My friends and I never say "hello" or "how are you " when we meet on the street. We only say greetings like 1) You are still alive ? 2) Who let you out of your cage ? 3) When did you get out of jail ? 4) Did your wife give you permission to leave the house? Etc, etc, etc 4)
This happens in every countries. In Vietnam, we usually do it too when the connection between us is close. And of course both of us implicitly understand others' intention .
I once met this woman from Poland who was studied Chinese for more than 8 years in her country. We met when we both are pursuing our Master Degree in China. She can speak Chinese even more fluently than our other classmates. But after a few months, I noticed that she often came to class in a foul mood in the morning. One day I finally got a chance to ask her about it, and her answer was...interesting. She said on the way to class, she met a few Chinese friends (cause we live inside a small campus) and they greet her by asking impolite questions. What kind of impolite questions did they ask her? I was so surprised to hear that. She said, it was something like 你要去哪里？吃饭了吗？She thought it was rude for them to ask her these questions. When they asked whether she has eaten or not, she feels like they judged her for being too skinny or look not healthy enough. And when they asked her where she want to go, she think it's none of their business. As fellow Asian, I might want to tell you guys, especially those from outside Asia, that in Asia, we often times doesn't greet people using standard western greetings such as "How are you?" or talking about the weather etc. For Asian, asking questions like "Have you eaten?" or "Where are you going?" is the normal way to greet the people you knew. I've lived in China for more than 8 years now, and the form of greetings that I heard the most is 吃饭了吗？你要去哪里？ Definitely not 你好吗？ Thanks for a great video, 说说中文!
That's interesting! I'm from Poland and I can confirm that we usually greet by "hello" or "good morning/good day" so I understand why it was confusing to the woman
We asked as a greeting "have u eaten?" Because china has experienced famine/civil wars before and many people died of starvation and they put great importance to food,that's why their greeting is like that.like if you've eaten,you're ok.
I'm from poland "how are you" can already be considered "too friendly" (weird/ pointless question) when talking to a stranger so I fully understand that woman who freaked out when asked "have you eaten"/ "where are you going" by classmates. It's something very close friends/ family members or couples would ask each other.
As a young native speaker from mainland, I disagree with many things you mentioned. When asked 你最近怎么样, I usually don’t take it seriously and just reply with 很好,你呢. It’s okay and actually necessary to use 你好 when you need to be extremely polite. 再见 is totally okay to be used with your friends. The difference between 汉语 and 中文 is quite subtle. When you wanna to stress that it’s the language of China instead of other countries, 中文 is better option. For example, 你一个美国老外竟然会中文.However if you wanna stress the history and culture behind it, or when languages of other minorities in China is mentioned or implied, 汉语is better. For example, 古汉语字典 or 汉语有着悠久的历史 or 他会汉语,藏语,蒙语. Sometimes, it might just be fixed expressions. For example, 汉语拼音, 对外汉语. 中文 is a modern concept created after China contacted with western world. Before that, The language we refer to as Chinese/中文 was always called Hanese, language of Han people. 爱人 is not outdated at all but only too formal to be used in daily life. In a very formal situation, use 爱人 or other formal expressions like 先生,太太,丈夫,妻子 instead of 老公老婆 no matter how old you are. You somehow mistake being formal for being outdated. It’s true that casual expressions are used much more often but it doesn’t mean they are better or cooler than formal expressions.
You are right about 中文 because in Cantonese, when we ask if others speak Cantonese also, we refer to it as 中文. If we are referring to Mandarin, we call it 國語.
Naked in my room not entirely true. 中文 (translation: 中 meaning middle and 文 being referred to a language (spoken or written.) together it makes middle language because China is the Middle Kingdom and the language is .... you get the drill. And is just the grouping of all of the dialects together into one which is chinese and that is thats all. That included 漢語。 It has nothing to do with emphasizing culture. 漢語 directly translated into Han language. Which is why many will translate it as Mandarin Chinese because that’s the common spoken language spoken by the majority which is the Han people. Literally meaning the language of the Han people. You can’t say 你會寫漢語嗎？ people do but it’s technically not correct because the 語 allows us to know what aspect of the language we are specifically talking about. Speaking. A small minority in China only uses it in China. Most people that use 漢語/華語 are people of chinese decent living in other countries (this generation moved abroad during the early to mid 1900s) 漢語 also includeds ancient Chinese language which 中文，國語 or 普通話 don’t include because all of these terms are like you said more recent.
I guess she's just trying to make her video compelling and the way for that, she thinks, is to be a "myths buster". A lot of YTbers use this strategy like “oh... all you knew is wrong, here's what you didn't know”..
