Chinese Hospital Phrases
Dialogue simulator · 就医对话模拟
Registration, the consultation room, the pharmacy and the emergency desk. Each turn someone says something to you — you pick what to say back. Choose wrong and the page tells you exactly what that sentence would have sounded like, and why it misses.
Pick a scenario选一个场景
Each scenario runs twice through the same visit: the part that goes to plan, then the part that doesn't — a test you have to go and pay for, a warning that changes your day, a form you can't read. Those are the moments the right sentence actually saves you. Lines are read aloud by your browser's built-in text-to-speech, not by a recorded voice.
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Phrase kit — see the six lines before you start
Why these three为什么是这三个场景
Because they're where not having the words turns a ten-minute visit into an afternoon.
At registration, the desk wants two things, and it asks for both in the first twenty seconds: a document, and which department. Departments are vocabulary — 内科 internal medicine, 外科 surgery, 口腔 dental. If you can't name the right one, name the symptom instead; that's what the nurse is writing down either way.
In the consultation room, the grammar is small and repetitive: what hurts, for how long. 三天了 does more work than any adjective. And 先验个血 — "let's do a blood test first" — is the sentence that catches people out, because the visit suddenly has a second half you weren't expecting and don't know how to navigate.
At the pharmacy, the dosage line is said once, fast, and in a pattern: 一天三次，饭后吃. Two things it never includes are how many days and what not to mix it with. In an emergency it's the reverse — almost nothing is said, and everything depends on three or four words: 受伤了, 很疼, 动不了.
This isn't core vocabulary — 挂号, 处方 and 副作用 never come up in everyday conversation, so the free Core 500 wordlist doesn't carry them. That's why this page exists: it's the vocabulary you can't talk your way around, in the order a visit actually needs it.
Where to go next
The free Core 500 wordlist holds the everyday vocabulary these scenes sit on top of — numbers, days, prices, polite basics. The transport simulator uses the same pick-a-line format for getting around.
Questions常见问题
Do I need to know Chinese to use this?
No. Every line shows characters, pinyin with tone marks, and English. It's written for people who can't yet read a hospital form, which is most of us on the first trip.
Is this medical advice?
No, and it isn't trying to be. These are language drills for talking to registration staff, a doctor and a pharmacist. Anything a real doctor tells you takes priority over anything on this page.
Is the audio a real voice recording?
No — it's your browser's own Mandarin text-to-speech, so the quality depends on your device. It's good enough to get the tones and rhythm across, and it never gets tired of repeating a line.
What happens if I pick a wrong answer?
Nothing bad. The option turns red, the page explains what that sentence would actually communicate — usually it's grammatically fine but wrong for the situation, which is the most common real-life mistake — and you try again.
Can I print any of this?
Yes. Finish a scenario and use the print button: only the phrase list carries over to paper, one clean table per scenario — worth taking with you.
Are these dialogues copied from a textbook?
No. They're original The Chinese Path content. Some of the words — 挂号, 验血, 副作用 — sit outside the free Core 500 wordlist, because hospital vocabulary rarely comes up in everyday conversation.