How to Answer 'Can you speak Chinese.' - Day 8 nǐ huì shūo hàn yǔ ma (Free Chinese Lesson)

Hello, everyone. 大家好。 Welcome to today's Everyday Chinese. In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about what languages you can speak. Now, let's start. First, check out what you will learn in today's lesson. 你会说英语吗? 我不会说英语。 你会说法语吗? 我不会。 你会说西班牙语吗? 我会说一点点。 The Chinese word for language is 语言。 语言。 Let's see how we say English. We use the first word 英 as in 英国, England, plus the word 语 from 语言, then we get 英语, which means English. Have a listen. 英语。 To say French, we still use the first word 法 as in 法国, France, plus the word 语. Then we get 法语, Now listen. 法语。 To summarize, to express a language, we simply use the first word of the country's name plus the word 语. Take note, we only plus the word 语, not plus the full name 语言, so you cannot say English as 英语言. Instead, you only say 英语. By applying the same structure, we can get German. 德语。 Listen. 德语。 Notice, when we say Chinese, we don't say 中语. Instead, we use the word 汉 plus 语, so Chinese is called 汉语。 But why do we call the Chinese language 汉语? There are 56 ethnicities in China, and the Han ethnicity has the largest population, so the language of Han is called 汉语. Now listen. 汉语。 However, to say Spanish or Italian, we use the full name of the country plus the word 语, so the word for Spanish is 西班牙语。 Now listen. 西班牙语。 And the word for Italian is 意大利语。 Now listen. 意大利语。 To say that I can speak a language, we use the structure 我会说 plus the languages. 我会说。 Here, the word 会 means can or be able to in terms of a learned skill. 会。 说。 说 means to speak or to say, so 我会说 means I can speak. Now say I can speak English. 我会说英语。 Have a listen. 我会说英语。 I can speak Chinese. 我会说汉语。 Imagine that you are in China and you need some help. You can find an English speaker by asking, Can you speak English? 你会说英语吗? If they can speak English, you will hear the answer, 我会说英语。 Or they will simply answer, 我会说。 I can speak. 我会说。 If they don't speak English, they will say, 我不会说英语。 Here, to use the negative word 不 to negate 会。 我不会说英语。 Or they will simply answer, What if they ask you, Can you speak Chinese? 你会说汉语吗? The best answer for you as a beginner is to say that I can speak a little. The Chinese word for a little is 一点点。 Now say I can speak a little. 我会说一点点。 Now listen to the conversations once more. 你会说英语吗? 我不会说英语。 你会说法语吗? 我不会。 你会说西班牙语吗? 我会说一点点。 Alright, that's all for today's lesson. Now use 我会说, 我不会说, or 一点点 to express the languages you can speak or you cannot speak. Thanks for listening. And of course, a huge thanks to everyone who was in this audio. In our next lesson, you will learn how to introduce your family members. See you next time. 再见!