😂 I made a lesson on a channel for complete beginners using comprehensible input. If you’re interested, feel free to have a look and I hope it helps to get you started: ua-cam.com/video/oaA5N6Wso_o/v-deo.html
This is what I would recommend. Use Rosetta Stone especially at first. I used this program for many languages and it can really help you at first especially with pronunciation since it will listen to what you are saying and then you will be able to go and see what you are saying incorrectly. With the online version you can also easily study on your computer or your mobile device. I used the latest version to study Italian and it worked out well.
horse told us about ChiAmericanCe, not correct our language, don't listen this shit, necessary words from nihao to study, all words is important, don't say it's not useful words NEVER. We have clean language without horses, thanks for our dialects
I think it depends on the person. I never use ni hao. I think it's too formal. I always greet by long time no see, or how's it going? Or simply say hi/hey.
@@alexzhang3398 Native speaker here. "Bof" is indeed very common in France, but I personally wouldn't be shoked by someone saying "comme ci comme ça". It does sound a bit old fashioned, but isn't outright weird
This video is actually misleading so, no. People still use many of the phrases and just because some phrases are more formal, it doesn't make them "outdated", just more used in certain contexts. Also, just because she doesn't use it, it does not make it a rule for all of us living in China.
mǎ mǎ hū hū (马马虎虎）is really common in northern part of China, especially in Beijing, east part of Inner Mongolia and northeast area, we use this word to express something we don’t finish well or not complete earnestly, it’s quite common and we use it very frequently. While, indeed I almost never heard any of my canton friends (or southern area)who ever said this. I think it’s a regional difference. So don’t mislead please 😂
oh, it's just a new trend - to say, that no one says "你好". But when students just start learning Chinese, first person they are greeting is their teacher. And Chinese students do greet their teacher saying “你好”，or 老师好, not 老师，最近怎么样！
You can say "一般般" instead. "mamahuhu" sounds weird for Chinese people. Sometimes, "mamhuhu" even let people feel like you are good at things what you said before.
I’m a native Chinese speaker. I definitely use 再见 with my friends and my families, and I use it kind of a lot depends on different occasions. Also, we do use 派对, at least the Chinese I know do use it. And a lot of comments are talking about how you can use 小姐 in Taiwan. Basically, it is okay to say 小姐 in southern China mainland as well. The problem will show up when you are in the north. But overall, I assure less and less Chinese are picky on the term 小姐 nowadays.
I'm in Chengdu: the main meaning of 'xiaojie' here is definitely 'prostitute'. I heard one Westerner use it to a waitress: the waitress's reaction made it clear that that was definitely not OK.
@@waylandsmith8666 yeah, it depends on context, situation, and who you're interacting with. If you're in a formal conference or meeting, no one is going to think along the lines of prostitute. On the other hand, if you're at a karaoke bar...
I think the confusion with 小姐 is when it's used alone. If 小姐 is used alone, then it means 'prostitute'. For example. ‘你看那个人穿得像个小姐’ or '你看那个人是小姐’ Whereas when 小姐 is used after a family name, then it means it's in a formal setting. For example. '周小姐，您好，请问今天想看些什么？’
So many things depend on areas. The way I was being taught Mandarin from a Taiwanese teacher, some of these things they do commonly use. People always have to adapt to the slang of different places. That's something that applies in other languagea/countries, too. Like German, it can be very different depending on where you are in Germany.
I got a number of phrases from the 1943 Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary when I was starting out. My teacher used to call me "The Hundred-Year-Old Man."
As a native Chinese speaker too, I must claim that her video has no big problem. Indeed, my friends and I do not use most of these phrases in our daily life. 这个视频大致是没问题的，中国这么大，每个地方的用词都有所差异，不必过度追究
hello Han, are you fluent in Chinese? can you help me translate the dialogue below into Chinese with correct grammar? your help means a lot. thank you🥺😭 老师 : 到这, 你们明白了吗? Dio : (teacher, I don’t understand what the difference between DNA and RNA? ) 老师 : (simply, DNA is located in the nucleus, while RNA is located in the cytoplasm, and nucleus as well. Do you understand?) Dio : (I understand, teacher.) 老师 : (last week I gave a homework, is there any problem?) Aldo : ( I don’t understand one of the biology questions, what is ribosome?) 老师 : (Ribosomes are organelles where cells make proteins, do you understand?) Aldo : ( I understand, thank you. ) Dio : 老师, 我的成绩不太好. I dissapointed. 老师 : ( that’s okay. Keep study and get better score soon! ) Aldo : (okay, thank you teacher.) Dio : (alright, thank you teacher.)
I assure you guys, mamahuhu is a normal and very common phrase in China. But it is used to describe the quality of some kind of WORK 工作. But 一般/还好 indeed is more universal and can describe something like salary/appearance/clothing, anything
一个大陆人在这个频道下面居然看得津津有味。哦！那些熟悉的我们学外语碰过的壁原来老外们也会碰到！ I’m a Chinese living in the mainland, I found that there are so many familiar things happen when we learn a foreign language. 其实我觉得她真的每一条都说在了点上，现在的年轻中国人真的非常频繁地在日常口语中使用简单的英语单词。 I am totally agree with the point views in this video.
