First of all, an apology for the late entry.\u00a0 I got food poisoning.\u00a0 Most people are wary of getting food from street vendors, but that doesn’t take street credibility into account.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 On the other hand, a store vendor can’t get chased out of town by the customers.\u00a0 I guess I can be sure to put more credence in “street credibility” down the line.<\/p>\n
Getting to today’s topic, I was once told by a professor that the 3 most common phrases encountered by visitors to China were “\u4e0d\u77e5\u9053<\/strong>”\u00a0 “\u6ca1\u6709<\/strong>,”\u00a0 and “\u4ed6\/\u5979\u4e0d\u5728<\/strong>,” meaning “I don’t know,” “[I\/We\/They]don’t have it\/there isn’t(aren’t) any,” and “(S)he isn’t here.”\u00a0 Having been in China for some time now, I have gathered that many service representatives now have added new phrases to the lexicon.\u00a0 First among these phrases is “\u8fd9\u4e2a\u6211\u4e0d\u592a\u6e05\u695a<\/strong>.”\u00a0 It’s not saying one doesn’t know and no buck is exactly passed.\u00a0 On the other hand, the person is still absolving himself\/herself of responsibility in case it goes wrong.\u00a0 In either case, hearing any of these phrases means you’re on a one-way track to not getting a conclusive answer.<\/p>\n Sometimes you’ll get the “\u4e0d\u597d\u610f\u601d<\/strong>,” and sometimes you’ll get questions delaying whatever it is you need.\u00a0 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?”\u00a0 This was met with the response, “..have you eaten dinner yet?”\u00a0 This is an effective topic of firmly changing the subject while remaining pleasing.<\/p>\n Another service phrase I have encountered is not exactly a phrase, but rather a tactic.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 If you hop in a cab and say “\u6f6e\u9633\u95e8<\/strong>,” the driver will look at you like he’s never even heard of Beijing or China.\u00a0 I almost developed neuroses thinking that after 8 years of studying Chinese that I couldn’t even pronounce a place name correctly.\u00a0 I believed this to be true until the time I got in a cab with local friends only to watch the same thing happen.\u00a0 It is strange, to be sure, but it’s not without its reasons.\u00a0 Many cab drivers in Beijing do not live there.\u00a0 Many to most live out in the suburbs such as \u987a\u4e49<\/strong> or \u901a\u5dde<\/strong>.\u00a0 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?)<\/p>\n \u4e0d\u77e5\u9053bu4 zhi1dao4 lit. “not know” First of all, an apology for the late entry.\u00a0 I got food poisoning.\u00a0 Most people are wary of getting food from street vendors, but that doesn’t take street credibility into account.\u00a0 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.\u00a0…<\/p>\n
\n\u6ca1\u6709mei2 you3 – lit. “not have”
\n\u4ed6\u4e0d\u5728ta1 bu4(2 here) zai4 – lit. “he\/she\/it not in”
\n\u8fd9\u4e2a\u6211\u4e0d\u592a\u6e05\u695a zhei4ge4 wo3bu4(2 here)tai4qing1chu3 – “I’m not very clear on this.”
\n\u4e0d\u597d\u610f\u601d bu4hao3yi4si1 – a light form of “sorry”
\n\u671d\u9633\u95e8 chao2yang2men2 – part of eastern Beijing, home to Chinese oil companies
\n\u987a\u4e49 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
\n\u901a\u5dde tong1zhou1 – suburb directly east of Beijing, many cab drivers live here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"