18 Greetings You Need to Know For the Chinese New Year

Hey everyone, Chinese New Year's is coming up and we want to make sure that you guys are prepared when you visit your Chinese relatives or when you go to that local Chinese restaurant and want to show off a little. And we do want you to look good so we're going to skip the basics like the 新年快乐 and we also don't want you to say it for the simple reason that everybody only knows and says 恭喜发财 and most of them think it means Happy New Year. Actually it doesn't. Nope. Chinese New Year and I already know what they're going to say so to make you guys sound truly First of all, let's go over the two words you will say before you utter these phrases. You can say either 祝你 or 祝您. They both mean wishing you but 祝你 is more informal and you will use it for more younger folks. 祝您 is more formal and you will use it for older people that you meet as a sign of respect or you can use 祝大家 if you're speaking to a group of people. And notice that these Chinese New Year greetings are four characters long but it's basically two words. Number one, 财源广进. This means fortune will widely flow in. 财源 means source of the fortune and 广进 means to widely flow in. So you can say 祝你财源广进. 吉星高照. 吉星 means the star of luck and 高照 means to shine from high above. By saying this, you're basically saying that fortune will smile down upon you. 年年有余. Now this does not mean that you will have fish every year. 年年 means year after year and 有余 means to have surplus. It basically means to wish someone surplus or prosperity every year. But the Chinese will often symbolize this phrase with fish. That's why at every New Year's feast, fish is always on the table. 生意兴隆. 生意 means business and 兴隆 means to blossom. So you are wishing someone's business to blossom. 生意兴隆. 万事如意. 万事 means tens of thousands of things and 如意 means to go smoothly or to go as one wishes. This phrase basically means may everything go as planned for you. 工作顺利. 工作 means work and 顺利 means to go smoothly. So of course you are wishing someone that their work may go smoothly. So guys, 工作顺利. 事业有成. 事业 means career and 有成 means to achieve success. So you are wishing someone success in their careers. 事业有成. 平步青云. Oh, this is really cool. 平步 means step and 青云 means goals. So this phrase is basically wishing somebody rapid success or promotion. Yeah, like they're going up on the clouds, you know. So 平步青云, everybody. 马到成功. 马到 literally means the horse got there and 成功 means success. Put that together and you get horse get there success. In ancient China, during a war when the powerful cavalry enters the battle, then the battle is won. So 马到成功 as a greeting means instant success. 龙马精神. Now, this is one of my favorites. It literally means dragon horse energy. The Chinese view dragons and horses as creatures that have a lot of power, energy, and endurance. So by saying this greeting, you are wishing someone to have the spirit or energy of the dragon and the horse. Now, this is important. Make sure you practice this phrase because if you switch up the last two words around like 龙马神经, now you're calling someone a dragon horse mental case. 身体健康. This phrase is mainly said to grown-ups. 身体 means body. 健康 means health. You're wishing someone a healthy body. Make sure you don't say this to a young person. It doesn't make any sense and it almost sounds like you're being sarcastic and putting a curse on them. 学业有成. The target of this compliment should be someone who is still in school. 学业 means school and 有成 once again means to achieve success. You're wishing someone success in their school studies. 金榜提名. 金榜 basically means golden list. Back in ancient China, the government held tests to choose smart, talented officials from the common folk. And if you scored the best, you would be on the 金榜. This greeting is for those who are still in school. 合家 欢乐. 合家 means the whole family and 欢乐 means happiness. This is to wish happiness for the whole family. 心想事成. 心想 means what the heart desires and 事成 means success. So wishing success to whatever your heart desires. 笑口 敞开. 笑口 literally translates to smiley mouth and 敞开 means always open. So 笑口敞开 is wishing someone that they will always be laughing or happy. 岁岁平安. 岁岁 translates to age after age and 平安 means safe or peace. This phrase is to wish peace year after year. And finally, 恭贺新喜. This is a very fancy, schmancy way of saying happy new year. So use this instead of the boring old 新年快乐. And you will sound so much more sophisticated. And you will sound cool. That's right. Now that you know these phrases, you will sound like a pro on Chinese New Year. And you will be even more 牛 if you can combine some of these together. Like 祝您心想事成,万事如意. All of these greetings can be combined for even awesomer greetings. But remember, some of these greetings are specific to a group of people. But do have fun mixing them and always remember to add 祝你 or 祝您 in the beginning. 祝大家财源广进,集心高照,生意兴隆,工作顺利,事业有成,年年有余! 祝大家金榜齐名,身体健康,龙马精神平步,青天笑口敞开, 阖家欢乐,心想事成,万事如意! 祝大家恭贺新喜! So you know Yi, in the last video we covered, the Nian Beast comes around and eats you if you don't wear red or set a firecracker. So I got my... I'm gonna get eaten. Yeah, I got my red right here. It barely counts. I got the Superman symbol in case he's a fan. But I don't know about you. I'm gonna get eaten, but that's okay. You need some firecrackers. I'm sacrificing. I know a guy. Okay guys, have fun with these Chinese New Year phrases, but remember, use them for good and not evil. Yeah! Okay guys, if you liked the video, please click the like button and don't forget to check out some of our other videos and click the subscribe button. Thanks for watching! Happy New Year! Happy Chinese New Year!