Comments on: ni hao ma?

By: RaMa0999

RaMa0999 — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:42:34 +0000

Great blog!

I have always wondered what the most normal thing to say to someone in Chinese is. During Chinese lessons, they try and drill into your head that ‘ni hao ma’ is normal just as you said. It’s really frustrating because I am now at that stage where I don’t even know how to start off a conversation, without asking a stupid question.

By: shaofang

shaofang — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:07:57 +0000

i am really happy to know you by the god’s help i search on line .i would like to know you more ,your know better than me ,even who is chinese.

i feel quilty.

nice to hear from you soon,thanks

Best regards,
Susan.

By: ZL

ZL — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:54:26 +0000

“You’ve come back!”
“Yes.”

Yeah, I hate that one too. Goes something like.
Them: “Ah, Ni hui lai le?” (Ah, you’re back!?!”)
Me: (Turn, look at the door I just walked through, look at myself, look at door again. Double check that I am not transparent or otherwise invisable) : “Yea, looks like it.”

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:34:27 +0000

Definitely,we never say ni hao ma as our greeting.it seems u r very familiar with chinese culture.

By: Danielle

Danielle — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:18:26 +0000

I really hate being asked “what’s up” 800 times a day…… What am i supposed to answer?? I’m totally sick of answering “fine” but, i would probably struck up a conversation with the beginning word “why not”, which is exactly not what i want to hear, by answering “not so…” Why can’t we just give each other a huge smile or just say hello, instead of those meaningless “dialogues”?

By: jennie

jennie — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:39:22 +0000

exactly,in china ,we may not use “have you eaten?”,it’s out of date.

By: Benjamin Ross

Benjamin Ross — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:28:35 +0000

Kurt-
Send me an e-mail at bensinchina /at/ yahoo.com and we cat chat about china and KC.
-Ben

By: James

James — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 01:30:22 +0000

It’s polite You say “ni hao”to geet doormen and the ladies who clean the building. But unluckily few Chinese do it.

By: kurt

kurt — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 15:12:31 +0000

Ni hao ma! (Sorry.)

Nice blog; I’m trying to learn Mandarin myself, using Pimsleur, Chinesepod, etc.; any suggestions on working on listening comprehension (without going to China)?

Where in KC did you go to high school? (I grew up in KC as well.)

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:52:26 +0000

Yeah, as Sin said, I most frequently use ni hao when I’m meeting someone for the first time, but I also use it to greet people who I see regularly but who I don’t have a personal relationship with (like doormen and the ladies who clean the building). Asking if they’ve eaten seems too personal–am I wrong about that?

Before my folks came to visit me in Shanghai last fall, they took a few Chinese classes and my mother would persistently say “ni hao” and then smile really big to every person who even looked at her (which was actually a lot of people, cause how often even in Shang do you see an adult laowai with her parents?). Anyway, it was very cute.