Can you use “方便 （fāng biàn）” accurately in Chinese?

We all know that learning Chinese online can be a great way to know Chinese language. It not only saves much time on the way to school but give us a lot of convenience. 方便（fāng biàn） is a very commonly used word in Chinese. For those of you who have learned Chinese either by yourself or with an online mandarin tutor, it is easy to understand that方便（fāng biàn）means convenience in Chinese.

For example: When two friends meet, one of them may say to the other that she wants to have an party when she was “方便的时候 （fāng biàn de shí hou）.” Here the word means convenience, and she means when it is convenient or when she has time to have party with her friend.

However, there are other meanings that are quite different to its original meaning. It can be used in this phrase: “方便一下（fāng biàn yī xià）.”which has the meaning of going to the bathroom in Chinese.

                              Convenient or 方便？

Many times in China, this expression confused the foreigner.

A foreigner who has taken mandarin lessons online is having dinner with some Chinese friends. Then one of them said我要方便一下. People around him told the foreigner that his friend wanted to go to the lavatory. The foreigner then understood that in Chinese “方便（fāng biàn）” meant “ to go to the lavatory.

The next day, another Chinese man proposed a toast and told the foreigner : ”Ｉhope you can give me the “方便 （fāng biàn）” of meeting you when I go abroad next time.” This made the foreigner more confused than before.

But what made him most confused was the following event. When two friends meet, one of them may say to the other that she wants to have an party when she was “方便的时候 （fāng biàn de shí hou）.” The foreigner was stunned:” How can I give you an interview when answering nature’s call?”

In this story, we may find that there are two meanings of “方便 （fāng biàn）.” The first meaning is to go to the bathroom and the second meaning is “convenient.” In the second case, the Chinese man told the foreigner “Ｉhope you can give me the “方便 （fāng biàn）”  of seeing you when I go abroad next time” . Here, “方便 （fāng biàn）” means at someone’s convenience.