Well, from where I came from I used all 8 of them 😅 A language is used and understood within a cultural context that they're part of so for those non native learners you can keep this in mind but when visiting other Mandarin speaking countries you're going to hear different 😉 Just to give 1 more example. In Singapore, drinking straws we call it 水草 (I don't even know how this term came about because the literal translation would be water grass..which sounds technically incorrect but this term stuck with us 😅) vs 吸管 (translared as: Sucking pipe.. as per Mainland China)
According to my dictionary 草 also means straw (as in dried grass) so that makes sense to me. Straw can be a nice tube so I imagine that's where the English word comes from too.
I think I now understand why my chinese teacher (it was her first year and she volunteered, she was as new to the textbooks as we were, but a native speaker.) starting randomly laughing at teaching us 小姐. It must've been funny hearing us practically chant it over and over. She was hilarious 😂
小姐 in Taiwan is okay to use, but when i went to China, I was trying to get a waitress' attention by calling her 小姐. She looked at me like "what the hell"..🤣. My aunt said they don't use it that way in China. They use fu wu yuan. I turned to her and was like oh...no wonder why she gave me a weird look. I noticed that much of the older generation will ask did you eat yet instead of asking how you are.
haha.. studying in taiwan here and i want to say... the title should be 8 phrases and words that you should not use in china... since some of the words like zai jian is sometimes heard in taiwan.. with xiao jie carrying the meaning miss instead of prostitute unlike in china....
when you meet with a person who you've never met before, you can say"你好", but when you meet a person who get close relationship with u, 你好 sounds weird.
Enjoyed you video, like all your videos. Yes, some words don't have a direct translation. Like the word 'novio' in Spanish. This is when you are in-between friend and engaged to be married. Example, she is my novia. This is more than a girlfriend but not a fiancé or spouse. But also if you are engaged or newlywed novio/novia still works.
In this video, I will tell you 8 phrases and words that Chinese native speakers almost never say, 99% of Chinese learners used these phrases and words before because they are all from your TEXTBOOKS! These phrases and words include: 01:27 你好吗 nǐ hǎo ma 03:27 你好/再见 nǐ hǎo/zài jiàn 04:05 派对 pài duì 06:00 汉语 hàn yǔ 06:57 爱人 ài rén 07:28 马马虎虎 mǎ mǎ hū hū 08:49 小姐 xiǎo jiě After you have watched this video, do be careful when you use these phrases and words, try to avoid them or replace them with other phrases and words that Chinese people DO say (You can find them in this video too)!
Xu Miao officially u could say 女士 or put her surname before 小姐, in unofficial case u could say 美女 or 小姐姐 小姐姐 is a word created from Chinese Internet, it looks similar as 小姐, but they are not the same. Or if u r in Northeast of China, u should say 老妹儿，or 丫蛋儿. but if a foreigner say these two words it's a bit wired lol
Yeah but there’s nothing wrong with saying 你好 and 再见 and ideal with native speakers all the time and I always hear them say 你好 and 再见 but maybe that’s cuz they’re patients ( I work at a doctors ) and we’re not friends
Once again disagree with the 小姐 point. You'll hear it constantly and everywhere in Taiwan. Don't say 美女 in Taiwan, don't say 小姐 in China. I had to learn that the awkward way
Cool and great video. When I was in Taiwan I found people usually say 中文或者國語 but when I lived in Beijing and Shanghai I found most people usually say 汉语 ， not so much 中文。 Just my personal experience
I think the difference is that 汉语 emphasizes on the speaking part. people would say 写中文 instead of 写汉语. 文 is the whole literature as a system. 语 implies speaking. But 汉语 is a word I frequently use as a native speaker. I don’t think it is strange.
As far as I know "Han Yu" is meant for Chinese ancient garments/ dress used by the Chinese people until Ming Dinasty, can be seen in Hongkong Shaw Brothers' Chinese legends films ..The term "yu" meant "dress", NOT about language.., *Han Yu = The dress of Han people*, versus the MANCHU's Qi Pao (cheongsam) dress which is usually now mentioned as "the chinese dress".
@@santiom5631 語 has a pretty old history, appearing on bronze inscriptions. It is composed of a semantic radical 言 (speech) and phonetic component 吾. It is reconstructed in old Chinese (baxter-sagart) as /*ŋ(r)aʔ/. It has a cognate in old Tibetan, /*ŋak/, meaning speech. Basically, unless it was mistaken or sound-borrowed from a different meaning, 漢語 means "Han Speech".
汉语 is mostly used when you want to emphasize on the history, culture or art of the language like poetry, sayings etc. Most people don't use that in a day to day conversation. If people want to refer to Mandarin, they would use 普通话(mainland China), 國語(Taiwan), or 华语(South East Asia).
I mean a language changes so fast over the internet in just a month. My textbook is the latest one for my course and it's over 4 years old. There's no way someone can write a book that isnt outdated by the time they finish it.
