WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Far East, Close Up: Nǐ hǎo

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

“Far East, Close Up” provides Westerners a front-row seat to the customs, cultures, and everyday life in East Asia. Created and hosted by Emma Wiermann. Ep 2  “Nǐ hǎo”: How to say “Hello!” in Mandarin Chinese.

I'm Emma Wehrman, welcoming you to Far East Close Up, where we provide Westerners a front row seat to the customs, cultures, and everyday life in East Asia. Today's topic is saying hello in Chinese. Many of you are probably at least vaguely familiar with the phrase Nihau. Today, you're going to learn what exactly it is that you're saying and how to say it with confidence. Ni Hao is composed of two characters, Nii and tau. Separately, the character Nii means you and Tao means good. So, you can think of it as greeting someone by asking, Hey man, you good? Pronunciation-wise, I should mention that Chinese is a tonal language, unlike English, meaning that each syllable is assigned a certain tone that accompanies its pronunciation.

So, nihau, properly pronounced with the correct tones, sounds like this. Nihau. Now you can say it the right way, and you know what it means, too. I'm Emma Weirman, and this has been Far East Close Up, on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.