How to Introduce Yourself in Chinese

To say your name, use 我叫 (wǒ jiào) and then your name: 我叫王小明 (wǒ jiào Wáng Xiǎomíng, “my name is Wang Xiaoming”). To give only a family name, say 我姓 (wǒ xìng): 我姓王 (wǒ xìng Wáng, “my surname is Wang”). From there, the normal order is where you are from, where you live, what you do, and a closing line such as 請多多指教. Everything below is phrased the way people in Taiwan commonly say it, with pinyin and Zhuyin.

Pinyin and Zhuyin in this guide show 一 and 不 as they are spoken. The dictionary lists their base tones, 一 yī ㄧ and 不 bù ㄅㄨˋ.

Saying Your Name

Chinese	Pinyin	Zhuyin	Meaning
你好,我叫王小明。	nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào Wáng Xiǎomíng.	ㄋㄧˇ ㄏㄠˇ,ㄨㄛˇ ㄐㄧㄠˋ ㄨㄤˊ ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄇㄧㄥˊ。	Hello, my name is Wang Xiaoming.
我姓王,叫王小明。	wǒ xìng Wáng, jiào Wáng Xiǎomíng.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄨㄤˊ,ㄐㄧㄠˋ ㄨㄤˊ ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄇㄧㄥˊ。	My surname is Wang, and I’m called Wang Xiaoming.
你可以叫我小明。	nǐ kěyǐ jiào wǒ Xiǎomíng.	ㄋㄧˇ ㄎㄜˇ ㄧˇ ㄐㄧㄠˋ ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄠˇ ㄇㄧㄥˊ。	You can call me Xiaoming.

Chinese puts the family name first, so 王小明 is family name 王 and given name 小明. In Taiwan, people introducing themselves in a friendly setting often use the given name or a nickname, and many people also have an English name. If your own name is hard to say in Mandarin, offer a version they can say: 你可以叫我… “you can call me …” works with any name. For how names are built and chosen, see how Chinese names work.

Asking for a Name

Chinese	Pinyin	Zhuyin	When
你叫什麼名字?	nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?	ㄋㄧˇ ㄐㄧㄠˋ ㄕㄣˊ ˙ㄇㄜ ㄇㄧㄥˊ ˙ㄗ	Among peers, casual
請問你怎麼稱呼?	qǐngwèn nǐ zěnme chēnghū?	ㄑㄧㄥˇ ㄨㄣˋ ㄋㄧˇ ㄗㄣˇ ˙ㄇㄜ ㄔㄥ ㄏㄨ	Polite, neutral
請問您貴姓?	qǐngwèn nín guìxìng?	ㄑㄧㄥˇ ㄨㄣˋ ㄋㄧㄣˊ ㄍㄨㄟˋ ㄒㄧㄥˋ	Formal: business, service staff, older people

You may hear 請問您貴姓 from service staff or on the phone. The very formal answer is 敝姓王 (bì xìng Wáng, ㄅㄧˋ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄨㄤˊ), where 敝 is a humble word for “my”. It is rare today, mostly from older speakers or in ceremonial business settings, and 我姓王 is the normal answer. Between adults, 請問怎麼稱呼 is safer than 你叫什麼名字. Likewise 您 (nín) is the polite form of 你, covered in 你 vs 您. It is useful with older people, customers and in business, and in casual talk among peers in Taiwan, 你 is the usual choice.

Add 你呢? (nǐ ne? ㄋㄧˇ ˙ㄋㄜ) to return a question to someone.

Where You Are From

Chinese	Pinyin	Zhuyin	Meaning
我是美國人。	wǒ shì Měiguó rén.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄕˋ ㄇㄟˇ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄖㄣˊ	I’m American.
我從加拿大來。	wǒ cóng Jiānádà lái.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄘㄨㄥˊ ㄐㄧㄚ ㄋㄚˊ ㄉㄚˋ ㄌㄞˊ	I come from Canada.
我來自澳洲。	wǒ láizì Àozhōu.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄌㄞˊ ㄗˋ ㄠˋ ㄓㄡ	I’m from Australia.
你是哪國人?	nǐ shì nǎ guó rén?	ㄋㄧˇ ㄕˋ ㄋㄚˇ ㄍㄨㄛˊ ㄖㄣˊ	What country are you from?

The pattern 我是 + country + 人 is the simplest. 我從…來 and 我來自… are equivalent, and 來自 sounds a little more formal. For other countries, nationalities and the names of languages, see countries, nationalities and languages in Chinese. Other common country names include 英國 (Yīngguó, ㄧㄥ ㄍㄨㄛˊ), 德國 (Déguó, ㄉㄜˊ ㄍㄨㄛˊ), 法國 (Fǎguó, ㄈㄚˇ ㄍㄨㄛˊ) and 日本 (Rìběn, ㄖˋ ㄅㄣˇ).

In Taiwan, a question about where someone is from can have different answers. 你是哪裡人 may be answered with a city or hometown. With a foreigner, 你是哪國人 is clearer.

