So here is a list of some of the basic foods in Chinese. When I first got out here, I figured No problem. I know lots of Chinese food's names from the Dragon Fort back at home. After saying chow mein 10 times, yelling it, saying it slowly saying it quickly, I was really frustrated why they couldn't freaking understand Chinese. I mean, come on, it's chow mein. Of course, now I realize that chow mein is Cantonese, as are all the Chinese foods that I thought I knew. Chop suey, egg foo yung, and won ton soup makes no sense out here, no matter how loud you say it. I finally listened to a local order "Gee Row Fan" , and they got a nice bowl of rice with some light gravy and shredded chicken breast. I tried it, and to my surprise, out came some food. So, for the next 2 weeks, I ate this chicken rice at least twice a day until my food knowledge started to increase. Now, seven years later, I'm just starting to eat that Ji Rou Fan again, but hesitantly and only occasionally.
I put together this list of basic survival foods in Chinese. In the first column is PinYin. Many of you just coming out here won't know how to read PinYin, so I've also put together basic English phonetics to sound them out. Just read it like it seems, and it should get you what you want. Of course, I still to this day realize that sometimes you will get something totally different than you ordered. Be ready for it, smile, nod, eat, and work on your pronunciation for next time. Some of the PinYin may be a bit funky, but that's the way I learned it, the bastardized amalgamation of all the different styles that Taiwan insists on using. To see it bigger or print it, click on it, download and print it. Hope this helps.
