Hello, Olivia. I’d just like to say that I think Osprey made a very valuable observation, and Haruka gave you the best advice — you should learn the official Hànyǔ pīnyīn (Chinese phonetic writing) ASAP. It is a romanization that was designed by Chinese linguists to for ease of use and accuracy in writing the sounds of Mandarin Chinese. At the same time, you’ll be learning the sound system of the spoken language, which will save you having to re-learn everything later. I would also recommend you follow Chris’s practice of writing (and pronouncing) the tones. I wouldn’t call this a “magic bullet,” but if you fail to make this small initial investment in study time, it will slow down your progress considerably, almost surely resulting in your giving up. There are lots of resources on-line, here’s one example of a complete pinyin chart, where you’ll find every possible Mandarin syllable (there aren’t that many — English has on the order of ten times more):
Hello Olivia!! so I think you are asking about how to simply ask the Chinese equivalent to "How are you?". I have asked myself the same question.
I came across a video which added some more confusion because, "Ni3 zen3 me yang4" , means basically the same, and I think as Americans we are looking for the translation to express our concern, like when we say "hey , how are you?". (just in case, the numbers represent the tones)
Did this make any sense??
ni han ma is too official in Mandarin when it is used in greeting. you can try some another way to greeting.
ni zhey ching che muy yu, i just do not get the meaning of that
In the morning, wen you see someone, just say Zao（good morning）
other time or situation, you can say Gan Ma Qu ( what are doing) or Zui Jin Mang Ma (Are you busy recently)
This greeting ways we use everyday. when you use it, it shows you are more locally in oral
Hope it is useful to u
ni hao ma is just like "how are you?"
It's never wrong,but it could be a litte old-fashioned
When you just wanna say hello to your friends
,Zao Shang Hao (which means good morning ) is good.