I feel you're exaggerating how fast a language writ large changes. Sure, in informal situations, expressions and new sayings can change at the tip of a hat, but that's at the very intimate, often person-to-person or local community level. But the language as a corpus remains very much the same for a much longer time. Just because new slang words or expressions appear in English doesn't mean the language reinvents itself every 5 years; it stays constant over time, and expressions in standard usage remain common even longer. Chinese is largely the same.
for those who say they are a native speaker but don't agree with what discussed in this video, I think it is fine to summary up as the video, the point is to let people realize there might be some differences in what non-native speaker learned from the textbook and the real daily life. There is no really serious wrong or right thing cause even in the same country people from different parts have local or personal habit of saying some things. Like in English speaking countries, Australians may tend to use G'day to greet you but not other countries maybe, but even in Australia, there are people who never use this G'day because it just makes themselves uncomfortable, but we still could say Austrians tend to use it more compared to other English speaking countries.
I used Xiao jie in Taiwan (or certain areas in Monterey Park, CA or Flushing NY (New China Town), but in Hebei sheng,etc., I definitely used Fuyuan(r). Fuyuar! Da Baor! 😅lol. I have learned a lot from your videos! Thanks so much!❤️Please continue 🙏😁
你好 is still a widely used greeting phrase, especially when you meet someone for the first time. 你好吗, hmm..., not quite often, pretty much when you meet your ex girl/boy friend... 最近怎么样? It's usually used when you speak to someone you know.
Oddly when I was in Suzhou i was told ni zen me yang was too much and was told to just say ni hao ma. I suppose different provinces have different preferences?
老师好 . Loved the video! Thanks for keeping it authentic and practical as well as short and sweet! Giving it to us as it is on how native speakers actually talk and do. I currently study on my own from textbooks and also from UA-cam such as your channel. Thank you for your contribution to my learning. By the way I believe you whispered the word "weed" when talking about what people bring to a party. Hahah gotscha!
Thanks for the video! In addition to English, I speak Spanish, French and learning Chinese. So, the more I study a language, the more I realize the need of continuing learning; for the same reeson, I'm careful to tell my students, "Never use SOMETHING." Simply because languages are evolving entities and nobody can dictate what can or can't be used. It depends on context, subject matter, ocassion, language proficiency of the speakers, cultural or regional preferences and some other factors. Let's continue learning together!
Not using "how are you / ni hao ma?" is the same in Japanese too. Westerners who are self taught throw out the 元気ですか？ a lot, but most teachers tell students on the first day that no one says it so people who have taken classes rarely say it. Like in Chinese most just say 最近どう？ "how are things recently?" Although if you haven't seen someone for a long time a "おぉ、久しぶり、元気？" "It's been a while, are you well?" is common. It wasn't until later that I linked that aspect of Asian culture with "why the hell is this person telling me their life story?" when I would ask an exchange student how they were. lol
你好吗 is a more old way of saying like in the min dialect which is older than mandarin, we usually say 汝好乎（li4 ho4 bo2） which literally translates into 你好吗 in mandarin characters.
Huh? Not sure who those Japanese teachers are. Japanese people say "ogenkidesuka" to me all the time. It's a very common phrase used by Japanese people.
@@EyeLoveTheStars I've lived in Japan for over 10 years now. Speak fluent Japanese. JLPT N1 over 6 years ago. Have a Japanese family. Only Japanese friends. Work at a Japanese company speaking Japanese with Japanese clients. I cannot even recall the last time I even overheard someone say お元気ですか？ When friends meet after a not seeing for a long time it's just, 久しぶり！元気？ and in a little more formal settings sometimes 元気にしていますか？ In business usually just a ご無沙汰しております。 I don't know what Japanese people you are talking to but that is by no means an often used phrase. However my experience is mainly with Tokyo area 社会人。田舎の年寄りの方ならよく言うかもw
Actually Mamahuhu is not that unusual. As a native speaker, I often use it in daily conversations. Mamahuhu means "not too bad". Chinese culture encourage us keep humble, so when I was asked by my friends questions like "what about your exam today?", I would reply him with mamahuhu, even if I did really well in it.
I met a Chinese girl and I thought I'll surprise her. So I'm learning Chinese(wo zai xue han yu)first time and Wow! Very hard ,dialog,pronounceation etc...but I will get there ?may be in 5yrs( yi ban)-ok .lol.ba ba or Hao hao (bye) : )
Obviously viewers shouldnt take it too seriously because this is probably from her experience and a small sample of people. Just informative for some people in some events/circumstances.
Thank you! This video helps a lot! I thought that the difference between 汉语 and 中文 would be that 汉语 implies the spoken Mandarin and 中文 the written Mandarin. Thank you for correcting!
