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你好,欢迎收听随行汉语。 Welcome to Takeaway Chinese.
I'm Niu Honglin with Steve Heatherly here in the studio.
Hello, Steve.
Good day to you.
Thanks for having me back again.
Great to have you.
Questions.
What is the very first Chinese word that you learn or learn about in your entire life?
Can you still remember?
Well, probably the first word that I.
I mean, I didn't learn any Chinese when I lived in Canada, but I think everybody around the world knows 你好 means hello or 你好吗.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's the same thing.
In Chinese, I...
Again, I cannot say for sure which is the first English word I learned.
But hello is so commonly used, even in the Chinese society, that if you say hello or say hi, people would definitely understand.
And I think that is among the very first words we learned.
And it's the same thing for a lot of languages.
The next one I probably learned was kong pao.
Okay.
Kao is not even a proper Chinese word.
Oh, it's not?
Just so you know.
Because Kung Pao chicken, right?
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
Yes, but in Chinese we call it Gong Bao Ji Ding.
Oh, okay.
Gong Bao.
So what does Gong Bao mean?
It's a person.
Oh, no way.
It's a person.
So it's not how it's cooked.
It's not.
The dish is dedicated to him.
So who was he?
He was this government official, very famous or very renowned locally.
And some people, some chef, I think, created this chicken as a gift for him.
Oh, so he didn't create the dish.
No, no, no.
It was just... named in honor of him.
Yes, yes.
And that is why Kung Pao is not exactly the Chinese word.
It's not a word.
It's, again, a name, but it's the similar pronunciation of a name.
It's not even the name name.
Oh, so wait, so that wasn't his name?
Well, Kung Pao was not, but Kung Pao was.
Oh, but it just got kind of changed.
And then when it made its way west, the pronunciation changed even more.
Wow, I did not know that.
But when it comes to 你好, you're right.
你好 is much commonly known by people around the world.
And I think I've even encountered so many different online accounts, social media accounts and also the profile picture of the accounts.
You can see the Chinese character 你好 on it.
And right there, you know ah, it must be an account related to either the Chinese language or the Chinese culture.
It's so common.
Yeah, i think.
Beyond that, i think after i arrived in china was when i learned my other chinese words.
But speaking of which, since you asked me about chinese, what was the first foreign way to greet people that you learned about?
Hello, okay.
And after that bonjour bonjour, the french way yes okay yeah, those are commonly known too.
And namaste from india yeah, In another show that we host together Roundtable, I think five, six years ago, I used to try saying hello to our audience in a different language every time I'm on the show.
And that streak... How long did you... Not so long.
I tried to learn that language.
Day eight.
I'm done.
Learn that language or at least learn how to say hello in that language and use it on the show.
But that's the thing.
I think if you have...
You must have the experience of going to a different place.
It's not even have to be a different country.
As long as it's not your own little community culture, you are stepping into another culture per se.
I have a question.
Sorry, finish your thought first.
Yes, and I think the very first things you want to do is to know how people in that culture greet each other.
And you learn it, you feel like you're blending in a little.
So my question is, in English, you can say hello, hi, hey...
There's different ways.
In Korean, you can say 안녕하세요, 안녕하십니까, 안녕.
So there's multiple ways.
I've only heard 你好 or 你好吗?
Are there other ways in Mandarin that you can say hello to each other?
Let me put it this way without offending you, hopefully.
The reason that you only hear 你好 and 你好吗? that you can only recognize 你好 and 你好吗?
Right, right, right.
There are many ways to say hello or to greet each other in Chinese.
Go on then.
To start with, we don't usually greet each other in the way that you just greet each other.
It's always or most often with some additional information.
For instance, for those who are learning Chinese for a while.
You might have heard that people, when they see each other, instead of saying 你好 or 早啊 morning,
Hold on. morning i thought it was yeah right it's like oh you're early you're here early oh it's an early morning good morning kind of way so just one character makes sense can be understood as good morning so that would be the equivalent of saying like morning morning yep in english yep yep And instead, well, that is still quite a greeting.
But for those who have been learning Chinese for a while might have heard this 吃了吗?
吃了吗?
吃了吗?
吃了吗?
吃 is to eat.
了 is putting it into past tense.
And 吗 is whether or not.
Have you eaten?
Have you eaten?
It's also, I think, quite common several years ago or a decade ago.
