{"id":14587,"date":"2018-11-27T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T13:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=14587"},"modified":"2018-11-16T16:07:05","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T20:07:05","slug":"being-direct-in-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/being-direct-in-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"Being Direct in Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you travel or move to China, a little bit of <strong>culture shock<\/strong> (\u6587\u5316\u51b2\u51fb &#8211; w\u00e9n hu\u00e0 ch\u014dng j\u00ed) is inevitable. I know I certainly experienced it when I first moved there, whether it was trying different food (silk worm larvae, anyone?), drinking <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/a-guide-to-bai-jiu\/\"><em>baijiu<\/em><\/a> (\u767d\u9152 &#8211; b\u00e1i ji\u01d4) for the first time (gross), or learning how to queue in China (hint &#8211; you don&#8217;t). One thing you&#8217;ll quickly learn about the people and the language in China is that they&#8217;re very direct. In this post I&#8217;ll try to help you understand a bit more about this element of Chinese language and culture as I discuss being direct in Chinese.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10111\" style=\"width: 660px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10111\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10111\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2014\/06\/Yi-Xian-Camping-Music-Festival.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2014\/06\/Yi-Xian-Camping-Music-Festival.jpg 650w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2014\/06\/Yi-Xian-Camping-Music-Festival-350x234.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10111\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The many stages of baijiu drinking, as displayed by yours truly.<\/p><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Short, Direct Language<\/h2>\n<p>To start with, Chinese can be a very direct language. You don&#8217;t need a lot to say a lot in China. A lot of the time, less is more when it comes to speaking in China. Here are a few examples of very short, direct phrases that you&#8217;ll often hear:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Good\/fine\/OK (\u597d &#8211; h\u01ceo)<\/li>\n<li>No\/don&#8217;t have (\u6ca1\u6709 &#8211; m\u00e9i y\u01d2u)<\/li>\n<li>What&#8217;s going on?\/What&#8217;s wrong? (\u4ec0\u4e48\u4e8b? &#8211; sh\u00e9n me sh\u00ec)<\/li>\n<li>Where are you going? (\u53bb\u54ea\u513f? &#8211; q\u00f9 n\u01ce er)<\/li>\n<li>Not bad\/OK\/so-so (\u4e0d\u9519 &#8211; b\u00f9 cu\u00f2)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When I first started studying Chinese, I learned that &#8220;Where are you going?&#8221; was translated as\u00a0\u4f60\u8981\u53bb\u54ea\u91cc? (n\u01d0 y\u00e0o q\u00f9 n\u01ce l\u01d0). However, cab drivers always simply asked me &#8220;\u53bb\u54ea\u513f?&#8221; No need for wasted energy on a few extra syllables in China!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7912\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7912\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7912\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/09\/DSC_0007.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/09\/DSC_0007.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/09\/DSC_0007-350x234.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-7912\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Follow the man with the flag. | Photo by Sasha Savinov<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When we see Chinese tour groups around the world (and they&#8217;re everywhere these days), I always joke with my wife that the only thing I hear the guide say is &#8220;<strong>Come, come, come! Good, good, good! Go, go, go<\/strong>!&#8221; (\u6765, \u6765, \u6765! \u597d, \u597d, \u597d! \u8d70, \u8d70, \u8d70! &#8211; l\u00e1i, l\u00e1i, l\u00e1i! h\u01ceo, h\u01ceo, h\u01ceo! z\u01d2u, z\u01d2u, z\u01d2u!). You really can say so much with so little in China!<\/p>\n<p>Another great example I can think of is being in a restaurant. People in most Western cultures will very politely wave their waiter down and say something like, &#8220;Excuse me, could we please take the check when you get a minute?&#8221; Why do we need to say so much, guys? In China, all you do is yell &#8220;<strong>Waiter! Check!<\/strong>&#8221; (\u670d\u52a1\u5458! \u4e70\u5355! &#8211; f\u00fa w\u00f9 yu\u00e1n! m\u01cei d\u0101n!). It may seem rude to you at first, but that&#8217;s just how things are done in China. It&#8217;s certainly much more efficient.<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, I can&#8217;t tell you how many times I had someone tell me &#8220;<strong>Your Chinese is not bad<\/strong>&#8221; (\u4f60\u7684\u4e2d\u6587\u8fd8\u4e0d\u9519 &#8211; n\u01d0 de zh\u014dng w\u00e9n h\u00e1i b\u00f9 cu\u00f2). It doesn&#8217;t sound like much of a compliment, but it is one in China. It never bothered me until now, as I currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gratefulgypsies.com\/working-with-vipkid\/\">teach English to Chinese students online<\/a>. When parents give me 4\/5 stars for a class and write &#8220;\u8fd8\u4e0d\u9519&#8221; as a comment, I know they mean well and actually enjoyed the lesson. In their eyes, they&#8217;re giving me a good review. However, anything less than 5\/5 actually hurts me and my chances of a raise. Cultural differences can be frustrating, can&#8217;t they?