Christa Posted October 12, 2017 at 09:13 AM Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 09:13 AM Another "what do they say where you are?" kind of question. I've heard more than one way over the years for saying "taxi" in Chinese. The three I've heard are: 出租車 (chūzūchē), 計程車 (jìchéngchē) and 打的 (dǎdi). So, I'm wondering, which have you heard said / do you recognise / understand? Christina (the supreme vegetable non-expert) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted October 12, 2017 at 09:26 AM Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 09:26 AM 的士。 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somethingfunny Posted October 12, 2017 at 10:29 AM Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 10:29 AM 的士 is a Hong Kong thing I believe. I certainly never heard it on the mainland. I've also never come across 計程車. I think you may be confusing nouns and verbs here. Generally, 出租車 is used to mean "taxi". For "take/get a taxi" then 打车 is the most frequently used, although in some areas 打的 is also used. Although I've always heard it as 打个的, although that's not to say that both aren't acceptable. If you think about it, you mostly talk about taxis when saying "get a taxi", so you're much more likely to hear 打车 than 出租車. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
889 Posted October 12, 2017 at 11:01 AM Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 11:01 AM I think 的士 is used in parts of the S Mainland as well as Hong Kong. In any event the common expression throughout the Mainland, 打个的 !, is derived from it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted October 12, 2017 at 11:02 AM Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 11:02 AM 30 minutes ago, somethingfunny said: 出租車 According to my sources (the dictionary of Perapera) it is Taiwanese for "rental car" which I take to mean a self drive situation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomsima Posted October 12, 2017 at 01:02 PM Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 01:02 PM a relatively new word you will hear nowadays is 滴滴 , I've heard it being used as both a noun and a verb, as in 你滴滴過來比較方便, though I might be missing some implicit unspoken words here. it isn't exactly equivalent to taxi, but as in an 'uber car' so to speak. also 的士 does get used where I am (湖北) by younger people. most people just use 車 and rely on context to be honest. only people I've heard using 出租車 are people when talking to foreigners about taxis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somethingfunny Posted October 12, 2017 at 01:28 PM Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 01:28 PM I think that might come from the company 滴滴打车. I once had a colleague who referred to going by car as "di di menr menr". No idea what the characters were supposed to be, and they claimed it was the sound made by a car - something about the horns I recall. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwq Posted October 12, 2017 at 02:13 PM Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 02:13 PM 的士 is 粵語音譯 of Taxi and is used in Hong Kong and southern China. 出租車 is used in mainland China. 計程車 is used in Taiwan. The Wikipedia article has all these and more. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christa Posted October 12, 2017 at 03:19 PM Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 03:19 PM 1 hour ago, dwq said: 的士 is used in Hong Kong and southern China. 出租車 is used in mainland China. 計程車 is used in Taiwan. Yes, this is roughly how I understood it too. I think that if you use 出租車 in Taiwan it means a rental car and, if you use 計程車 in the mainland, then it means rental car, rather than taxi, as it does in Taiwan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwq Posted October 12, 2017 at 03:42 PM Report Share Posted October 12, 2017 at 03:42 PM 計程車 literally means "cars by distance", so I doubt it is used for rental car (which is rented per day / hour mostly). The reverse, using 出租車 (cars for rent) in Taiwan might work as pointed out by Shelly. It seems rental car companies call themselves XX租車 in the mainland, e.g. AVIS . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studychinese Posted October 17, 2017 at 02:37 AM Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 at 02:37 AM 出租車 for certain. At least in mainland China. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
陳德聰 Posted October 17, 2017 at 02:56 AM Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 at 02:56 AM Pretty sure this trio is one of the standard examples where Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China have completely different terms for the same thing. I seem to recall we have a thread full of different words for the same thing... Edit: Found it! @Christa I suspect you would enjoy it https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/25133-same-thing-different-names/ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christa Posted October 17, 2017 at 08:23 AM Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2017 at 08:23 AM 5 hours ago, 陳德聰 said: Pretty sure this trio is one of the standard examples where Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China have completely different terms for the same thing. I seem to recall we have a thread full of different words for the same thing... Edit: Found it! @Christa I suspect you would enjoy it https://www.chinese-forums.com/forums/topic/25133-same-thing-different-names/ Oh my goodness, you have found my obsessive compulsive Chinese varieties heaven... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyJonesLocker Posted November 10, 2017 at 12:34 AM Report Share Posted November 10, 2017 at 12:34 AM Or nowadays 滴滴 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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