Common in Korea, too.
They do the same thing.
Oh, really?
Yeah, yeah.
It's a way of greeting.
You ask someone if they've eaten.
Usually, you'll use this around lunchtime or dinnertime.
In the middle of the afternoon, like 3 p.m.
That would be a bit weird.
Right?
So it's the same thing, right?
So it has to be around some sort of mealtime.
But yeah, it's the same type of thing.
But what do you mean when you say, you can't just say, ni hao.
Or 你好吗?
You have to use some extra information.
No, I'm just saying when you're asking 吃了吗?
You're not exactly saying, hello, nice to meet you.
You're asking, oh, have you eaten?
So you're asking about a bit more information about the person you just meet.
It's just one step ahead of greeting.
Same goes with 忙呢? or 你好吗?
So you meet someone, maybe your neighbors, in the entrance of your residential community.
You say, you're going outside.
It sounds a bit...
Literal?
Literal, and also... You are exiting the building.
Yes, but the idea is that, ah, you're going out, you're doing something, you're busy at something, and the other person can answer in a way that, 去接孩子, I'm going to pick up my kid, or 出去一下, I'm going out for a while.
So you give the chance to the other person to respond to you with the real things they're going to do, or just you know respond.
I understand.
We do the same thing in English.
If you run into your neighbor or something near the exit of the building you might say oh, headed out.
Yes.
Same thing.
Same thing.
And, of course, in official occasions, you would also hear a lot of different ways to greet each other.
One would be 幸会,幸会.
幸会,幸会.
幸 is lucky.
幸运.
Lucky or fortunate.
And 会 is to meet.
会.
So I'm lucky to meet you.
When would you say that?
If it's a very official occasion, you are introduced to someone in this very official setting, maybe a business meeting, maybe from your work colleague, and you shake hands and say, 幸会,幸会, very nice to meet you.
Only the first time?
Only the first time.
What do you say the second time?
好久不见。 Long time no see.
Yes.
No, I understand what you mean, and it's true in different languages, right?
It depends on the context of the situation.
And you are also right, because I guess I've never really thought about this to say hello in English is not really a common.
No, not anymore.
Yeah.
And you ask about what if you meet... like after a long time for the second time.
Yes, for the second time, you say 好久不见, it's polite, but it's also not that close.
It's not between two close friends.
Between two close friends, you would also say 好久不见, 最近在忙什么?
What are you busy doing these days?
Or this one is not that common in Chinese oral setting in real life scenario these days, because this one is a little bit sophisticated and it's been used quite so much in ancient days.
That is to say yes means separate, since we separate is From the time we separate comes like.
Here's the meaning of come, but till now wu is no, and yang is any illness, any unhappy things happening?
So since the last time we separate... Has anything terrible happened to you?
I believe there must be no terrible things happened to you.
Okay, yeah.
Isn't it cute though?
Like when you translate languages literally, it just comes out so funny sometimes.
A little bit, yeah.
That's kind of like...
I hope you've been well.
I hope you've been well, yes.
So then what am I supposed to say?
You know I have my little friendly relationship with the grandma and grandpa who have the convenience store near my house.
And every time I walk in, I always say 你好.
你好 works.
You can also say 忙呢?
忙呢?
忙呢 means busy.
Are you busy?
If they look busy, maybe you can say that.
If they don't, you can also say 挺好的哈?
挺好的哈?
挺好的 means busy, pretty good, and ha is like right.
So ah, everything's good with you right yeah, but i wouldn't walk in the store and say everything's good with you.
You kind of can, because you know each other already and nihao is still a little bit too official.
So then that would be like the british english equivalent, like hey, all right.
Little bit like that.
Like the question is, are you all right?
But you're not really asking the person saying i believe you're all right yeah, but it's not really saying.
It's just kind of like hello hey, how you doing.
And here comes the thing if these persons are in the store and you're entering the store, it's a kind of a scenario that they are greeting you.
They should be greeting you because they're the hosts and you're the guests, so they should be saying oh, i've heard that She says that sometimes.
Yes.
He very rarely uses words.
I think it's because she's more... He's a grandpa.
I don't expect... Outgoing.
Our interactions are very limited, but he's a very nice man.
Laila means, ah, you're here again.
You're coming into our store again.
So they can say that, but I can't say that.
