慢慢學 mànmàn xuéThe signs and menus sheet
The 50 characters that do the most work in Taiwan, on one page. Not a beginner's character list — a list of what is actually printed on the door, the shutter, the drinks board and the address plate, in the order you will meet them.
Stick it on the fridge. If you would rather learn them properly, each one is broken into its parts with something to remember it by in the reading module.
Reading Taiwan — signs, menus and labels
50 traditional characters, in the order you meet them.
manmanxue.app
Doors, toilets and exits
The signs you need before you need anything else.
- 男nán
- Men — on a toilet door
- 女nǚ
- Women — on a toilet door
- 推tuī
- Push
- 拉lā
- Pull
- 入口rùkǒu
- Entrance
- 出口chūkǒu
- Exit
- 洗手間xǐshǒujiān
- Restroom — the politer sign
- 電梯diàntī
- Lift / elevator
Open or closed
Whether that shutter is coming up today.
- 營業中yíngyè zhōng
- Open for business
- 休息中xiūxí zhōng
- Closed / on a break
- 今日公休jīnrì gōngxiū
- Closed today — the regular day off
- 客滿kèmǎn
- Full — no seats
- 特價tèjià
- Special price
- 免費miǎnfèi
- Free of charge
- 收銀台shōuyíntái
- Cashier / pay here
The drinks board
Hot or iced, big or small, and how spicy.
- 大／中／小dà / zhōng / xiǎo
- Large / medium / small
- 熱rè
- Hot — on a drinks board
- 冰bīng
- Iced — on a drinks board
- 辣là
- Spicy
- 素sù
- Vegetarian
- 加jiā
- Add / extra
- 份fèn
- Portion / serving
- 元yuán
- Dollars — after a price
What's in it
Reading a menu by its ingredients.
- 飯fàn
- Rice / a meal
- 麵miàn
- Noodles
- 湯tāng
- Soup
- 雞jī
- Chicken
- 豬zhū
- Pork
- 牛niú
- Beef
- 魚yú
- Fish
- 蛋dàn
- Egg
- 茶chá
- Tea
- 水shuǐ
- Water
Streets and addresses
Finding the door once you have the address.
- 路lù
- Road
- 街jiē
- Street
- 號hào
- Number — in an address
- 樓lóu
- Floor — as in 3F
- 站zhàn
- Station / stop
- 左zuǒ
- Left
- 右yòu
- Right
- 醫院yīyuàn
- Hospital
Warnings and the rest
The ones worth reading first.
- 停tíng
- Stop
- 慢màn
- Slow
- 禁止jìnzhǐ
- Prohibited
- 請勿qǐng wù
- Please do not…
- 小心地滑xiǎoxīn dì huá
- Caution: wet floor
- 注意zhùyì
- Attention / please note
- 緊急出口jǐnjí chūkǒu
- Emergency exit
- 樓梯lóutī
- Stairs
- 廁所cèsuǒ
- Toilet
Free from manmanxue.app · learn these properly at manmanxue.app/read
A sheet on the fridge is a start, not a method. The reading module breaks each character into its parts, gives you something to remember it by, and then makes you match it and recognise it cold — which is the part that makes it stick.