The Beijing subway is fast, cheap and increasingly extensive and is one of our favorite means of transportation. Weighing the time we spend every day in its carriages, why not turn this means of transportation into a way to practice our Mandarin Chinese?

Beijing subway, line 1, Tiananmen Dong station.

With this idea in mind, we took on the task of transcribing some of the most common audios we heard during our adventures in the Beijing subway. Other lines and stations follow similar patterns, if you want to check out other lines you can visit ditiezu.com. Let’s start at the beginning:

First station.

Hello passengers, welcome to this Line 1 train.

乘客您好，欢迎乘坐地铁一号线列车。 chéngkè nínhǎo ， huānyíng chéngzuò dìtiě yīhàoxiàn lièchē 。 Woman Man

The train departs for “Wukesong” and “Fuxingmen” stations, “Sihuidong” terminal, the next station is “Gucheng”, passengers getting off, please prepare in advance.

列车开往 “五棵松”站，“复兴门”站方向，终点站是“四惠东”站，列车运行前方是“古城”站，下车的乘客请提前做好准备。 lièchē kāiwǎng wǔkēsōng zhàn ， fùxīngmén zhàn fāngxiàng ， zhōngdiǎnzhàn shì sìhùidōng zhàn ， lièchēyùnxíng qiánfāng shì gǔchéng zhàn ， xiàchē de chéngkè qǐng tíqián zuòhǎo zhǔnbèi 。 Woman Man

Dear passengers, during the trip, please help to keep the environment clean, maintain the facilities inside the train and the station and follow the guidelines for passengers, together, let’s avoid begging, street artists and other acts. Thank you for your cooperation!

各位乘客，乘车过程中，请协助保持环境卫生，爱护站内车内设施，遵守《乘客须知》，共同抵制乞讨，卖艺等行为。谢谢合作！ gèwèi chéngkè ， chéngchē guòchéng zhōng ， qǐng xiézhù bǎochí huánjìngwèishēng ， àihù zhàn nèichē nèi shèshī ， zūnshǒu chéngkè xūzhī ， gòngtóng dǐzhì qǐtǎo ， màiyì děng xíngwèi 。 xièxièhézuò ！ Woman Man

We arrived at Gucheng station.

古城站到了。 gǔchéng zhàn dào le 。 Woman Man

Tourist metro station.

Welcome to this Line 1 train, the next station is “Tiananmen east”, those going to Tiananmen Square and Chairman Mao Memorial, please prepare in advance.

欢迎乘坐地铁一号线列车，列车运行前方是“天安门东站”，去往天安门广场，毛主席纪念堂的乘客请提前做好准备。 huānyíng chéngzuò dìtiě yīhàoxiàn lièchē ， lièchēyùnxíng qiánfāng shì tiānānmén dōngzhàn ， qùwǎng tiānānménguǎngcháng ， máozhǔxíjìniàntáng de chéngkè qǐng tíqián zuòhǎo zhǔnbèi 。 Woman Man

Subway station with connection to another line.

Welcome to this Line 1 train, the next station is “Dongdan”, passengers getting off, please prepare in advance, “Dongdan” is a transit station, passengers who wish to change to Line 5, can get off at “Dongdan”.

欢迎乘坐地铁一号线列车，列车运行前方是“东单站”，下车的乘客请提前做好准备，“东单站”是换乘车站，换乘地铁五号线的乘客请在“东单站”下车。 huānyíng chéngzuò dìtiě yīhàoxiàn lièchē ， lièchēyùnxíng qiánfāng shì dōngdān zhàn ， xiàchē de chéngkè qǐng tíqián zuòhǎo zhǔnbèi ， dōngdān zhàn shì huànchéng chēzhàn ， huànchéng dìtiě wǔhàoxiàn de chéngkè qǐng zài dōngdān zhàn xiàchē 。 Woman Man

Terminal. Last station.

The next station is “Sihuidong” terminal, the train will stop only for a moment at the station, please pay attention to the time it takes to get off, please prepare in advance, Thank you for your cooperation!

列车运行前方是终点站“四惠东站”，列车在本站停车时间较短，请提前做好准备，抓紧时间下车，谢谢您的合作！ lièchēyùnxíng qiánfāng shì zhōngdiǎnzhàn sìhùidōng zhàn ， lièchē zài běnzhàn tíngchē shíjiān jiào duǎn ， qǐng tíqián zuòhǎo zhǔnbèi ， zhuājǐnshíjiān xiàchē ， xièxiènín de hézuò ！ Woman Man

We arrived at “Sihuidong” terminal, be sure to bring all your belongings and get off in order, we thank you for choosing Beijing subway as your transportation and invite you to use subway line 1 again, see you later!

终点站“四惠东站”到了，请携带好随身物品，按顺序下车，感谢您选择北京地铁出行，欢迎再次乘坐地铁一号线列车，再见！ zhōngdiǎnzhàn sìhùidōng zhàn dào le ， qǐng xiédài hǎo súishēn wùpǐn ， àn shùnxù xiàchē ， gǎnxiènín xuǎnzé běijīngdìtiě chūxíng ， huānyíng zàicì chéngzuò dìtiě yīhàoxiàn lièchē ， zàijiàn ！ Woman Man

Vocabulary.