Party , that's americanized Chinese term used by americanized young generations ! The Cultural Revolution which erased all Chinese culture has left no other choice than to use American culture to fill the void/ emptiness, like using US wedding ceremonies & dress instead of the red Chinese wedding dress, US slangs, social interactions norms etc. Btw as far as I know "Han Yu" is meant for Chinese ancient garments/ dress used by the Chinese people until Ming Dinasty, can be seen in Hongkong Shaw Brothers' Chinese legends films ..The term "yu" meant "dress", NOT about language.., *Han Yu = The dress of Han people*, versus the MANCHU's Qi Pao (cheongsam) dress which is usually now mentioned as "the chinese dress".
:) they say teachers are frustrated actors, and this definitely applies to you. Not frustrated probably, but you surely are an actress, a very good one in this case
小姐 is literally the same as the word “rapariga” between Portugal and Brazil hahdh In Portugal they use the word “rapariga” like for “girl/miss” In Brazil it is not used at all and it means “b*tch” lmaoo
@@edwardzhou6936 uhhh me? Most people in China(? lmao of course it’s not wrong to call someone 小姐 and it doesn’t mean something bad either, but the interpretation that people give is what matters and it creates a lotta confusion. In Taiwan you can easily say it and that’s normal, not always in China. Although you can hear people calling the female waiters 小姐 in restaurants, it’s better to say 美女.
it depends what situation of the language,ni hao ma absolutely right but we're just not using it often we usually say hi or hey when we met best friends,but as for good friends we might say ni hao ma
In fact, as the popularizing of English, we start use some English word directly, or some abbr of English. e.g. “赶论文的DDL” means we hurry to finish the essay before the deadline. “DDL” is the abbr of deadline. And for software, we will directly use Word, Powerpoint(PPT) and Excel to call the document, slide and the spreadsheet, because these three Microsoft Office softwares are widely used. e.g. 把这篇文章打成word 做一下明天讲课用的PPT
Disclaimer: While I am a native speaker, I am not from mainland China and am not 100% clear on how grammar/vocab usage may differ from place to place. These are just my comments concerning some of the points mentioned in the video. 1. 你好吗 (ni hao ma) is actually completely acceptable in normal day to day conversation and is as common as the English "hello". saying 你最近怎么样 (ni zui jin zen me yang) is more like saying "how have you been". 2. While it is true that we don't usually say 你好 (ni hao) when conversing with friends, using 再见 (zai jian) is completely acceptable when saying goodbye to friends. 3. 我去我的朋友家玩 (wo qu wo de peng you jia wan) is not wrong, but oddly specific (going to my friends HOUSE). Usually we would say something more along the lines of "我去找朋友喝茶“ (wo qu zhao peng you he cha) which means "I am going to have tea with my friends" but is commonly understood as "I am going to hang out with my friends". 4. The literal translation of 汉语 (han yu) is the "language of Han". Han is the dominant ethnic group in China and their dialect is the current official language of China, aka Mandarin aka 普通话 (pu tong hua). 中文 (zhong wen) on the other hand has a literal translation that means "chinese text" but is used commonly to refer both to written and spoken Chinese. An intersting thing to note here is that while 汉语 refers explicitly to the Mandarin dialect (which is a DIALECT), "Chinese" is an umbrella term that covers multiple dialects like Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Foochow and so on. [Basically, saying 中文 is fine for conversation, but if for some reason you want to be oddly specific and mention MANDARIN, you either say ”汉语“ or ”普通话“] *文 (wen) literally means "text" while 语 literally means "language". 英文/英语 mean English text and English language respectively, but yes, there is no big difference in daily usage. 5. Honestly yi ban (一般) and ma ma hu hu (马马虎虎) do not carry the exact same meaning. 马马虎虎, does mean "average", but it also conveys that someone is not taking things seriously/putting an effort into doing something. Saying "doing things 马马虎虎" implies that you are not taking the thing in question seriously and is likely to be careless while carrying out your task rather than doing your job average-ly. People do use 马马虎虎 commonly when they are trying to convey this "careless average" meaning, so I wouldn't say that it is uncommonly/not used in day to day conversation. 6. As far as I know, the connotation for 小姐 (xiao jie) exist only in mainland China; the usage of 小姐 in other Chinese-speaking countries is completely acceptable (althought some may prefer other terms) and the word means "miss".
Lazy Giraffe I grew up in the US speaking mandarin with my mom from Canton/Taiwan and always used Ni hao, and ma ma hu hu - getting yelled at for doing a so so job or for not putting enough effort into what she asked me to do. I’m sure Chinese speaking in the US among the Chinese immigrants is different from mainland/Taiwan
@@SaphsContainerGarden I'm sure speaking styles differ from place to place even if it is coming from native speakers, the ways we express things are different and personally, I do like the way Taiwanese speakers speak Chinese :) but yep since I'm not from the mainland, Taiwan, or the US I have no idea how people in those places speak Chinese, I'm just commenting on the fact that the video implies that we shouldn't use certain words/phrases and how I think those phrases are actually acceptable where I come from! 不同的地方说出来的华语都带有不同地方的特色，但是影片里说不该说 ”你好“ 啊 ”再见“ 啊这些词语就有点不对吧？毕竟这些词语还是有在日常生活中运用到的 :)
Our party here in mainland china is like family and friends eating in a round of table and have a little drink, the party was like to us is like family and friends gathering or visiting close to us.
