Traditional Manchu papercuts

So, you're stuck with this strange, bawling, squalling, puling creature in a hotel room in a country where they don't even use an alphabet to spell the words you wouldn't be able to understand anyway even if you could read them.

All you want to do is make this infant feel even remotely more comfortable. The baby has never heard "Hush, Little Baby" and saying, "There, there," doesn't seem to mean anything.

So what can you say?

Here are a few Mandarin phrases that babies might know. Depending on where you've adopted from, pronunciations will vary (and orphanage workers might not even speak Mandarin). But it's a starting point.

(My crazy pronunciation guide is in this entry: tones are INTIMIDATED, questioning?, mock-impreEEEeessed & Stern!)

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  Don't cry, baby- Bie ku, bao-bao. (Be-yeah? KOO, baAAOoow baAAOoow.)
  
  
  



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  Don't be afraid, little daughter/son - Bie pa, xiao nuer/erzi (Be-yeah? Pah! hseeow nYUuu-are?/are?-tzuh.)
  
  
  


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  Are you hungry, precious/tiger? - Qianjin/Huzi, ni e-ma? (TCHEE-AN JIN/hoOoo-tzuh, knEEEee Uh!-ma?.)
  
  "Precious" (1,000 gold) is what you'd call a girl, while "tiger" (tiger-son, or tigerling) is what you'd call a boy. Because money and big cats are obviously gendered things.
  
  
  



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  Here, have a bottle of milk! - Nuo, yi ping niunai! (no?, EE-peeng? neeoo? naAAai)
  
  
  



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  You want milk, right? - Ni yao niumai, dui-ba? ( knEEEee Yow! neeoo? naAAai, Doy!-bah)
  
  


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  Daddy loves you... - Baba ai ni. (Ba!-buh Eye! knEEEee.)
  (Although I believe Chinese parents & caregivers would never say this - they'd say this instead:
  Daddy likes you... - Baba xihuan ni. (Ba!-buh hseeEEe-HOOAN knEEEee.)
  
  
  



• ...but Mommy needs to sleep - Keshi Mama xuyao shuimian (kuh?-shirr maAAa-ma HSOO-Yaow! Shway!meean?.)
  (Both shui and mian can mean "go to sleep" on their own, but together they mean "sleep nicely".)
  
  
  

You can find more helpful phrases at Laowai's Terms of Endearment entry and at Chinesepod.com's audio lessons on baby talk and baby songs.