Conversation and Addressing Others

2 min read

Conversation for Chinese

Negative replies are considered impolite.Instead of saying“no”，answer“maybe”，“Ill think about it”，or“We’ll see”and get into specifics later.

You may be asked intrusive questions concerning your age，income，and marital status.If you don’t want to reveal this information，remain polite and give an unspecific answer.Don’t express irritation with the questioner，since“losing face”has such negative implications in this culture.Onthe other hand，unless you are a very familiar personal friend，do not ask your Chinese hosts about their family although，typically，you can ask “How old is your child？”，“How long have you been in the work force？”or“Where is your child studying？”as a means of determining their marital status and age.

Addressing Others

In China people shouid be addressed with a title and their name.If a person does not have a professional title，use“Mr.”，“Mrs.”，“Miss”，“Comrade”，plus their last name.If a person does have a professional or official title they should be addressed as“General”，“Committee Member”，“Bureau Chief”，ect.whenever possible.

Introduction

It is common social practice to introduce the junior to the senior，or the familiar to the unfamiliar.When you start a talk with a stranger，the topics such as weather，food，or hobbies may be good choices to break the ice.

To a man，a chat about curent affairs，sports，stock market or his job can usually go on smoothly.Similar to Western customs，you should be cautious to ask a woman private questions.However，relaxing talks about her job or family life will never put you into danger.She is usually glad to offer you some advice on how to cook Chinese food or get accustomed to locallife.Things will be quite different when you’ve made acquaintance with them.Implicit as Chinese are said to be，they are actually humorous enough to appreciate the exaggerated jokes of Americans.

In Chinese culture，the question“Where have you been？”is the equivalent to“How are you？”in North America；it’s just a superficial inquiry that does not require a literal-minded，detailed answer.

You may make general inquiries about the health of another’s family，such as“are all in your family well？”

During a meal，expressing enthusiasm about the food you are eating is a welcome，and usually expected，topic of conversation.

“Small talk”is considered especially important at the beginning of a meeting.