When you first arrived to China what words/expressions were the most useful?

[Baron]

是吗 shi4 ma - really?

不会吧 bu2 hui4 ba - no way!

Blag a whole conversation just by nodding and alternating between those two. Supremely useful.

[WestTexas]

怎么回事儿？ roughly, 'What the hell?' or sth similar. Gets a good laugh when timed right

怎么了? roughly, 'What's wrong?' In NE colloquial Chinese, this becomes 咋的了

保健品 sex supplies (condoms, toys, etc.)

保健按摩 happy ending massage

可以打折吗？Can you give me a discount?/Can I haggle on this price?

牛蛋 savory meat balls

牛鞭 chewy beef sausage

[skylee]

牛蛋 savory meat balls

牛鞭 chewy beef sausage

These sound very wrong. The first would be 牛丸, the second one is no sausage.

保健品 sex supplies (condoms, toys, etc.)

保健按摩 happy ending massage

These don't sound right either.

[liuzhou]

These sound very wrong.

The poster is trying to be funny.

The first is ox testicles; the second ox penis.

[joshgibbs]

厕所在哪儿？-where is the bathroom.

我不能说中文。-i don't speak chinese

我听不懂。- i don't understand

多少钱？-how much money

[Shirley_Chen]

你人真好 - You are very nice/friendly.