No, because you're going in instead of coming back or coming to them.
And they are the shop owner, so of course they're there.
Yes.
I understand.
So what other context can you use like Laila?
Because that's a very pretty sounding phrase, isn't it?
When else can you say that?
Well... If it means like, oh, you're here again.
I can't say that to my wife.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
When she comes home like, oh, it's you.
No, don't say that to your wife.
I'll try one time.
It's more of a... I'll make my reservation at the hospital before I say that.
It's more of a host to guest thing.
You're here, you're coming, you're welcome for sure.
Something...
In that way.
So I was thinking, you are the regular host of Roundtable.
And if you are welcoming guest hosts, you can say, welcome, you're here.
I'm happy about it.
But I wouldn't say it to regular guests.
I would say it to someone who comes occasionally.
Yes.
So see, a lot, a lot of different things when it comes to, you know, greetings.
Yeah.
And it's cool because, you know, you learn the textbook stuff.
You know, 你好, 你好吗?
But you have to kind of have the experience of going into the stores and hearing Laila and learning those other ways of more casually or more formally saying hello to each other.
Yes.
And these new phrases and way of saying greetings for you are quite interesting. new and fun.
And same with me.
When I go to different places in China, when I encounter people in different ethnic groups in China using different local dialect, they have their own way of saying hello.
And I always try to learn their ways.
For instance, this year, I went to Tibet.
And in Tibet, people say that's the Chinese way of saying, translating those words.
And that means or means best luck, all the good, and may all your wishes come true kind of phrase.
But it's used in a very lighthearted and everyday way.
Just like greeting.
One more time?
So just every time you see somebody?
Yeah, you can say that.
And not only can you say it, you can even see a lot of cultural recreational souvenirs having the Xizang language used or and the chinese ones and other languages.
It's a very common symbol or iconic phrase in xizang question throughout different parts of china.
You were in the western part of the country, far western part of the country recently as well, and you were teaching me the greeting.
The greeting there was different too.
But if you go there, like if a tourist goes there, and because they're still in china, and they say oh nihao, Would that be considered rude?
Not at all.
Okay.
Not at all.
But it would be considered very lovely if the tourist decided to reach out and learn the local way and try to use the local way.
I mean, people would consider it perfectly okay when tourists use Mandarin and say 你好 and say 吃了吗?
Say things like this.
It's perfectly fine.
But if they can use their a little bit mispronounced language words in the local way, it would be definitely much welcome.
You might get a little more food on your plate at the restaurant.
You might, yes, yes.
And not only for Xizang in, for instance, the Miao ethnic group in Guizhou, In the Uyghur ethnic group in Xinjiang, Uyghur autonomous region.
There are all different types of ways, including whether or not you should put both of your palms together and say hello to them, or whether you should put both of your hands crossed in front of your chest and say hello.
These are all different in different cultures.
Which... region of China should you put your palms together or cross your arms across your chest?
The cross your chest one is for the Uyghur ethnic group mostly.
And the putting both of your hands together is quite common, to be honest, in a lot of different places.
For instance, for people who believe in Buddhism, they would do that a lot.
Sure.
In other countries where Buddhism is popular, they do that there as well.
Yes.
And online, it's a different scenario online.
In the online world, when you greet each other, when you say hello, of course, if it's official setting, if you know someone and you start to be WeChat friend only because there are certain things that you need to work together, your colleague without permission. meeting each other, or you're two persons from two companies who are doing one project together, well, that's 你好,很高兴认识你, very glad to know you, or 久仰大名, I've known about you for quite a long time, it's the first time we meet, who am I, and 幸会,幸会, very lucky to meet you.
These words are very commonly used, but if it's not this official, well then, It's a place that I cannot define.
The way to greet each other can be quite colorful.
Sometimes a person you have never known about, talked to, would say oh my dearie, or hey, love to you, just right there.
In Chinese, that's how people communicate, even if they're communicating for the first time.
Yes, especially when it's, for example, an online shop owner talking to you.
They would definitely say 亲爱的, that is darling, this is important information.
Oh, and sometimes they would even address each other as balls remember, baby.
But the balls is like the, the kind of baby that you do not address your real baby, the significant other, where it's kind of oh see, that's really interesting.
Where does that come from?
Well, they're being polite, overly polite, it's a bit too polite.