Fun video! But only one thing: from my personal experience, 汉语 (hanyu, the language of Han) is used as frequently as 中文 (the language of China), at least in the North. To me Hanyu sounds more comfortable because of the modest attitude of Han not to represent the entire China（中）. Also from Shuoshuo's accent(e.g. pronounce xiaojie as siaozie), these tips should be a very big help to foreigners who live in Southern China.
I don’t know understand why people just don’t use common sense and just tell by context that clearly they are talking about miss and not calling you a prostitute
I started watching Chinese dramas a year before I started learning Chinese in college. I noticed how even in new books they still teach old phrases. So I tend to learn half with my textbook half with dramas😂
@@kori228 Agreed. As a Chinese northerner, I think 姑娘 sounds both gentle and masculine, like something a hero in wuxia novels would say. Somebody mentioned 小姐姐, but that feels a wee greasy for me, and I can confirm 小姐姐 is mainly used for girls you don't know very well, not for your precious one.
Me as a Malaysian chinese still use most of the chinese that you list as outdated. There the some you recommended like 嗨， 你最近怎么样 are for friend which is more close. Dont really do that to a stranger, just a 你好 will do. And for 马马虎虎, we will use ok instead of 马马虎虎. we do alway use 小姐 or 帅哥 when we go to market or cafe (but not for friend, only for stranger). 小姐 is a compliment tho. If you say that to a mid age lady this will make her day.
Now, I am all over the place with comments: I do like your videos. RE: 派对 - we were taught to say 聚会 . How's that sounding in today's colloquial Mandarin？
One time i went to Taiwan, I realized everyone say "zhong wen" instead of "han yu" (when they're talking about the "I can speak Chinese" topic), so I started using "zhong wen" like they do, they were surprised when I say "han yu" at first =))))
@@CaseyDuBose it's a bit hegemonic saying the Han language is the national language, while that's true, it does discount all the other spoken languages of minority ethnicities. Han language is more "correct" in terms of classifying the language
I have a frustrating experience. Not knowing where to begin or hitting a plateau can feel demoralizing and make it hard to hit the books and study like you know you should…Having friends from other cultures makes me more creative. In fresh ways about space and how people create their own world and environment. It is best way to connect between creative thinking and cross-cultural relationships
作为中文母语者 听到最后一个关于“小姐”的对话，笑喷了哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈 As a native speaker of Mandarin, when I listen to..... The last conversation about 'xiaojie' , it makes me laugh for a long time, hhhhhhhhhhhh
(many of them were direct translations that sound normal in Chinese but very weird in English, so it's no surprise that it's the same the other way around)
I've been learning chinese for almost 10 years now and im not really fluent in it LMFAOO i feel like i wasted my parents money, but fair enough i can understand a few sentences and stitch the words that i know to make the sentence make sense
Omg. STOP lol. That's my greatest fear. I started back up after a 4/5 years hiatus from studying, and I'm so slow on my progress. At the 10 year point, I better be at least casually fluent.
@@cole7367 I think to make what you said sound more natural, it should be "我中文学了6年，我觉得我的中文非常流利（Although if we go by the Chinese humbleness most native speakers would probably say 我觉得我的中文还不错/蛮流利的）。你只是没有认真地去学习而已。
Totally disagree about 马马虎虎. It's perfectly acceptable to use it in northern cities like Beijing and Xi'an, even in Shanghai you can hear people say it every now and then.
@@phoenixz7011 It was a long time ago. I must have got my Chinese mixed up with my Japanese. Certain things are similar in both languages like weather in terms of sound and character (Tianqi/tenki). I remember people definitely shortening it to ma ma and NOT meaning mother. My Chinese my be poor, but it's not THAT bad.
@@markscott554 well.. I am Chinese. I happen to know a bit Japanese and I think you mixed it up with "まぁまぁ", which roughly means "alright, alright / there there / about so" in Japanese, but not in Chinese:)
小姐 is fine to use in the northern cities, or at least it was 10 years ago anyway. Though it was known that in the South it would not be appropriate to use it in the same way.
ah is it why when i ride didi to a university,and when we arrive the driver asked why there is so many people. i answered : 今天有汉语比赛。 he didnt get it : 什么比赛？？ i must repeat it a few times and eventually explain it and say 中文 it really sounds unfamiliar to him
@@jasondicioccio880 it is chinese language contest for foreigners. Including speech,quiz about 成语，story telling, talent shows related to Chinese culture, etc depending on which round it is.
