Ah, language learning. It’s one thing to try to get the accent right. You can work on that every day in Beijing. But it’s another thing to know what to say in particular social situations.Like when you’re introduced to your brother-in-law’s coworker.
In the US: Nice to meet you
Beijing: Nǐ hǎo... [and what else???]
Is there something else to say? Well, maybe, but it’s pretty sure not to be a direct translation of “nice to meet you”. Even though I know that, the social reflex is so strong that I resort to tongue-chewing to keep myself from spitting out weird and awkward Mandarin phrases — Manglish, perhaps. [12/6/07 - see update on terminology]
Trouble is, these stock situations don’t come up that often and are hard to ask native speakers about. You can get someone to translate “nice to meet you” into Mandarin, but it’s harder to get someone to explain that, no, you really wouldn’t say that after you just meet someone. The social reflex is just less accessible. It’s not easy to say what you’d “normally” say in a situation unless you’re actually in that situation.
So it’s good to hoard a cache of stock phrases. We’ve got two today:
- Closing a phone conversation with an applicant for employment. The earlier conversation made it clear the potential employer didn’t see this person working out and wasn’t going to pursue any further interviews.
So what do you say?
An American might say something elaborately false, like keeping the resume around for another opening. My interviewer keeps it simple (which also would work in English, for the record):
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nà wǒ kǎolǜ kǎolǜ zhèi jiàn shì
那我考虑考虑这件事
All right, I’ll think this over
- Making your way to the subway door through the squeeze of bags and limbs:
American: Excuse me
Beijinger: Xià chē 下车 [The phrase goes well with a probing push against the shoulder blades. It's also phrased as a question sometimes: xià chē ma?]Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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[correction 1/15/08 -- thanks Mikael!]
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Comments 8
really interesting blog, thanks.
Arnauld, a french teacher in China.
Posted 16 Dec 2007 at 9:56 am ¶Just to be picky … I believe you mean to write “… 这件事” in the interviewer example.
Great blog!
Posted 15 Jan 2008 at 10:45 am ¶Stock phrases are hard and almost a classist in China I think. I’ve asked a few of my friends and listened to how people start conversations and most of the time it’s just “ni hao” lots of times. However, more formally and traditionally, I’ve heard xinghui 幸会 and jiuyang 久仰, the latter of which is kind of “pai ma pi”. I’ve also asked if “renshi ni hen gaoxing” 认识你很高兴 is OK and people have told me that it is, albeit with a little bit of a foreign 味儿…but that’s fashionable now, right?
Posted 17 Jan 2008 at 10:15 am ¶“renshi ni hen gaoxing” 认识你很高兴
Yeah, I’ve asked about this too, but the feeling I get is it’s just foreign-speak. Foreigners won’t get in trouble with it, but it doesn’t sound native.
Posted 19 Jan 2008 at 12:19 pm ¶I don’t think that 认识你很高兴 has a foreign 味儿. It’s just that when you meet someone, what you say is completely open-ended.
When I ask a Chinese kid “how are you?” in English, they inevitably say “I’m fine, thank you, and you?” To which I reply, “你象课文一样说话”. In my classes I tell them not to say “I’m fine, thank you, and you?”, and explain that saying that is not wrong, but because “how are you?” is an open-ended, question, you can’t predict what the other person will say. Common answers are “OK”, “pretty good”, etc., but there is no formulaic answer. The same is true in Chinese. I have heard Chinese people say “认识你很高兴” or “很高兴认识你” many times, but it’s certainly not the most common response. Probably the most common thing people in China say when they are introduced is “你好”, but equally common, I think, is just a handshake and a smile, or just a nod. If someone says “认识你很高兴”, then probably they really are glad to meet you.
Posted 03 Mar 2008 at 8:29 pm ¶“the xià chē ma?” often changes to “tsk, xia bu xia ah???” when push turns to shove. I suspect the Chinese are more polite to white folks when it comes to that sort of thing. What a bunch of 势利眼 :/
Posted 16 Dec 2009 at 4:31 am ¶Cindy, that’s hilariously right. I can hear the dialog in my head. Yes, probably a little more keqi to white folks, of which I am one. I noticed yesterday a young guy asking the person next to me if she was getting off, even though she wasn’t really in the way, presumably because he was embarrassed about asking me, the guy standing right in front of him.
Posted 16 Dec 2009 at 6:24 am ¶ah all yer lucky whiteys :p one of my Caucasian friends often jokes about going to China with me one day because he wants to “be worshiped like a god by all the girls over there”, and I tell him 美死你, 想装 god, 还轮不到你吧! which I guess roughly translates to don’t get your hopes up romeo! or something along that line.
Posted 16 Dec 2009 at 7:34 am ¶Post a Comment