Author Archives: Ling Ming
The Most Common Greetings in Chinese
We all know the way to say “Hello” in Mandarin Chinese is “Nihao!”, but do you know that the number one INFORMAL way to greet someone in Chinese is actually “Ni chifan le ma?”, which means “Have you had food/breakfast/lunch/dinner yet?”.
I remember when I first started speaking English with native English speakers, I always felt lost when asked “How are you?”. It often took me a few seconds to come up with an unnatural, awkward answer, even though on my English textbook, the dialogue uniformly continues on with “I am fine, and you?”. Later I realized, the reason why I had to take the time to react was because the same greeting habit simply doesn’t exist in Mandarin, or at least between native speakers.
Being the real most common greeting in Chinese, “Ni chifan le ma?” shows you how “eating” is considered such an big event in Chinese culture. There is a famous Chinese proverb that says ” 吃饭皇帝大” (chifan huangdi da) which can be translated into “nothing is bigger than eating”. By greeting someone with this casual sentence, you are also showing the close relationship you have. In the video, I asked Huo Li if he had “zaocan” (breakfast). He answered no, and asked about me. In real conversations, as you can imagine, the eating topic can easily last for quite some time.
Book Recommendation for Mandarin Language Lovers
Dreaming in Chinese is a wonderful book recommended by a student of mine Robert Miller. I introduced it to my other students and so far everyone loved it. It is witty, fun, and offers great insights for people who are interested in understanding the Chinese culture.
The author Deborah Fallows is a Harvard graduate and has a PhD in Linguistics. She has lived in Shanghai and Beijing and traveled throughout China for three years with her husband, writer James Fallows. Her method of getting under the skin of the country was to immerse herself in its language. In “Dreaming in Chinese,” she uses key phrases and concepts to unlock aspects of the society that interested or surprised her, casting light along the way on many idiosyncrasies of the Chinese view of the world.
““Dreaming in Chinese” is chatty and colloquial, with helpful photographs and drawings, as well as a pronunciation guide. The eager student will learn a fair bit about the history of the language and how its array of characters and tones were systematized, all the while gathering insights into the country’s customs and culture. Rather than draw sweeping conclusions, Fallows sticks to her own experiences and observations, which makes her book all the more valuable. China hands will have many moments of recognition. For others, “Dreaming in Chinese” will be a fascinating introduction to a foreign culture.”- The New York Times Book Review
"Very-ations"
There are many ways to say “very” in Chinese, the most common one is hěn 很. The word for “good”, hǎo 好, can also mean very. The same goes with “true”, zhēn 真, as well.
If you want to say “today is very hot”. The three variations/very-ations will be:
Jīntīan hěn rè. 今天很热。
Jīntīan hǎo rè. 今天好热。
Jīntīan zhēn rè. 今天真热。
The more advanced ways to say “very” are: Shífēn 十分 which means one hundred percent, fēicháng 非常 means extraordinarily, jíle 极了 means extremely, dé bùdelǐao 得不得了 means exceedingly.
Let me use the example of “the soup is very delicious”. Not to be confused with hǎo 好 as discussed above, hǎohē 好喝 means delicious (to drink).
Tāng shífēn hǎohē. 汤十分好喝。
Tāng fēicháng hǎohē. 汤非常好喝。
Tāng hǎohē jíle. 汤好喝极了。
Tāng hǎohē dé bùdelǐao. 汤好喝得不得了。
The same example with simpler very-ations:
Tāng hěn hǎohē. 汤很好喝。
Tāng hǎo hǎohē. 汤好好喝。
Tāng zhēn hǎohē. 汤真好喝。