1,  "kan che"

Meiwen is a Chinese teacher. She has many students from the places all over the world.  One day Meiwen went out with her students. When they walked across a street, Meiwen shouted out, "kan che", so all her student stood still in the middle of the street and looked at the cars.  Meiwen was embarrassed.

Kan----to look, to see,     Che---car, cars

But "Kan Che" here doesn't mean "look at cars", It means "Watch out, or to be careful".

 

2,  Baozhi   and   Baozi

David went to a Chinese restaurant. He wanted to eat Chinese steam buns, so he told the waitress, "wo(I)  yao(want)  baozhi", but the waitress answered him, "if you want to buy newspaper, please go across to the street. You will see a newsstand over there."

Baozhi----newspaper

Baozi ----buns

　

3,   "Na li, na li."

David went to visit a Chinese friend. He found his Chinese friend's wife is very beautiful, so he said, "your wife is very pretty." The Chinese friend answered, "na li, na li." David understood some Chinese. He knew "na li" meant "where". He was puzzled, "where? where?" so David told his friend, "everywhere! Yan Jing (eyes), Bi Zi (nose), Zui (mouth)   dou (all) piaoliang (beautiful)."

When that Chinese friend said "na li, na li", it did mean "where." It is the Chinese way to express politeness and modesty. It is like to say, "you are welcome, you over-praise her."