"Ni Hao" means "Hello!" in what language?

"Ni hao" means "Hello!" in Chinese language. Ni Hao is also used in the phrase "How are you?" (Ni hao Ma?) and the words (not put together) are used in the phrase "I'm fine. And you?" (Wo hen hao. Ni ne?).

People often think that the phrase "Ni hao" is of Japanese origin. However, the Japanese equivalent for "Hello" is "Konnichiwa" or "Kombanwa". By the way, Chinese is one of the most ancient languages in the world!

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42 Comments

Molly Horan

"Chinese" isn't a language! It's either Mandarin or Cantonese.

Melody Matt Rai Holley

I knew at least one quizzclub crybaby would say that chinese isn't a language.

Derek Dutcher

All I want to contribute here is that once, when an employee of a company I was working with in NYC was on a call with a native of Mobile, Alabama, I was requested to get on the call to translate since I was a southerner who lived in the north. they had major difficulty understanding each other. Dialects and figures of speech rendered them unable to clearly communicate in English. I can only imagine what it must be like in a country spread out much more than ours!

Ben Rehak

Either in Cantonese or Mandarin, it's the same words.

Joe Mangan

Brian Howe, why do so many people refer to languages as "dialects"? There are several languages in China, some of which differ more than English does from Russian.