"Restaurant" where you are - 餐廳 (cāntīng) or 飯店 (fàndiàn) or what?

[Christa]

Hi guys,

 

It's me again, the vegetable lady! 

 

I am wondering about the word for restaurant where you are. What is used most and what would you understand? In Taiwan, I found that 餐廳 (cāntīng) was the most common term used for restaurant and 飯店 (fàndiàn) was generally used to refer to a large hotel.

 

How does this work where you are? Is 餐廳 (cāntīng) used much? Is it at least understood?

 

Are there any other terms you hear used more frequently?

 

Any help would be very much appreciated!

 

Christina

[Shelley]

For me 餐廳  is a dining hall as in a school or similar.  飯店 to me means a restaurant.

 

I am studying in the UK and my textbook is the New Practical Chinese Reader.

[Xinyi Zhang]

我的个人经验是，从档次来看一般是这样：快餐店<饭馆/餐馆<餐厅<饭店≈酒店（主要提供住宿）

除此之外还有“食堂”，指公司或学校里那种供大规模人群用餐的地方。

[abcdefg]

You must learn to live with ambiguity, @carla. China will be a very difficult place for you otherwise.

 

When you arrive, what you will need to do is test out various locutions in that time and place. "三龙饭馆在那里？“ If you get blank, puzzled stares, immediately try "三龙餐厅“ and so on. 三龙酒楼， etc.

 

10 hours ago, Shelley said:

For me 餐廳  is a dining hall as in a school or similar.  飯店 to me means a restaurant.

 

Not true here in the China mainland. 餐厅 is often a free-standing restaurant (no academic affiliation.) It can, however, be just what you said or the dining hall in a factory. But not necessarily. The name might give away more information when combined , as in 海鲜餐厅， or 回族餐厅 or 老张饺子餐厅。

[Shelley]

I think its because my knowledge is from a textbook and not real life. I get taught words for situations and other meanings as they arise. I think your advice is good @abcdefg duplicity is part and parcel of Chinese and indeed other languages.

 

Try one, if you get blanks looks try the other one.

[Lu]

And in the Netherlands it's usually 酒楼, which I interestingly never see in China itself.

[Xinyi Zhang]

“酒楼”也有的，类似的还有“酒家”.

[萨米]

In Finland they're all 酒楼 as well. 新长城酒楼、青岛酒楼等等。

In China there's also 食堂, a (school) dining hall. A type of place where you wouldn't take your girlfriend on a first date.

[Xinyi Zhang]

哈哈哈哈哈哈哈(ಡωಡ)hiahiahia 

萨米你很机智

而且我们常常开玩笑说食堂菜系是中国的第九大菜系(因为食堂有很多黑暗料理)

[Publius]

3 hours ago, Lu said:

And in the Netherlands it's usually 酒楼, which I interestingly never see in China itself.

Common in Cantonese-speaking region.

[abcdefg]

This is reminiscent of discussions here in years gone by newly-arrived foreigners holding forth authoritatively on the subtle distinctions between 酒店 and 兵官 and other lodging house names.

 

Such studies are pointless for the most part. You just need to learn several words for the same thing. That's life, daily real life.

 

Recently I've been hearing 礼拜 a whole lot from local friends, especially if they are 40 or up, as a term meaning "week." 礼拜三你有空吗？Unsure why it has nudged out 星期 and 周。May just be a local phenomenon.

[abcdefg]

As to 酒楼, I could take you to several today for lunch or supper (here in Kunming.) Not as frequent as some of the others, but certainly not rare. From what I've seen, it tends to be the name used for larger, more swank restaurants. But that probably doesn't hold true and is just a function of my limited sample.

[Flickserve]

5 hours ago, Lu said:

And in the Netherlands it's usually 酒楼, which I interestingly never see in China itself.

 

2 hours ago, Publius said:

Common in Cantonese-speaking region.

 

All around in HK. 

2 hours ago, abcdefg said:

Recently I've been hearing 礼拜 a whole lot from local friends, especially if they are 40 or up, as a term meaning "week."

 

Started off from Cantonese and then gradually permeates through.

[Xinyi Zhang]

No,it's not a local phenomenon,“礼拜” been widely used in China,informally.

[abcdefg]

Interesting, thanks.

[Christa]

On 29/10/2017 at 7:48 PM, abcdefg said:

You must learn to live with ambiguity, @carla. China will be a very difficult place for you otherwise.

 

When you arrive, what you will need to do is test out various locutions in that time and place. "三龙饭馆在那里？“ If you get blank, puzzled stares, immediately try "三龙餐厅“ and so on. 三龙酒楼， etc.

 

I certainly don't disagree with you at all regarding this. Typically, I do know multiple terms for these. I'm very interested to know however which are more commonly used and where they tend to be used. This fascinates me and having some understanding regarding where they're used and to what extent really makes the study of the language for me far more interesting.

 

But then I always was kind of weird...

[abcdefg]

1 hour ago, Christa said:

Typically, I do know multiple terms for these. I'm very interested to know however which are more commonly used and where they tend to be used. This fascinates me and having some understanding regarding where they're used and to what extent really makes the study of the language for me far more interesting.

 

That's not weird, @Christa -- Whatever makes studying the language more interesting for you is perfectly fine, requires no validation. But many of these names for things are pretty much impossible to fully "nail down" with any degree of certainty or finality. 

 

In my own experience, living in a completely Chinese-speaking environment for a period of years, it seems that when I finally figure out the best way to say something, in a way that will be immediately understood without the need for rapid re-phrasing, then it changes without warning. Lots of these things, perhaps most, are truly "moving targets."

 

That's not surprising or upsetting any more, even though it was at the very beginning. After all, Chinese is a "living language." It means I have to continue paying close attention to the speech of locals in order to copy their phrasing and word choice. It means I have constantly be willing to change and adapt.

 

--------------------------------

 

Hmm. Did I really call you "Carla?" Stupid me. Apologies for that, @Christa.

 

[Yadang]

On 10/29/2017 at 6:29 PM, abcdefg said:

Recently I've been hearing 礼拜 a whole lot from local friends, especially if they are 40 or up, as a term meaning "week." 礼拜三你有空吗？Unsure why it has nudged out 星期 and 周。May just be a local phenomenon.

 

Also widely used in Taiwan (and that was in 2012 and 2014). Maybe even more than 星期`。Probably more than 周。

[Publius]

Yeah, I think I use 礼拜 more than 星期 in conversation. It feels more colloquial. Western missionaries brought the concept of week (along with Gregorian calendar) to China, so no surprise it's linked to Christianity. Later efforts to replace it with the more neutral term 星期 had limited success. People still use it freely, with no association with any religion, just a way of keeping date. Like scholars now use BCE instead of BC. Same difference in my opinion.

[陳德聰]

Interesting but I would say 飯店 almost always means restaurant first in my mind unless context would suggest that it‘s a hotel. 酒店 curiously is a hotel but we have lots of 酒樓 here in Vancouver, or even 茶樓 hehe my favourite.