So I have been learning Chinese for a little over two years. I do it in my spare time. My teacher who is from Beijing, always uses 汉语, never 中文 。She also would be considered in the younger generation like myself, she's around my age, 36. So, it can't be due to age variations. When I started learning Chinese, I knew right away that native speakers didn't use 你好吗 everyday. It's a matter of adapting. I respect and admire my teacher, I just wish I had someone to practice with more, Im from the US and everyone speaks English and Spanish where I live!
Francis Li maybe she says 汉语 because she wanna make her language accordant to ur textbook terms...I mean, this word exists but there are few people use 汉语 while put 中文 aside
All your videos are so awesome, full of humor as well, that I can't decide if I like them more for the content or for the funny moments I have while watching it. Good job, keep producing more!
When I lived in China older people would ask me "ni chi fan le ma?" and I would take them really seriously and explain when I'd most recently eaten as if they cared.
@simplegateaux definitely you're right, just feel strange that I used to use such expressions in the daily life while I'm in China. And now it looks like bad words. Many thanks for your opinion.
I think 派对 is ok to use, another words I usually use is 晚会, my college roommates were all Chinese, when I had a party with friends and might come back late, I usually say "我先去参加派对or晚会，今晚可能晚点回." they got it, sometimes they would say the same, when they had a party to attend to. Another one, I usually say 你最近怎么样了？ to friends, but to professors or someone I respect I usually say 您好 then proceed with 您最近怎么样了？I think its more formal。 I miss China a lot, I hope this pandemic can be over soon and I can visit again someday hahaha
She is wrong. mamahuhu is a normal and very common phrase in China. But it is used to describe the quality of some kind of WORK 工作 or something requires efforts. But 一般/还好 indeed is more universal and can describe something like salary/appearance/clothing, anything.
马虎 ( mahu）is used for as a single word, which means “careless” or “sloppy”, while 马马虎虎 used as chinese idiomatic, that means somewhat equivalent to ‘muddle through’ in English (lit) rough and ready, etc. It can be meant “OK”, “ fine” or neither good nor bad”. The use for ‘mama huhu’ in daily conversation depends on in context
As a native Chinese speaker, 你好吗 would sound like I’m sick, lying on a bed and people are visiting me. Technically just ask people 吃了吗 or 吃了没 in Chinese when greeting your friends. Both phrases are equivalent to “have you eat?“ Use 你好 (hello) in formal occasions, especially when you greet someone for the first time there. 你最近怎么样 would sound like you haven’t see this person for a long time. If you are really not sure, just wave your hand and say hi. Usually people would understand
My friends and I never say "hello" or "how are you " when we meet on the street.
We only say greetings like
1) You are still alive ?
2) Who let you out of your cage ?
3) When did you get out of jail ?
4) Did your wife give you permission to leave the house?
Etc, etc, etc
4)
that's a whole different story 🤣🤣
This is an underrated comment
4) Yo, cops looking for you yet?
5) How was Aruba?
6) You put a ring on that yet?
7) How'd that STD test turn out?
Surely you are from Beijing, aren't you? 哈哈哈哈
This happens in every countries. In Vietnam, we usually do it too when the connection between us is close. And of course both of us implicitly understand others' intention .
I once met this woman from Poland who was studied Chinese for more than 8 years in her country. We met when we both are pursuing our Master Degree in China. She can speak Chinese even more fluently than our other classmates. But after a few months, I noticed that she often came to class in a foul mood in the morning. One day I finally got a chance to ask her about it, and her answer was...interesting.
She said on the way to class, she met a few Chinese friends (cause we live inside a small campus) and they greet her by asking impolite questions. What kind of impolite questions did they ask her? I was so surprised to hear that. She said, it was something like 你要去哪里？吃饭了吗？She thought it was rude for them to ask her these questions. When they asked whether she has eaten or not, she feels like they judged her for being too skinny or look not healthy enough. And when they asked her where she want to go, she think it's none of their business.
As fellow Asian, I might want to tell you guys, especially those from outside Asia, that in Asia, we often times doesn't greet people using standard western greetings such as "How are you?" or talking about the weather etc. For Asian, asking questions like "Have you eaten?" or "Where are you going?" is the normal way to greet the people you knew. I've lived in China for more than 8 years now, and the form of greetings that I heard the most is 吃饭了吗？你要去哪里？
Definitely not 你好吗？
Thanks for a great video, 说说中文!
That's interesting! I'm from Poland and I can confirm that we usually greet by "hello" or "good morning/good day" so I understand why it was confusing to the woman
yupp!! asian things!! we even ask what have you eaten it's just for conversation.. it's not a big deal
We asked as a greeting "have u eaten?" Because china has experienced famine/civil wars before and many people died of starvation and they put great importance to food,that's why their greeting is like that.like if you've eaten,you're ok.
