<p>To avoid making the other party feel you're not satisfied with his or her English level, you may say:</p>

<p>我们可以用中文吗？ (wǒmen kěyǐ yòng zhōngwén ma?)</p>

<p>Which translates into: Can we use Chinese?</p>

<p>In this way you're kindly asking if speaking Chinese is possible. Also, it would propably make the other party feel that you're simply interested in speaking Chinese rather than English.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-20T17:08:54.907Z
I always thought 中文 referred to the written Chinese language, or at least literary Chinese?
hippietrail
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-20T22:03:28.327Z
Yeah well.. I partly agree. It also covers the language as a whole. When it comes to languages and the character 文 is applied, then the written form of that particular language is rather in the fore, e.g. 英文 and 德文.
Joel Hansen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-20T13:14:04.190Z
2014-01-20T13:14:04.190Z
Joel Hansen
<p>If it were me, I'd say:</p>

<p><code>要不这样，我们讲中文吧。</code></p>

<p>I think this will be very gentle and soft.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-19T11:46:12.413Z
2014-01-19T11:46:12.413Z
AGamePlayer
<p>I think "哦，好的。我要..." is good enough, or 'OK, 我要...'. There is no difficulty for them to understand words like 'OK', 'yes' and etc.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-18T12:29:08.573Z
2014-01-18T12:29:08.573Z
Kattern
<p>What about 「您要说汉语吗？」
In this you are asking if they want to speak Chinese instead of asking if we can speak chinese.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-19T15:20:07.450Z
2014-01-19T15:20:07.450Z
B0B0
<p>How about: "那么，请跟我说汉语/普通话" (in that case, please speak Chinese with me)?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-18T05:19:03.440Z
2014-01-18T05:19:03.440Z
user238264
<p>In eastern asian languages, hints are very important, thus, if you have already said "你会说汉语吗?", it has included an indication of "让我们说汉语吧" and the part you are asking for is actually an unnecessary part of the communication. You can just switch to your Chinese mode after that sentence as a notice.</p>

<p>It is the same case in English. When you say "Can we speak in Chinese?", obviously you are not inquiring if we really have the ability to say Chinese, rather, it is an indication including the sentence "Let's speak Chinese.", which you will not speak aloud.</p>

<p>But it is important you know the correct answer. “（咱们/我们）能用（普通话/汉语）说吗？”</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-27T18:32:34.450Z
This is a good suggestion, by asking them "你会说汉语吗?" you clearly indicate that you know Chinese and if the other person also knows Chinese then you simply carry on in Chinese.
grayQuant
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-18T06:21:30.250Z
2014-01-18T06:21:30.250Z
Joseph S WU
<p>I would like to preface this by saying I'm Australian and speak with an Australian accent when I'm speaking English which can be hard to digest for a lot of people new to Australia.</p>

<p>A lot of 1st gen Chinese-Australians struggle with my accent so I commonly find it easier to order in Chinese. This is how I would normally transition between the two languages:</p>

<p>我：你会说汉语吗<br>
他：我会说<br>
我：我要...  </p>

<p>I feel that this is kind of a harsh transition but haven't been corrected; yet. I've considered saying something like: 我们可以说汉语吗 but it doesn't sound overly natural or correct. </p>

<p>How would I politely ask to continue the conversation in Chinese?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-18T07:39:03.013Z
Sometimes I ask the waitstaff if they speak the language of the restaurant's cuisine. Chinese restaurants usually are run by Chinese but I've been fooled in Japanese restaurants run by Koreans or Vietnamese and a Korean restaurant run by Mongolians ... so you never know. Sometimes even Asian Aussies working in Asian restaurants in Australia who don't speak their ancestral language (-:
hippietrail
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-18T07:46:01.737Z
@hippietrail My favorite Japanese place near work is run by Chinese who know 0 Japanese, one of the better sushi train places near my house is run by Koreans who speak Japanese & Korean fluently. Also know my share of 3rd-4th gen Australian-Chinese mates who don't know Chinese or only know a little of their mother tongue eg. Hokkien or Cantonese
50-3
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-18T07:49:20.543Z
Yes only after submitting my comment did I realize I forgot to mention Chinese restaurants with staff who speak some Chinese language but not Mandarin. I guess we still must especially have Cantonese-only speaking restaurants here and there.
hippietrail
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-18T07:52:35.763Z
@hippietrail Another fun one is YumCha depending who is pushing the cart will dictate which language they will try and speak to you in, Or for double fun they will give the Canto name of one dish the Hokkien name of another dish and the rest in either Mandarin or English... Chinese can be confusing at times :)
50-3
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-18T07:54:43.083Z
Reminds me of [a question I asked over on cooking.SE](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/36571) a while ago (-:
hippietrail
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-23T00:54:54.297Z
汉语 is not the same as Mandarin; it's an umbrella term that refers to all Chinese languages.  An individual might speak Cantonese, but not Mandarin and vice versa (which is more likely). 普通话 is a better term to use here.
deutschZuid
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-01-26T19:38:42.857Z
Usually when you meet a mainlander Chinese nowadays, 说汉语 is automatically understood as 说普通话. To me it is just mor e natural to say `我们可以说中文吗`, I don't know why it's 中文 instead of 汉语 in this case.
user58955
<mandarin><vocabulary><politeness>
Correct/Polite way of asking "Can we speak in chinese?"
# Correct/Polite way of asking "Can we speak in chinese?"

