People and Occupation in Chinese

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Chinese Vocabulary · 中文词汇

People and Occupation Words in Chinese

人物与职业词汇 rénwù yǔ zhíyè cíhuì

Before we get into the vocab, here’s someone worth knowing: Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s Minister of Digital Affairs. She helped coordinate Taiwan’s early pandemic response and is remembered as the first openly transgender minister to serve in the cabinet — her official title lists her gender simply as “none.”

Who’s who

People Words in Chinese

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
华人huárénOverseas Chinese중국인華人
人类rénlèiHuman being인류人類
人才réncáiTalented person인재人材
观众guānzhòngAudience관중観衆
大众dàzhòngThe masses대중大衆
个体gètǐIndividual개체個体
人民rénmínPeople인민人民
公民gōngmínCitizen공민公民
居民jūmínResident거민居住民
穷人qióngrénPoor people빈자貧者
民族mínzúEthnic group민족民族
人群rénqúnCrowd군중群衆
亲人qīnrénRelatives육친親族

Putting it all together

Examples

你nǐ是shì哪nǎ个gè民族mínzú的de Which ethnic group are you from?

这zhè里lǐ的de居民jūmín都dōu很hěn友善yǒushàn The residents here are very friendly.

What people do

Occupation Words in Chinese

ChinesePinyinEnglishKoreanJapanese
总统zǒngtǒngPresident대통령大統領
总理zǒnglǐPrime minister총리総理
医生yīshēngDoctor의사医師
护士hùshìNurse간호사看護師
歌手gēshǒuSinger가수歌手
工程师gōngchéngshīEngineer기사エンジニア
公务员gōngwùyuánCivil servant공무원公務員
农民nóngmínFarmer농민農民
秘书mìshūSecretary비서秘書
士兵shìbīngSoldier병사兵士
诗人shīrénPoet시인詩人
运动员yùndòngyuánAthlete운동선수アスリート
导演dǎoyǎnDirector (film)감독監督
律师lǜshīLawyer변호사弁護士
教授jiàoshòuProfessor교수教授
作者zuòzhěWriter; author작가作家
志愿者zhìyuànzhěVolunteer자원봉사자ボランティア
演员yǎnyuánActor; actress배우俳優

Note

Taiwan uses (zhìgōng) for “volunteer,” while mainland China more commonly uses 志愿者 (zhìyuànzhě). Both are understood across the Chinese-speaking world.

Putting it all together

Examples

我wǒ姐姐jiějie是shì护士hùshì，她tā在zài医院yīyuàn工作gōngzuò My older sister is a nurse; she works at a hospital.

你nǐ长zhǎng大dà以后yǐhòu想xiǎng当dāng什么shénme What do you want to be when you grow up?

Test yourself

Vocabulary Quiz

B1
Do you like it? 🙂

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