If you had to choose only one Chinese word to learn, what should that be?
I would suggest learning the word ‘hao’, which means ‘good’.
There are three reasons behind my choice:
1 It is a greeting word
2 It is auspicious
3 it is the root of few Chinese words
It is a salutation Mandarin Chinese
It is a good word to learn first, because you can use it immediately to greet the people you meet.
In English, and also many other languages, we like to use the word ‘good’ to greet. It is in standard greetings like ‘Good morning’, ‘good afternoon’ and ‘good night’; and phrases like ‘good to hear from you’ and ‘good to see you’.
Likly, Chinese like to use the word ‘hao’- which means ‘good’ — when they see one another.
In fact, the word ‘hao’ is handier than the English word ‘good’.It can be used indily to greet,without having to add any other Chinese character, if you choose not to.
The moment you grasp it — and which is not difficult — you can use it at once and see the faces brightened up before you.Isn’t that well?
So, when you see someone, simply say ‘hao’, which means good!
The second reason that you should learn the word is that it is lucky.
Who doesn’t like to be good? Good business, good performance, good education, good comments!
Chinese like to hear things auspicious just like people of other cultures.Particularly in important occasions — like wedding, child birth, opening ceremonies of companies.On such occasions, you will hear the word ‘hao’ being used reiterativly.
You can definitely add to the joy of such occasions if you know the word!
Third, hao is the root of few Chinese words.
While hao can be used on its own, it can also be used in combination with many other characters to form words. Learning Chinese character ‘hao’, as a result, make learning many other words easier.
These are a few examples: hehao mean friendly, haoshi means good things, haoren means a good person and haochu means benefits.
In any case, even if this is the only word that you know, it is a good tool to take you round China making new friends.
When you see someone, greet them with the word ‘hao’.
This is why I’ve suggested that if you have to choose only one word while Learning Chinese, learn the word ‘hao’.