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-01-18)

I would like to preface this by saying I'm Australian and speak with an Australian accent when I'm speaking English which can be hard to digest for a lot of people new to Australia.

A lot of 1st gen Chinese-Australians struggle with my accent so I commonly find it easier to order in Chinese. This is how I would normally transition between the two languages:

我：你会说汉语吗  
他：我会说  
我：我要...

I feel that this is kind of a harsh transition but haven't been corrected; yet. I've considered saying something like: 我们可以说汉语吗 but it doesn't sound overly natural or correct.

How would I politely ask to continue the conversation in Chinese?

**Tags:** mandarin, vocabulary, politeness

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Sometimes I ask the waitstaff if they speak the language of the restaurant's cuisine. Chinese restaurants usually are run by Chinese but I've been fooled in Japanese restaurants run by Koreans or Vietnamese and a Korean restaurant run by Mongolians ... so you never know. Sometimes even Asian Aussies working in Asian restaurants in Australia who don't speak their ancestral language (-:  
> **username_0**: @username_1 My favorite Japanese place near work is run by Chinese who know 0 Japanese, one of the better sushi train places near my house is run by Koreans who speak Japanese & Korean fluently. Also know my share of 3rd-4th gen Australian-Chinese mates who don't know Chinese or only know a little of their mother tongue eg. Hokkien or Cantonese  
> **username_1**: Yes only after submitting my comment did I realize I forgot to mention Chinese restaurants with staff who speak some Chinese language but not Mandarin. I guess we still must especially have Cantonese-only speaking restaurants here and there.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Another fun one is YumCha depending who is pushing the cart will dictate which language they will try and speak to you in, Or for double fun they will give the Canto name of one dish the Hokkien name of another dish and the rest in either Mandarin or English... Chinese can be confusing at times :)  
> **username_1**: Reminds me of [a question I asked over on cooking.SE](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/36571) a while ago (-:  
> **username_2**: 汉语 is not the same as Mandarin; it's an umbrella term that refers to all Chinese languages.  An individual might speak Cantonese, but not Mandarin and vice versa (which is more likely). 普通话 is a better term to use here.  
> **username_3**: Usually when you meet a mainlander Chinese nowadays, 说汉语 is automatically understood as 说普通话. To me it is just mor e natural to say `我们可以说中文吗`, I don't know why it's 中文 instead of 汉语 in this case.  

---

## 6 answers

### Answer by username_9 on 2014-01-18. Score: 8 | Accepted answer

In eastern asian languages, hints are very important, thus, if you have already said "你会说汉语吗?", it has included an indication of "让我们说汉语吧" and the part you are asking for is actually an unnecessary part of the communication. You can just switch to your Chinese mode after that sentence as a notice.

It is the same case in English. When you say "Can we speak in Chinese?", obviously you are not inquiring if we really have the ability to say Chinese, rather, it is an indication including the sentence "Let's speak Chinese.", which you will not speak aloud.

But it is important you know the correct answer. “（咱们/我们）能用（普通话/汉语）说吗？”

> **Comments:**
> **username_10**: This is a good suggestion, by asking them "你会说汉语吗?" you clearly indicate that you know Chinese and if the other person also knows Chinese then you simply carry on in Chinese.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2014-01-20. Score: 2

To avoid making the other party feel you're not satisfied with his or her English level, you may say:

我们可以用中文吗？ (wǒmen kěyǐ yòng zhōngwén ma?)

Which translates into: Can we use Chinese?

In this way you're kindly asking if speaking Chinese is possible. Also, it would propably make the other party feel that you're simply interested in speaking Chinese rather than English.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I always thought 中文 referred to the written Chinese language, or at least literary Chinese?  
> **username_4**: Yeah well.. I partly agree. It also covers the language as a whole. When it comes to languages and the character 文 is applied, then the written form of that particular language is rather in the fore, e.g. 英文 and 德文.  

---

### Answer by username_5 on 2014-01-19. Score: 2

If it were me, I'd say:

`要不这样，我们讲中文吧。`

I think this will be very gentle and soft.


---

### Answer by username_6 on 2014-01-18. Score: 1

I think "哦，好的。我要..." is good enough, or 'OK, 我要...'. There is no difficulty for them to understand words like 'OK', 'yes' and etc.


---

### Answer by username_7 on 2014-01-19. Score: 1

What about 「您要说汉语吗？」
In this you are asking if they want to speak Chinese instead of asking if we can speak chinese.


---

### Answer by username_8 on 2014-01-18. Score: 1

How about: "那么，请跟我说汉语/普通话" (in that case, please speak Chinese with me)?


---

