng, 工商银行), and every branch displays both the Chinese characters and the English translation.

If you go to the bank to exchange money, a typical dialogue you might have with the bank teller could start with you asking if they actually do this kind of service: “Qingwèn, zhèr néng bù néng huàn qián? (请问, 这儿能不能换钱?)”

At this point the assistant will ask you what kind of currency you want to exchange, the most likely ones he would mention being US dollars and Euro: “Néng. Mei yuán háishì ou yuán? (能. 美元还是欧元?)”. After you answer, say, dollars, he will ask you how much you want to exchange: “Huàn duoshao? (换多少?)”

Supposedly, you want to exchange 300 dollars (sanbai mei yuán – 三百美元), probably, before giving the money you’ll want to inquire about how much is the exchange rate: “Sanbai mei yuán, yì mei yuán huàn duoshao Rénmínbì? (三百美元, 一美元换多少人民币?)”

The bank teller will tell you the rate, here as an example would be 6.8, and will ask you to count the money: “Jintian de huìlù shì liù kuài ba. Qing nín kàn yí xià, zhèshì nín yào huàn de Rénmínbì, qing dian yí xià (今天的汇率是六块八. 请您看一下, 这是您要换的人民币, 请点一下).” And, as usual, in the end, you will thank and leave: “Hao, xièxie. Zài jiàn (好, 谢谢. 再见).”

Helpful resources to learn Chinese and live in China

Mandarin Blueprint Course

Before traveling to China is always a good idea to study Mandarin so that you don’t arrive completely in the dark as I did when I moved to Shanghai to learn Chinese. Obviously, mastering the Chinese language is a huge plus in the modern world and opens up a plethora of work opportunities, but while I think you can achieve near-to-native speaking skills only living in China, I also believe you can totally study and start speaking, reading and understanding even before traveling to the Middle Kingdom.

How? With a course. Mandarin Blueprint promises to teach you how to read and understand basic Mandarin in 2 months, how to read (graded) books and stories in under 6 months and to have complete conversations in under a year. Ambitious? Very. Possible? Why not. They offer a 30-day trial so it’s worth trying!

Try Mandarin Blueprint today!

Dictionaries and Flash Cards

Of course the money-related issues you might have to deal with while abroad are countless, and here I’ve only tackled one of the most common.

This is the last part of the series meant to be helpful for travellers in China. I think it would have been useful for me at the beginning of my stay in Shanghai to know some words, sentences or even have some phrases written in Mandarin using Chinese characters to show the locals when I couldn’t make myself understood. It’s with this spirit that I’ve written these posts, and I hope they will help someone out.

Some of the most precious tools for learning Mandarin Chinese is a dictionary and in this field brands like Oxford or Collins are excellent.

Buy your Chinese dictionary today!

If you are travelling to China and need a bit of quick help to get by in the Chinese language you might find very handy a Chinese vocabulary, a guide divided into tables that show Chinese characters, the pinyin (transliteration of Chinese characters into Latin alphabet) and the English translation.

Buy your 6-page Chinese Vocabulary today!

If you are on a business trip or are planning to stay in China a little longer, improve your Chinese language with an easy-to-use Chinese Flash Cards Kit to learn the most frequently used Chinese characters quickly and easily.

Buy your Chinese Flash Cards Kit today!

Buy a VPN

In China, Facebook and other websites are filtered. This is why it’s good to have a VPN service to be able to access all websites by connecting from foreign servers. I use ExpressVPN because it’s the most reliable among the ones I have tried, paid and free.

ExpressVPN gives you a fast connection, a big choice of servers and you can install it on more than one device. You can do a monthly or annual subscription, obviously the annual is cheaper: the last time I bought it was one month at the cost of $12.95, while the annual package costs $8.32 per month.

Buy your ExpressVPN today!

Tips and expressions in Chinese language for several daily situations:

about me: Angela Corrias
About the author

I'm Angela Corrias, an Italian journalist, photographer, and travel writer located in the heart of Italy's capital. Welcome to my website, your comprehensive source for your travels and expert guidance for crafting your dream travel experience.

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