Where You Live

我現在住在台北 (wǒ xiànzài zhù zài Táiběi, ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄢˋ ㄗㄞˋ ㄓㄨˋ ㄗㄞˋ ㄊㄞˊ ㄅㄟˇ) means “I live in Taipei now.” Replace 台北 with your own city. If you are not in Taiwan, 我住在… plus your city works the same way.

What You Do

Chinese	Pinyin	Zhuyin	Meaning
我是工程師。	wǒ shì gōngchéngshī.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄕˋ ㄍㄨㄥ ㄔㄥˊ ㄕ	I’m an engineer.
我在一家科技公司上班。	wǒ zài yì jiā kējì gōngsī shàngbān.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄗㄞˋ ㄧˋ ㄐㄧㄚ ㄎㄜ ㄐㄧˋ ㄍㄨㄥ ㄙ ㄕㄤˋ ㄅㄢ	I work at a tech company.
我是做行銷的。	wǒ shì zuò xíngxiāo de.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄕˋ ㄗㄨㄛˋ ㄒㄧㄥˊ ㄒㄧㄠ ˙ㄉㄜ	I work in marketing.
我是學生。	wǒ shì xuéshēng.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄕˋ ㄒㄩㄝˊ ㄕㄥ	I’m a student.
我已經退休了。	wǒ yǐjīng tuìxiū le.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄧˇ ㄐㄧㄥ ㄊㄨㄟˋ ㄒㄧㄡ ˙ㄌㄜ	I’m retired.

In Taiwan, 上班 (shàng bān) is the everyday verb for “go to work”, and 我在…上班 describes your workplace. The pattern 我是做…的 describes the field you work in without naming the exact job title, which is handy when a title is hard to translate. Other job words you may need are 老師 (lǎo shī, teacher), 醫生 (yī shēng, doctor), 護理師 (hù lǐ shī, nurse), 設計師 (shè jì shī, designer) and 老闆 (lǎo bǎn, boss).

Why You Are Learning, and Closing

Chinese	Pinyin	Zhuyin	Meaning
我在學中文。	wǒ zài xué Zhōngwén.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄗㄞˋ ㄒㄩㄝˊ ㄓㄨㄥ ㄨㄣˊ	I’m learning Chinese.
我太太是台灣人。	wǒ tàitai shì Táiwān rén.	ㄨㄛˇ ㄊㄞˋ ˙ㄊㄞ ㄕˋ ㄊㄞˊ ㄨㄢ ㄖㄣˊ	My wife is Taiwanese.
我的中文還不太好。	wǒ de Zhōngwén hái bú tài hǎo.	ㄨㄛˇ ˙ㄉㄜ ㄓㄨㄥ ㄨㄣˊ ㄏㄞˊ ㄅㄨˊ ㄊㄞˋ ㄏㄠˇ	My Chinese isn’t very good yet.
很高興認識你。	hěn gāoxìng rènshi nǐ.	ㄏㄣˇ ㄍㄠ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄖㄣˋ ˙ㄕ ㄋㄧˇ	Nice to meet you.
請多多指教。	qǐng duōduō zhǐjiào.	ㄑㄧㄥˇ ㄉㄨㄛ ㄉㄨㄛ ㄓˇ ㄐㄧㄠˋ	Please look after me / I look forward to working with you.

請多多指教 is a standard closing in Taiwan when meeting someone you will see again, such as colleagues or classmates. In the first meeting, 初次見面 (chū cì jiàn miàn, ㄔㄨ ㄘˋ ㄐㄧㄢˋ ㄇㄧㄢˋ, “first time meeting”) can open it. 幸會 (xìng huì, ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄏㄨㄟˋ) is a formal “pleased to meet you” more often heard in business than among friends.

A 30-Second Self-Introduction

You can say this as it is, or swap in your own details.

你好,我叫王小明。我是美國人,現在住在台北。我在一家科技公司上班。我在學中文,我的中文還不太好。很高興認識你,請多多指教。

nǐ hǎo, wǒ jiào Wáng Xiǎomíng. wǒ shì Měiguó rén, xiànzài zhù zài Táiběi. wǒ zài yì jiā kējì gōngsī shàngbān. wǒ zài xué Zhōngwén, wǒ de Zhōngwén hái bú tài hǎo. hěn gāoxìng rènshi nǐ, qǐng duōduō zhǐjiào.

Practise it aloud, then replace the details one sentence at a time. If you use Dangdai, Lesson 1 builds on the same material, and our Book 1 Lesson 1 vocabulary page lists the words. For the greeting that comes before your introduction, see how to say hello in Chinese.

Related Reading

• Dangdai Book 1 Lesson 1: Introductions & Greetings
• How to Say Hello in Chinese: What Taiwanese Say
• How Chinese Names Work: Surnames, Given Names, Meaning
• 你 vs 您: Polite Address in Chinese
• Countries, Nationalities and Languages in Chinese