Taking a taxi is not as expensive in China as in many Western countries. For example, in Beijing, the \u8d77\u6b65\u4ef7 [q\u01d0 b\u00f9 ji\u00e0] \uff08starting price\uff09 for a taxi ride is around 14 yuan, and then 2.3 yuan per kilometer. So whenever you want to go somewhere, you can choose to take a taxi.<\/p>\n
In this lesson we will learn some taxi related words and how to give directions to the driver.<\/p>\n
Taxi in Chinese is \u51fa\u79df\u8f66 [ch\u016b z\u016b ch\u0113] or \u7684\u58eb [d\u012b sh\u00ec]. So, to \u201ctake a taxi\u201d is \u6253\u8f66 [d\u01ce ch\u0113] or \u6253\u7684 [d\u01ce d\u012b]. <\/p>\n\n\n
There are mainly three methods for finding a taxi. The simplest way is to wave your hand when a taxi passes by in the street. If it\u2019s a \u7a7a\u8f66 [k\u014dng ch\u0113]\uff08empty car\uff09, it will stop for you. If there are no taxis passing by where you are, you can call the taxi company and ask for a taxi, but this requires that you know the phone number for the taxi company. If you don\u2019t have the phone number close by, you may also use a taxi app to book a taxi. Some of the popular taxi booking apps in China are: \u6ef4\u6ef4\u51fa\u884c<\/a>, \u5feb\u7684\u6253\u8f66<\/a>, and \u4f18\u6b65Uber<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now that you’ve entered the taxi, you have to let the \u51fa\u79df\u8f66\u53f8\u673a[ch\u016b z\u016b ch\u0113 s\u012b j\u012b]\uff08taxi driver\uff09where you want to go. In big cities like Beijng, Shanghai etc, some taxi driver may speak a little bit of English. In a lot of cities, however, they cannot, so this next sentence is important.<\/p>\n\n\n \u5e08\u5085 is a respectful way of addressing a skilled worker. \u201c\u6211\u8981\u53bb+place\u201d is used to say where you want to go. Not so difficult, right? Here are some common places you might want to go.<\/p>\n If the driver knows the way, your work is done here. But in a lot of big cities, sometimes even the driver does not know how to get everywhere. In that case, the driver may ask you:<\/p>\n\n\n If you know how to get there, you can respond like this:<\/p>\n\n\n \u5de6\u8f6c\/\u53f3\u8f6c [zu\u00f3 zhu\u01cen \/ y\u00f2u zhu\u01cen] are often used to give directions, and you may also use \u62d0 [gu\u01cei] instead of \u8f6c \u2014 \u5de6\u62d0\/\u53f3\u62d0 [zu\u00f3 gu\u01cei \/ y\u00f2u gu\u01cei]. You can also put \u201c\u5f80 [w\u01ceng]\u201d in front of these words \u2014 \u5f80\u5de6\uff08\u62d0\uff09\/ \u5f80\u53f3\uff08\u62d0\uff09 [w\u01ceng zu\u00f3 gu\u01cei \/ w\u01ceng y\u00f2u gu\u01cei]. If you don\u2019t know the way, you can reply like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turn left \/ Turn right<\/h4>\n
\nThe meaning of \u5f80 [w\u01ceng] is similar to the English \u201dtowards\u201d.<\/p>\n\n