Reading real-world signs & notices

Public restrooms are marked 男 (men) and 女 (women), sometimes spelled out as 男厕/女厕; 洗手间 and 卫生间 are the general words for restroom you'll see on directional signs. 入口 and 出口 mark entrance and exit, 紧急出口 marks an emergency exit, and 电梯 (elevator) is distinct from 扶梯 (escalator).

Safety and prohibition notices reuse a small, learnable set of patterns rather than needing separate vocabulary for every sign: 禁止 + [action] means 'forbidden to,' as in 禁止吸烟 (no smoking) or 禁止拍照 (no photography); 请勿 + [action] is the softer, more polite version, as in 请勿吸烟 or 请勿触摸 (please don't touch); and 小心 + [hazard] flags a hazard, as in 小心地滑 (caution, slippery floor) or 小心台阶 (mind the step).

Retail and service notices are worth recognizing on sight: 谢绝参观 or 谢绝入内 (visitors not admitted), 内部人员 (staff only), 暂停营业 (temporarily closed) versus 正在营业 (open), and 免费 (free) versus 收费 (a fee applies). 扫码 ('scan the code') shows up constantly, from restaurant menus to payment counters.

A few transit and street terms round this out: 站 (station/stop), 路 (road), 出站/进站 (exit/enter the station), and 单行道 (one-way street). Recognizing the recurring prefixes — 禁止/请勿/小心 — is usually more useful day to day than memorizing each individual sign.