Learn another Chinese Sign, for East in Chinese - using the railway station map

Singapore flag.

Singapore is a great place for learning Chinese (Mandarin). As I walked from the Yio Chu Kang bus station towards the Grassroots Community Club Building, I passed a sign which said in English, For Alighting Only. So you could get off the bus, but not onto it.



The last of the four signs looks like a letter 4 with other lines around it. It means car or carriage, in this context bus.

Afterwards I went back and checked another sign which looks like the number 4.

Check Your MRT Map
On the MRT map showing the railway lines you will see the English on the map.
Legend
East West Line (green)
North South Line  (red)
North East (purple)

Then look at the Chinese on the next concertina fold.
You can check the signs for East and West against some of the station names such as Jurong East - which is in the west! (Station 24 on the East West line, marked EW24, but also NS1, North South 1 or first station.)

Then look back at the names for the lines.
The Chinese sign for the East-West line is in the same order as the English, East first on the left.

Nearby on the page on the left is the Tuas West Road MRT station, EW 32.

However, two other signs for the train lines are in a different order. East North. South North. Instead of the English which is North East and North South.

East Symbol in Mandarin
Let us go back to East West. The sign for East has only one horizontal line above the four. The downward line of the four curves like a J. Two samll lines diagonally and separate at lower sides of the J point in different directions like a boat rowing to the East thought the many islands of Indonesia and to the island of Singapore.

The one which looks like it incorporates the number 4 means East.
What's the difference between the two signs containing what looks like 4?.

The 4 above meaning car or carriage has two parallel lines the same as the bar on the four, one above and one below. Like the roof and floor of the railway carriage or car or bus.

The sign for East



Useful Websites

You can learn Chinese (Mandarin) on Duolingo.
Duolingo
duolingo.com

Travel
singaporeair.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts. The previous post tell you what the other three signs mean.