If you plan to visit Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics, why not take the opportunity to brush up on your Mandarin Chinese?
You probably don’t need to speak Mandarin, especially if you stick close to the Olympics site. There’s likely to be abundant services in English and other languages for the millions of visitors that are expected.
But if you wander away from the main site of the summer Olympics, or if you simply want to practice your language skills, Mandarin can be useful.
General Mandarin Phrases
To get you started, here are some links to Mandarin lessons that are useful for general situations.
Number vocabulary is used for shopping, telephone numbers and addresses.
And be sure you know how to ask for directions.
And let’s not forget about food! A visit to China is an opportunity to sample authentic Chinese food. Take some time to learn this Mandarin restaurant vocabulary, too.
Sports Vocabulary
But the Olympics are all about sports, so let’s also learn some Mandarin sports vocabulary. Here is a complete list of the Summer Olympics sports:
Audio files are marked with ►
| English | Pinyin | Characters |
| Aquatics | ►shuǐ shàng yùndòng | 水上運動 |
| Swimming | ►yóu yǒng | 游泳 |
| Synchronized Swimming | ►huā yàng yóu yǒng | 花樣游泳 |
| Diving | ►tiào shuǐ | 跳水 |
| Water Polo | ►shuǐ qiú | 水球 |
| Archery | ►shè jiàn | 射箭 |
| Athletics | ►tián jìng yùn dòng | 田徑運動 |
| Badminton | ►yǔ máo qiú | 羽毛球 |
| Baseball | ►bang qiú | 棒球 |
| Basketball | ►lán qiú | 籃球 |
| Boxing | ►quán jī | 拳擊 |
| Canoe / Kayak | ►pí huà tǐng | 皮劃艇 |
| Cycling | ►dān chē | 單車 |
| Equestrian | ►mǎ shù | 馬術 |
| Fencing | ►jī jiàn | 擊劍 |
| Football | ►zú qiú | 足球 |
| Gymnastics | ►tǐ cāo | 體操 |
| Artistic Gymnastics | ►tǐ cāo | 體操 |
| Trampoline | ►bèng chuáng | 蹦床 |
| Rhythmic Gymnastics | ►yì shù tǐ cāo | 藝術體操 |
| Handball | ►shǒu qiú | 手球 |
| Hockey | ►qǔ gùn qiú | 曲棍球 |
| Judo | ►róu dào | 柔道 |
| Modern Pentathlon | ►xiàn dài wǔ xiàng | 現代五項 |
| Rowing | ►sài tǐng | 賽艇 |
| Sailing | ►fán chuán | 帆船 |
| Shooting | ►shè jī | 射擊 |
| Softball | ►lěi qiú | 壘球 |
| Table Tennis | ►pīng pāng qiú | 乒乓球 |
| Taekwondo | ►tái quán dào | 跆拳道 |
| Tennis | ►wǎng qiú | 網球 |
| Triathlon | ►tiě rén sān xiàng | 鐵人三項 |
| Volleyball | ►pái qiú | 排球 |
| Indoor Volleyball | ► shì nèi pái qiú | 室內排球 |
| Beech Volleyball | ► shā tān pái qiú | 沙灘排球 |
| Weightlifting | ► jǔ zhòng | 舉重 |
| Wrestling | ► shuāi jiāo | 摔跤 |