And one your competitor is being 100 polite, you want to be 150 and it goes a bit too much.
Yeah, I get it, because this wouldn't really be true for Canadian English, meaning English spoken in Canada, like hey darling, hey love.
But I think I'm wrong.
I think that's true.
I think that, like you know, if you go into a restaurant, a server might say morning darling.
Oh, yeah.
Right?
And this is true, as far as I know, in Southern culture in the United States, in the Southern part of the United States.
If what I've seen through the media and if my limited experience in the South are true, then they speak that way too.
And sometimes people don't... And British English too.
Sorry to interrupt.
Now that I'm thinking about it.
Hey, love.
Yeah.
You all right, love?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So see, people like to be close to each other or fake it until you make it.
But don't we have to be careful these days, though?
Aren't we living in a little bit more of a sensitive time where if someone addresses someone by hey love, hey darling, that could be taken the wrong way?
I think we're living in times now where we have to be a little bit more careful.
Would that apply to Chinese, too?
I think that's true for English.
It depends.
If your direct boss say darling to you, then you definitely will feel a little bit uncomfortable.
That was going to be my next point.
Yeah, in a workplace.
But if it's a shop owner you have never talked to and you're trying to return one of their product and you sent the link of the purchase, the order you made, and they say I am here, darling.
What do you want?
It's fine.
It's harmless.
Interesting.
Yes.
So greetings can be quite versatile depending on the situation.
I wonder if there was anyone who ever thought that the shop owner was interested in.
Not necessarily, i guess must have happened once, i would think.
And, like i said, another common greeting common but not popular is are you there?
That's a greeting.
That's a greeting.
That's a way to start a conversation.
And it's not that popular because it has its origin in 10 years ago, 15 years ago, when Internet was not that common.
When your cell phone is not your another organ, you carry around all the time.
There would be a long period of time when someone is offline.
Oh, you're talking text messages.
Yes, I'm talking online greetings.
Yeah, yeah, sure.
In English too.
Hey, you there?
You there?
It's talking about whether or not you're online.
Can you see this message?
But here, in this day and age, it's no longer an issue because definitely I can see your message and it's my decision to reply or not.
And if we're not that close and you use that to say hello to me, it means you didn't really give me a chance to decide whether or not i would like to respond.
See, in english that's interesting because i think yes, it's true that it's disappeared from text greetings, but i don't think it would be offending anyone if i got a text message that said hey, you there.
That would just imply to me that they needed to talk to me, like right now type thing.
Yeah, i would not mind receiving a saima myself, but i would not do that to others.
I would always.
Well, if i use saima to start, i would immediately continue with what i want, to give the other person a scenario so they can decide if they want to reply now or in 10 minutes, in 15 minutes.
Can i say this to someone who is like seems like they're somewhere else when I'm talking to them?
You can, but it's a bit accusing.
Like, hello.
Yes, it's like that, hello.
Yes, like that.
And, well, one scenario is different.
People say if you are romantically involved with another person yet you have not, you know, go to the stage of defining your relationship.
Saying 在吗 is close to saying oh, I miss you.
Want to talk?
Oh.
Why?
Because you're, you know when you're in that situationship, you do not want to say directly I miss you.
I want to talk to you.
You don't really have anything that you want to talk about specifically.
You just want to know if the other person is also thinking about you.
So you say, you're there.
Okay, I understand.
I think though, because everyone is addicted to their smartphones these days, and even like at dinner or at home, Like when we're having a conversation, the person you're talking to might be looking at their phone while you're having a conversation.
So in that context, you can say, 在吗?
You can.
But use that soft tone.
That's important.
Don't say, 在吗?
No, don't.
Don't use any Chinese words with that tone that I just used.
You can also say, 在吗?
你还在吗?
Are you there?
See the sarcastic, not nice kind of tone.
No, but that's a bit better.
Yeah, it's the same in english like hello.
Yes, softly is okay.
Can i give you one from canada?
Oh sure, um.
So newfoundland is the most eastern province in canada.
It's out in the atlantic ocean.
You have to take a ship to get there.
There's no bridge.
It's too far, so you have to fly or take a boat, which is hours from Nova Scotia, to get there.
One of the ways to greet the other person in Newfoundland is to say this.
How's she going by?
What?
So I'll translate that.
So how, how, how is how?
She.
Yeah, who's she?
I want to ask that.
