Meetings, calls and WeChat basics

请 (qǐng, please) goes directly before the verb: 请发 (qǐng fā, please send), 请看 (qǐng kàn, please look). 麻烦您 (máfan nín, may I trouble you) opens the whole request and uses 您 (nín, you, polite), the respectful "you" you met in 您好 (nín hǎo, hello, polite). 可以吗 (kěyǐ ma, is that OK) closes it, and turns the sentence into a yes-or-no question.

A fourth small word, 一下 (yíxià, briefly, a little), after the verb makes the task sound quick: 发一下 (fā yíxià, send it over). Framing a request as a question the other side can answer, rather than an instruction, is widely described as the polite default in business Chinese; it is common practice, and none of the sources checked for these pages states it as a rule.

A note on the tone marks. 一下 (yíxià, briefly, a little) and 不客气 (bú kèqi, you're welcome) are written here with the tone you actually say. Standard pinyin (GB/T 16159-2012) writes 一 (yī, one) and 不 (bù, not) with their original tones, so a dictionary shows yīxià and bù kèqi; teaching lists may show the change, as these do.

谢谢 (xièxie, thank you) closes almost every work message; the second syllable is neutral, short and light. With a senior partner, 谢谢您 (xièxie nín, thank you, polite) adds the polite "you". The usual reply is 不客气 (bú kèqi, you're welcome), literally "don't stand on ceremony".

In a message thread, a thanks often stands alone as the last line after the request. That habit, and the habit of thanking even for a routine reply, is common practice rather than a documented rule; it costs one word and it is never wrong.

Propose. Address by title, give the time in session 4's order, add the activity and ask: 周四下午三点开会方便吗 (zhōusì xiàwǔ sān diǎn kāihuì fāngbiàn ma, is a meeting on Thursday at 3 pm convenient). 方便吗 (fāngbiàn ma, is it convenient) asks about their schedule rather than their willingness, which gives an easy way to say no.

Confirm. The reply that settles it repeats the time: 我们周四下午三点见 (wǒmen zhōusì xiàwǔ sān diǎn jiàn, see you Thursday at 3 pm). If you receive a confirmation that only says 好 (hǎo, good), it is still worth answering with the full time, so both sides have it written once.

Remind. The day before, one line: 明天下午三点见 (míngtiān xiàwǔ sān diǎn jiàn, see you tomorrow at 3 pm). Confirming the day before is common practice in business generally; no source checked for these pages records it as a Chinese-specific custom, so treat it as good practice, not etiquette.

A phone call opens with 喂 (wéi, hello, on the phone), then 您好 (nín hǎo, hello, polite). Dictionaries list the word as wèi; on the phone most speakers say it rising, wéi. That is common practice, not a rule, and either is understood. To ask for someone: 请问王经理在吗 (qǐngwèn Wáng jīnglǐ zài ma, may I ask, is Manager Wang there). To say who you are: 我是鲁门物流的 (wǒ shì Lǔmén Wùliú de, this is Lumen Logistics).

Calls are where numbers go wrong. Read a phone number digit by digit, with yāo for 1 as session 4 described, and follow any time agreed on a call with a written message that repeats it. The message is the record; the call is the conversation.

Adding a contact. Face to face, contacts are commonly added by scanning the other person's WeChat QR code with the 扫一扫 (sǎo yi sǎo, scan) option in the app; the app also finds people by WeChat ID or phone number. Treat the QR habit as common practice, not etiquette: no source checked for these pages describes it.

The first message. Open with surname and title, as session 2 taught for speech: 王经理您好 (Wáng jīnglǐ nín hǎo, hello, Manager Wang). Addressing by surname and title is documented in the business Chinese sources these pages use; the short three-line shape is common practice, not a documented rule. Then one request, softened with Part 1's words, then 谢谢 (xièxie, thank you). If you need two things, send two requests on two days rather than a list in one.

The register of written business Chinese goes much further than this: 贵公司 (guì gōngsī, your company, polite), formal openers and closers, and when a WeChat thread should become an email. The Advanced course covers that in depth.

WeChat lets you hold a button and send a voice message, and many people use them freely with colleagues they know well. For a first contact, text is the safer choice: the other side can read it in a meeting without playing it aloud, can search it later, and does not have to decode your tones. That is common practice, described rather than sourced.

Typing is pinyin: type wangjingli and the keyboard offers 王经理 (Wáng jīnglǐ, Manager Wang). Check the characters before sending. A pinyin keyboard will happily offer a different word with the same letters, which is exactly the tone problem from session 1 moved onto the screen.