12 Ways to Say I Don’t Speak Chinese | I Don’t Know Chinese

How to Say I Don't Speak Chinese At All in Chinese

And what if you don't speak Chinese at all, and don't really speak Chinese? Was there a time when someone tried to talk to you in Chinese, but you didn't understand? In these types of situations you might want to make sure that they know you really don't know any Chinese. Following are some useful ways to say I don't speak Chinese at all in Chinese.

5. 我一点儿也不会

pinyin. wǒ yì diǎnr yě bú huì zhōng wén literal. I a little bit even not know how to do (Chinese) liberal. I don't even speak a little (Chinese)
一点儿 yì diǎnr means a little bit, and 一点儿也不 yì diǎnr yě bù means not even a little bit.

6.我一点儿中文也不懂

pinyin wǒ yì diǎnr zhōng wén yě bù dǒng literal. I a little bit Chinese even not understand liberal. I don't even understand a little Chinese
To use the term 一点儿也不, you can put "something" between 一点儿...也不. So 一点儿中文也不懂 means you don't know how to speak Chinese, and "not even a little bit".

7.我完全不会（中文）

pinyin. wǒ wán quán bú huì (zhōng wén) literal. I completely can't (speak Chinese) liberal. I completely can't (speak Chinese)
Here 完全 wán quán means completely. You can say 我完全不会中文 to mean I don't know any Chinese. And if you're answering a question like "do you know any Chinese?" You can just say 我完全不会, omitting 中文.

8. 我完全不懂中文

pinyin. wǒ wán quán bù dǒng zhōng wén literal. I completely don't understand Chinese liberal. I completely can't understand Chinese
Similar with 我完全不会中文, 我完全不懂中文 can also be used to express "I don't speak Chinese at all in Chinese".

Other Ways to Say I Don't Know Chinese in Chinese

9. 我没学过中文

pinyin. wǒ méi xué guò zhōng wén literal. I haven't learned Chinese liberal. I haven't studied Chinese (before)
Even though you don't speak Chinese for right now, it doesn't mean that you aren't going to study it in the future. So if you want to say that you don't speak Chinese in Chinese because you haven't taken any lessons or tried to learn it, you can say 我没学过中文.

10. 我还没学过中文

pinyin. wǒ hái méi xué guò zhōng wén literal. I haven't learned Chinese liberal. I haven't studied Chinese (before)
And if you want to emphasize that you just haven't started learning Chinese yet, but perhaps some time in the future, you can say 我还没学过中文. Here 还 hái means not yet.

How to Say I Don't Know Chinese Characters

What if you know how to speak Chinese, but don't know how to write Chinese characters? If that's the case, you might want to say I don't know Chinese characters, instead of I don't speak Chinese in Chinese. Here are two ways of saying it.

11.我不会认汉字

pinyin. wǒ bú huì rèn hàn zì literal. I don't know how to recognize Chinese characters liberal. I don't know how to read Chinese characters
Some people might be able to speak some Chinese without trying to learn Chinese characters. In this case, you can say 我不会认汉字. This means that you are specifically saying that it's the characters that you don't know. But for anyone who really wants to learn the Chinese language, learning characters is a must.

12.我不知道怎么写汉字

pinyin. wǒ bù zhī dao zěn me xiě hàn zì literal. I don't know how to write Chinese characters liberal. I don't know how to write Chinese characters
And if you don't know how to write Chinese characters, you can say 我不知道怎么写汉字.