Reading signs and menus in Chinese

You may speak simple Chinese and recognize some simple Chinese characters, but if you want to read some sign or read the names on the menu, it still is very difficult without pictures. Usually, we express “do not” with general negative words in our daily life such as “不要”(bú yào), “别”(bié). But for some warnings and signs, more formal negative words are accepted: "禁止" (jìn zhǐ) which means ‘forbid’ and "请勿"( qǐng wù) which means ‘please don’t ’.
*禁止吸烟（jìn zhǐ xī yān）No Smoking
*请勿吸烟（qǐng wù xī yān）
*禁止停车(jìn zhǐ tíng chē ) No Parking
*请勿停车（qǐng wù tíng chē）
*禁止游泳(jìn zhǐ yóu yǒng ) No Swimming
*请勿游泳（qǐng wù yóu yǒng）
*禁止入内（jìn zhǐ rù nèi ）No Entry
*请勿入内（qǐng wù rù nèi）
There are also some signs are placed in prominent places, that you should be careful in something. We writing to“小心”(xiǎo xīn) in Chinese.“小”(xiǎo) is small,“心”(xīn) is“heart”， “小心”(xiǎo xīn)together means “be careful with…”
*小心地滑（xiǎo xīn dì huá）caution wet floor
*小心台阶（xiǎo xīn tái jiē）watch the steps
*小心落水（xiǎo xīn luò shuǐ）Danger，Deep Water
*小心扒手（xiǎo xīn bā shǒu）beware of pickpockets
And here we could enlarge some other sign words:

*男浴室（nán yù shì）Male Bathroom	*女浴室（nǚ yù shì）Female Bathroom
*已预订（yǐ yù dìng）Reserved	*营业中（yíng yè zhōng）Open
*请排队（qǐng pái duì）Please Line Up	*静（jìng ）Be Quiet

Generally speaking, when you look for some Chinese food in resturants, whose menu is maily composed by fried deshes. But here we also introduce the other parts such as: soups,rice,noodles and dumplings.Then let's see some Chinese menus words. Hope you could have a good meal!
1. 汤tāng Soup

鸡蛋西红柿汤 jī dàn xī hóng shì tāng	Tomato and Egg Soup
排骨玉米汤pái gǔ yù mǐ tāng	Corn with spareribs Soup
紫菜汤zǐ cài tāng	Seaweed soup
鱼头豆腐汤yú tóu dòu fǔ tāng	Fish Head and Tofu Soup

2. 粉/面 fěn /miànRice noodles / noodles

牛肉面/粉niú ròu miàn /fěn	Beef noodles/Rice noodles
鸡腿面/粉jī tuǐ miàn /fěn	Chicken leg noodles/Rice noodles
鸡蛋面/粉jī dàn miàn /fěn	Egg noodles/Rice noodles
青菜面/粉qīng cài miàn /fěn	Vegetables noodles/Rice noodles

3. 饺子jiǎo zǐ Dumpling

猪肉馅饺子zhū ròu xiàn jiǎo zǐ	Pork Dumpling
牛肉馅饺子niú ròu xiàn jiǎo zǐ	Beef Dumpling
韭菜馅饺子jiǔ cài xiàn jiǎo zǐ	(Chinese) Chives Dumpling
三鲜馅饺子sān xiān xiàn jiǎo zǐ	Three Delicacies Dumpling
香菇肉饺子xiāng gū ròu jiǎo zǐ	Xiang gu Pork Dumpling

4. 炒饭chǎo fànFried Rice

蛋炒饭dàn chǎo fàn	Egg Fried Rice
鸡肉炒饭 jī ròu chǎo fàn	Chicken Fried Rice
牛肉炒饭niú ròu chǎo fàn	Beef Fried Rice
羊肉炒饭yáng ròu chǎo fàn	Lamb Fried Rice
扬州炒饭yáng zhōu chǎo fàn	Yangzhou Fried Rice

5. 炒菜chǎo cài Fried Dish

番茄炒蛋fān qié chǎo dàn	Fried Eggs with Tomatoes
麻婆豆腐má pó dòu fǔ	Ma Po Bean Curd
鱼香肉丝yú xiāng ròu sī	Yu-Shiang Shredded Pork
糖醋里脊 táng cù lǐ jǐ	Sweet and Sour Pork
宫保鸡丁gōng bǎo jī dīng	Gong Bao Chicken

Here we haven't mentioned lots of Chinese words for reading signs and menus, could you take in all? If you want to learn more about daily Chinese, book a free trial lesson here and let our teachers help you now!