how to ask someone’s jobs

If you have already started to learn Chinese, you might have noticed, that many Chinese language learning books teach you how to ask “Are you busy?” (你忙吗? – Nǐ máng ma?) even before you are able to introduce yourself. Wondering why? Chinese people are often quite busy. If you consider that most people only have 5 paid days off per year, it’s not surprising, that talking about your job is a very important part of the small talk in China.

For most people “working” is more than just doing their job. We need jobs because it gives us safety because it enables us to earn money to cover our essential necessities to be physical and psychologically healthy. Most important of all, work gives us a sense of personal reward and the possibility to fulfill our dreams.

Today we will give you a quick briefing on how to ask about others’ occupation in Chinese language and some first job translations.

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Let’s start with some basic dialogs.

Chinese Conversation A:

Andy:（Qǐng wèn）Nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?

             （请问）你做什么工作？

             （May I ask) What’s your job?

Will: Wǒ zài xuéxiào jiào zhōng wén. Nǐ shì zuò shénme de?

            我在学校教中文。你是做什么的？

             I am teaching Chinese at a school. What do you do?

Andy: Wǒ shì yī shēng.

              我是医生 。         

               I am a doctor.

Chinese Conversation B

Hanna:  Nǐ de zhíyè shì shénme?

            你的职业是什么？

            What’s your occupation?

Ben:   Wǒ zài A gōngsī fùzé xiāoshòu. Nǐ zài nǎlǐ gōngzuò?

             我在A公司负责销售。你在哪里工作？

             I’m responsible for sales at a company A. Where do you work?

Hanna:  (Wǒ) zài shǐguǎn.

                  (我) 在使馆。

                   (I) work in the embassy.

Chinese Conversation C

Jane:   Nǐ Shì lǎoshī ma?

              你是老师 吗？

              Are you a teacher?

Peter:  Wǒ shì. Nǐ ne?

              我是。你呢？

              Yes, I am. And you?

Jane:  Wǒ shì yī míng xuéshēng.

             我是一名学生。

              I’m a student.

These are different ways to ask “What do you do?“.

More vocabs

Practice makes perfect! We hope you have no difficulty to give people an idea of your job! We also wish you a great 2017 with a brilliant performance on your job!

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