First of all, an apology for the late entry.  I got food poisoning.  Most people are wary of getting food from street vendors, but that doesn’t take street credibility into account.  If people get sick from your food and you’re a vendor on the street, you’ll get run out of dodge before you know it.  On the other hand, a store vendor can’t get chased out of town by the customers.  I guess I can be sure to put more credence in “street credibility” down the line.

Getting to today’s topic, I was once told by a professor that the 3 most common phrases encountered by visitors to China were “不知道”  “没有,”  and “他/她不在,” meaning “I don’t know,” “[I/We/They]don’t have it/there isn’t(aren’t) any,” and “(S)he isn’t here.”  Having been in China for some time now, I have gathered that many service representatives now have added new phrases to the lexicon.  First among these phrases is “这个我不太清楚.”  It’s not saying one doesn’t know and no buck is exactly passed.  On the other hand, the person is still absolving himself/herself of responsibility in case it goes wrong.  In either case, hearing any of these phrases means you’re on a one-way track to not getting a conclusive answer.

Sometimes you’ll get the “不好意思,” and sometimes you’ll get questions delaying whatever it is you need.  On one trip I went on, the people in the group all asked “are we going back to the hotel? have we found a hotel that isn’t booked?”  This was met with the response, “..have you eaten dinner yet?”  This is an effective topic of firmly changing the subject while remaining pleasing.

Another service phrase I have encountered is not exactly a phrase, but rather a tactic.  If you ask for something, someone will repeat the phrase back to you incredulously, as if you’re the one who’s out of line.  If you hop in a cab and say “潮阳门,” the driver will look at you like he’s never even heard of Beijing or China.  I almost developed neuroses thinking that after 8 years of studying Chinese that I couldn’t even pronounce a place name correctly.  I believed this to be true until the time I got in a cab with local friends only to watch the same thing happen.  It is strange, to be sure, but it’s not without its reasons.  Many cab drivers in Beijing do not live there.  Many to most live out in the suburbs such as 顺义 or 通州.  From a less optimistic viewpoint, pretending not to know how to get to a place can lead to a lot of wrong turns and extra driving (did someone say more money for the driver?)

不知道bu4 zhi1dao4 lit. “not know”
没有mei2 you3 – lit. “not have”
他不在ta1 bu4(2 here) zai4 – lit. “he/she/it not in”
这个我不太清楚 zhei4ge4 wo3bu4(2 here)tai4qing1chu3 – “I’m not very clear on this.”
不好意思 bu4hao3yi4si1 – a light form of “sorry”
朝阳门 chao2yang2men2 – part of eastern Beijing, home to Chinese oil companies
顺义 shun4yi4 – suburb NE of Beijing and airport, location of the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, location of Olympic Rowing, Canoeing (flatwater and slalom), and Open-water Swimming
通州 tong1zhou1 – suburb directly east of Beijing, many cab drivers live here