Why don't you go to 【KTV】on your own after reading this...

Many of my friends who were ever oversea told me that they were too tired to love (remember the catchword 累覺不愛？) other countries: it's soooooo expensive to go to karaoke!

Usually, I gave them back a supercilious look, and said, 'Hmm, so you've never thought it costs too little in China's KTV when you call me out?' After that, they usually made fun of me and said, 'Fxxx off! You always sing the most times (we call these guys 麥霸, means King of Mic) and make us pay for the room! Costs too little? Why don't you pay for the expensive ones!'

Well, I'm quite at a loss to reply...

Anyway, it's a truth that singing in China's KTVs costs less than any other country. We've got many good brands of KTVs, like 好樂迪(HAOLEDI), 錢櫃(PARTY WORLD), 上海歌城(SHANGHAI GECHENG/Gala City), etc. They're not too expensive for students. It costs about 60 to 600 yuan to sing for 3 hours according to the sizes of rooms.

Today, we'll learn some practical words that you will surely use them in KTV. And after you remember them, you don't need to ask your Chinese friends to lead you or operate the system for you any more.

A normal song-order station.

This is a normal song-order station. There are only a few difference among those KTVs. What you need to remember are these words:

1）語言 / 按語言點歌 / 按語種點歌

yǔyán / àn yǔyán diǎn gē / àn yǔzhǒng diǎn gē

They all mean you can order songs by choosing languages at first. After clicking them, it'll show you a virtual keyboard to type the name of the songs in chosen language.

Tip: [按……點歌] means [According to ... to order songs.]

2）歌星 / 歌手

gēxīng / gēshǒu

They both mean 'Singers' here. (In fact, they have little differences. But now you don't have to know them because it really doesn't matter in KTV.) Commonly, when you click 歌星 or 按歌星點歌, it'll link to singers' lists. And the lists contain

全部歌手 ALL SINGERS,

大陸男歌手 MALE SINGERS IN MAINLAND CHINA,

大陸女歌手 FEMALE SINGERS IN MAINLAND CHINA,

港臺男歌手 MALE SINGERS IN HONGKONG&TAIWAN,

港臺女歌手 FEMAILE SINGERS IN HONGKONG&TAIWAN,

樂隊組合 (CHINESE) BANDS OR GROUPS,

外國男歌手 FOREIGN MALE SINGERS,

外國女歌手 FOREIGN FEMALE SINGERS,

外國樂隊 FOREIGN BANDS

and so on. You can type in the initials of their names to search the singers when you wanna sing their songs.

3）拼音

pīnyīn

Eh, this you must be very fimiliar with... Yep, pinyin means you can search the Chinese songs or English songs with typing in the initials of the names. And if it says 按歌名點歌, they're the same.

4）切歌、原唱/伴唱、音量

qiē gē、yuánchàng/bànchàng、yīnliàng

切歌 means SKIP THIS SONG, 原唱/伴唱 means SING WITH THE ORIGINAL/WITHOUT THE ORIGINAL, 音量 means VOLUME.

5）服務

fúwù

服務 refers to service. If you click this icon or push this button, the waiter shall come soon. Whatever you want (except some special services, you know it's illegal in China), they will try to help you.

6）大包、中包、小包、迷你包

dà bāo、zhōng bāo、xiǎo bāo、mínǐ bāo

These 包 do not mean baozi or bag, they means boxes (rooms). 大 is big, 中 is middle, 小 is small, and sometimes we have mini ones. Yep, that's 迷你包. So maybe you've got the answer what these words mean, right? They refer to the sizes of rooms.

That's all we want to share with you today. If you learn these words, I swear that you could go to any China's KTV by yourself! Otherwise, you can call me to lead you!

Finally, I'll share 3 secrets with you:

1) We like to order these foreign singers' songs: Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, Adam Lambert, Avril Lavigne, Westlife, Backstreet Boys, Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson, Eminem and so on.

2) If you can sing Chinese songs, we'll think your Chinese is very very good!

3) Youmandarin (www.youmandarin.com, or click Read More) can also bring you to KTV and they can even teach you Chinese through Chinese songs and Chinese podcasts. They're definitely good singers and hosts!

Have a good time!