Chinese For Dummies (94 page)

Playing on a Team

No matter where you go in the world, you'll find a national pastime. In America, it's baseball. In most of Europe, it's soccer. And in China, it's ping pong, although since Yao Ming came on the scene, basketball has gotten some attention as well. Here are the Chinese terms for these and many other popular sports:

bàngqiú
棒球
(bahng-chyo) (
baseball
)

bīngqiú
冰球
(beeng-chyo) (
hockey
)

lánqiú
篮球
(
籃球
) (lahn-chyo) (
basketball
)

lěiqiú
垒球
(
壘球
) (lay-chyo) (
softball
)

páiqiú
排球
(pye-chyo) (
volleyball
)

pīngpāngqiú
乒乓球
(peeng-pahng-chyo) (
ping pong
)

shǒuqiú
手球
(show-chyo) (
handball
)

tǐcāo
体操
(
體操
)
(tee-tsaow) (
gymnastics
)

wǎngqiú
网球
(
網球
) (wahng-chyo) (
tennis
)

yīngshì zúqiú
英式足球
(eeng-shir dzoo-chyo) (
soccer
[Literally:
English-style football
])

yóuyǒng
游泳
(yo-yoong) (
swimming
)

yǔmáoqiú
羽毛球
(yew-maow-chyo) (
badminton
)

zúqiú
足球
(dzoo-chyo) (
football
)