Okay, right.
So it's not a she.
It's not a female.
It's just it.
Ah.
So how's it?
How's she?
How's things?
How's it going?
And then by by is like yes, by yes, by no, by by is like buddy, ah yeah.
So how's she going by?
How's it going, buddy?
How are you friend?
I would not guess that.
How's she going by?
Oh yes, by no by.
Yeah, my roommate was from newfoundland.
Actually he's from labrador, which is an area north of Nova Scotia and north of New Brunswick and part of Quebec.
I think it's way north in Canada.
He's from there, Lab City.
And so, living with him, I had an opportunity to learn a lot of phrases from the far eastern side of Canada.
That's very interesting.
And I think there are so many different examples here that in China, when people use their local dialect and their local way of addressing certain things, it sounds still very, very close to in Chinese Mandarin English English, but it's hard for you to know the exact meaning of each words.
And you know it's a greeting, of course.
Yeah, and there's other examples, but since we're on topic, here's another little cute story that kind of caught me off guard after I first moved to.
One of the ways that you can say hello when you answer the phone in Chinese is to say way.
Yes, yes, yes.
Ah, yes, I forgot about answering phone.
On the phone.
Yes.
So way, but way.
Now remember, I had just moved from Korea, right?
And way in Korean means either why or very commonly what.
Oh, that's not polite.
So I, you know, of course I...
I know that Chinese and Mandarin and Korean are two different languages, but still my brain was caught off guard in the beginning because you know people are answering the phone way.
So I was like I thought people were saying answering the phone, like what it's like, that is very direct.
Oh, right.
Totally different language.
Yes.
And, like you said, in different cultures, different languages, people have different ways to greet each other.
And not only the ways to say things.
Like we talked about namaste, there's also sawadika.
That's in Thailand.
And of course, you would put your palms together.
Place palms together, fingers upward in front of your chest and bow slightly.
And in Japan you bow deep in especially official occasion and to seniors or those who are above you socially speaking.
And you want to be really polite.
It's almost like exercise in Japan.
When you bow, they bow all the way down to like a 90 degree angle sometimes.
Yes, yes.
And there's also another one that I find really, really interesting.
If you're from that part of the world, please let me know if it's true or I am, you know, getting misinformation on the Internet.
I found that in Yelp Island Micronesia, people would sit together quietly and look at each other, using their shared presence as a sign of respect.
Before conversation begins.
How long?
Didn't read that far.
Not too long, maybe.
They just go to the room, sit together quietly like, greet each other silently for a while and start the conversation.
I bet the conversation can go really deep if they do that.
It just puts yourself out of the fast-paced scenario of life and just into this kind of zen.
Sure yeah, slower to talk to each other, slower pace of life in micronesia it doesn't seem like the most efficient way.
Well, there are efficient ways.
You can kiss each other on the cheek for the first time.
Yes.
Very French style.
Yes.
And maybe hug sometimes.
It can also be a way to greet each other, even for the very first time.
Yeah, I don't like that one.
I think it's kind of nice.
Oh, I know.
It's just a personal preference thing.
Yes, yes.
That's what I'm talking about in different cultures and different ways.
And there are so many different choices.
I like this one from...
Micronesia.
Anybody familiar with Micronesian culture, please correct us.
Yes.
Or send an email with some more details. details, a detailed explanation of this.
I'd really be curious to learn.
Yes.
Thank you for doing that in advance.
And November 21st is the World Hello Day.
It is the also, you know, International Greetings Day.
So if you happen to catch this episode of Takeaway Chinese on that specific day, not only will you be able to learn a lot more about greetings from China and greetings in other cultures,
And Newfoundland.
Yes.
Yes.
And please also greet each other more often.
Greet strangers in the elevator and greet the kind of colleagues that you see a lot in the building but have never said hello to.
Just, you know, extend a little bit of kindness to others and definitely you will have a better day.
Yeah, because they'll likely return it to you as well.
And that brings us to the end of today's Takeaway Chinese.
Thank you so much for being with us.
I'm Niu Honglin with Steve Heatherly.
For more episodes of the show, you can visit our website at radiocgtncom and go to the column podcast.
You can also listen to the show and read the script there.
Find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.
Just search for Takeaway Chinese.
Don't forget to leave your questions, comments, and ratings.
Have a good one, eh?
That was another good one.
