With the advancement of technology and the fact that everyone has access to Google Map on their phone, I hardly think that nowadays people would ever find themselves needing to ask someone to point them in the right direction when they travel to a new place. That said, it’s still useful to know some helpful vocabulary and phrases that you can use to ask for directions so as to get you out of the bind.

Let’s start with the basics.

How do we ask for directions?

We can start off with asking the following question:

Q:

qǐngwèn dào  (destination)  zěnme zǒu / qù ？

請問到 (destination) 怎麼走/去？

qǐngwèn wǒ dào  (destination)  yào zěnme zǒu / qù ？

請問我到 (destination) 要怎麼走/去？

Excuse me. How can I get to (destination)?

Example:

1.

qǐngwèn dào táoyuán shìlì túshūguǎn zěnme zǒu ？

請問到桃園市立圖書館怎麼走？

Excuse me. How can I get to the Taoyuan Public Library?

2.

qǐngwèn wǒ dào jiéyùn nángǎng zhàn yào zěnme qù ？

請問我到捷運南港站要怎麼去？

Excuse me. How can I get to the Nangang MRT station?

In response to your question, the following are how people typically give directions:

A:

cóng  (starting point) wǎng <qián zǒu / zuǒ zhuǎn / yòu zhuǎn …>

從 (starting point) 往   <前走/左轉/右轉…>

Go straight/turn left/turn right from (starting point)

dào le  (a place)， zuǒ zhuǎn / yòu zhuǎn …

到了 (a place)，左轉/右轉…

Turn left/right when you get to (a place)

zài  (a place)， zuǒ zhuǎn / yòu zhuǎn …

在 (a place)，左轉/右轉…

Turn left/right at (a place)

wǎng qián yì zhí zǒu ， guò le  (a landmark, building, traffic lights, etc.)

往前一直走，過了 (a landmark, building, traffic lights, etc.)

Keep going. After you pass (a landmark, building, traffic lights, etc.)

(destination)  zài zuǒ shǒu biān / yòu shǒu biān

(destination) 在(你的)左手邊/右手邊

(destination) is on your left/right

Vocabulary

從 cóng (prep.) from

往 wǎng (prep.) toward

前 qián (n) front

往前: forward

左轉 zuǒ zhuǎn: turn left

右轉 yòu zhuǎn: turn right

一直 yì zhí (adv) continously

過 guò (v) to pass, cross

左/右手邊 zuǒ/yòu shǒu biān (n) left-hand/right-hand side