<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Different Taboo Topics<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Many Westerners who go to China are taken aback by how direct the people there can be. For example, in China it&#8217;s not considered rude to ask someone their age, man or woman. In the West, we&#8217;re often told not to ask a woman their age. However, in China, a very common question is &#8220;<strong>How old are you<\/strong>?&#8221; (\u4f60\u51e0\u5c81\u4e86? &#8211; n\u01d0 j\u01d0 su\u00ec le\/\u4f60\u591a\u5927? &#8211; n\u01d0 du\u014d d\u00e0). Even taxi drivers will ask you your age within minutes of meeting you!<\/p>\n<p>Another topic that&#8217;s taboo in Western culture but not in China is your salary. It&#8217;s pretty much unheard of back home to straight up ask someone how much they get paid, but in China things are different. When I was an English teacher in China, I was constantly asked &#8220;<strong>How much is your salary<\/strong>?&#8221; (\u4f60\u7684\u5de5\u8d44\u662f\u591a\u5c11\uff1f- n\u01d0 de g\u014dng z\u012b sh\u00ec du\u014d sh\u01ceo?). The way I usually handled this was by simply responding with &#8220;<strong>Enough<\/strong>!&#8221; (\u591f\u4e86 &#8211; g\u00f2u le). People didn&#8217;t get the answer they were looking for, but they certainly got a laugh!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_11501\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11501\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11501\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/09\/08-Apartments.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/09\/08-Apartments.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/09\/08-Apartments-350x250.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-11501\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">My Beijing apartment. I&#8217;m still not sure how many square meters it is&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>People also aren&#8217;t shy about asking detailed questions about your home, car, phone, and how big\/new\/expensive they are.\u00a0Especially in the big cities of China, people are obsessed with real estate.\u00a0When I lived in Beijing, people would always ask me how many square meters my apartment was. I always told them &#8220;<strong>I don&#8217;t know and I don&#8217;t care<\/strong>&#8221; (\u6211\u4e0d\u77e5\u9053, \u6211\u4e5f\u4e0d\u5728\u4e4e &#8211; w\u01d2 b\u00f9 zh\u012b d\u00e0o, w\u01d2 y\u011b b\u00f9 z\u00e0i h\u016b). I understand why it&#8217;s a big deal to people there, but as a transient English teacher it really didn&#8217;t make a big difference to me.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Talking About Appearance<\/h2>\n<p>Growing up, I was always told not to openly talk about my classmates&#8217; appearance, or anyone for that matter. In the US, it&#8217;s considered rude and quite mean to tell someone to their face that they&#8217;re fat, for example. Imagine my shock when I got to China and students in my 3rd grade class would point to one boy and say &#8220;<strong>He&#8217;s fat<\/strong>! (\u4ed6\u5f88\u80d6 &#8211; t\u0101 h\u011bn p\u00e0ng). I felt bad for the kid at first, until he laughed out loud and agreed.<\/p>\n<p>On another occasion, an older student told me &#8220;<strong>You don&#8217;t have a lot of hair<\/strong>&#8221; (\u4f60\u6ca1\u6709\u5f88\u591a\u5934\u53d1 &#8211; n\u01d0 m\u00e9i y\u01d2u h\u011bn du\u014d t\u00f3u f\u01ce). Yeah, thanks kid, I&#8217;m well aware of my male-pattern baldness. Should someone openly comment on your appearance in China, don&#8217;t take it too personally. It&#8217;s just not considered a big deal to do so there.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Rather than let this directness frustrate you, it&#8217;s best to just go with the flow and try to adapt. I came to enjoy being direct with my students and even random people who engaged me in conversation. I also had a good time joking around with them and not really giving them the answer they wanted, but engaging in a discussion anyways. Being direct is just a part of life in China, so do your best to embrace it. You may find that you actually end up experiencing a bit of reverse culture shock when you go back home. I know I did.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\">Do you have any experiences to share about directness in Chinese language and culture? We&#8217;d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below and tell us about it.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"234\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/09\/DSC_0007-350x234.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Being Direct in Chinese\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/09\/DSC_0007-350x234.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2012\/09\/DSC_0007.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>When you travel or move to China, a little bit of culture shock (\u6587\u5316\u51b2\u51fb &#8211; w\u00e9n hu\u00e0 ch\u014dng j\u00ed) is inevitable. I know I certainly experienced it when I first moved there, whether it was trying different food (silk worm larvae, anyone?), drinking baijiu (\u767d\u9152 &#8211; b\u00e1i ji\u01d4) for the first time (gross), or learning&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/being-direct-in-chinese\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":7912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[510821,127362],"class_list":["post-14587","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-vocabulary","tag-being-direct-in-chinese","tag-chinese-culture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 5.0.0.1 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chinese can be a very direct language, and thus so can conversations with people. 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