LOL This is not specific to China, it is common everywhere in the world except Europe and North America. White people are weird
I'm from poland
"how are you" can already be considered "too friendly" (weird/ pointless question) when talking to a stranger so I fully understand that woman who freaked out when asked "have you eaten"/ "where are you going" by classmates. It's something very close friends/ family members or couples would ask each other.
As a young native speaker from mainland, I disagree with many things you mentioned. When asked 你最近怎么样, I usually don’t take it seriously and just reply with 很好,你呢. It’s okay and actually necessary to use 你好 when you need to be extremely polite. 再见 is totally okay to be used with your friends. The difference between 汉语 and 中文 is quite subtle. When you wanna to stress that it’s the language of China instead of other countries, 中文 is better option. For example, 你一个美国老外竟然会中文.However if you wanna stress the history and culture behind it, or when languages of other minorities in China is mentioned or implied, 汉语is better. For example, 古汉语字典 or 汉语有着悠久的历史 or 他会汉语,藏语,蒙语. Sometimes, it might just be fixed expressions. For example, 汉语拼音, 对外汉语. 中文 is a modern concept created after China contacted with western world. Before that, The language we refer to as Chinese/中文 was always called Hanese, language of Han people. 爱人 is not outdated at all but only too formal to be used in daily life. In a very formal situation, use 爱人 or other formal expressions like 先生,太太,丈夫,妻子 instead of 老公老婆 no matter how old you are. You somehow mistake being formal for being outdated. It’s true that casual expressions are used much more often but it doesn’t mean they are better or cooler than formal expressions.
Thanks for clarifying！I was wondering if some of these terms are truly “outdated” or if it’s just uncommon in some parts of China. Now I see!😃
哈哈我在中国呆了三年，我也觉得她教的不是很对。不过，我还是觉得她教的是对刚开始学中文的老外很管用的。又容易说又容易了解。
You are right about 中文 because in Cantonese, when we ask if others speak Cantonese also, we refer to it as 中文. If we are referring to Mandarin, we call it 國語.
Naked in my room not entirely true. 中文 (translation: 中 meaning middle and 文 being referred to a language (spoken or written.) together it makes middle language because China is the Middle Kingdom and the language is .... you get the drill.
And is just the grouping of all of the dialects together into one which is chinese and that is thats all. That included 漢語。 It has nothing to do with emphasizing culture. 漢語 directly translated into Han language. Which is why many will translate it as Mandarin Chinese because that’s the common spoken language spoken by the majority which is the Han people. Literally meaning the language of the Han people. You can’t say 你會寫漢語嗎？ people do but it’s technically not correct because the 語 allows us to know what aspect of the language we are specifically talking about. Speaking. A small minority in China only uses it in China. Most people that use 漢語/華語 are people of chinese decent living in other countries (this generation moved abroad during the early to mid 1900s) 漢語 also includeds ancient Chinese language which 中文，國語 or 普通話 don’t include because all of these terms are like you said more recent.
I guess she's just trying to make her video compelling and the way for that, she thinks, is to be a "myths buster". A lot of YTbers use this strategy like “oh... all you knew is wrong, here's what you didn't know”..
I just started learning Mandarin yesterday and I have no idea what I’m doing-
😂 I made a lesson on a channel for complete beginners using comprehensible input. If you’re interested, feel free to have a look and I hope it helps to get you started:
ua-cam.com/video/oaA5N6Wso_o/v-deo.html
加油！
same here thoughts empty, just listening to Chinese
This is what I would recommend. Use Rosetta Stone especially at first. I used this program for many languages and it can really help you at first especially with pronunciation since it will listen to what you are saying and then you will be able to go and see what you are saying incorrectly. With the online version you can also easily study on your computer or your mobile device. I used the latest version to study Italian and it worked out well.
I feel ya 😂
Ma ma hu hu is the greatest phrase in chinese history. I’m not going to stop using it.
Lol ukr I love it
Yes! In my Chinese class we all know Chinese people don't use it at all, but we continue to say it because it's epic
You are right. lol
just like we are not going to stop using people mountain people sea haha
Sofia1533 some Chinese don’t use it because it’s advanced but we do use it sometimes when we remember it
As a native Chinese speaker, I can’t really agree all of them as i use a lot of the words u mentioned in my daily life lol
horse told us about ChiAmericanCe, not correct our language, don't listen this shit, necessary words from nihao to study, all words is important, don't say it's not useful words NEVER. We have clean language without horses, thanks for our dialects
So must I follow her or no?
Which one of them do you use in your daily life?
Not true
I think it depends on the person. I never use ni hao. I think it's too formal.
I always greet by long time no see, or how's it going? Or simply say hi/hey.
That ma ma hu hu is like French "comme ci comme ça", everybody learns it but no French people say it.
It's like they teach us así así for Spanish, but no one uses it. I usually hear más o menos.
TIL! What's the modern version?
@@jasondicioccio880 Not a native speaker of French but i think "Bof" is common
@@alexzhang3398 Native speaker here. "Bof" is indeed very common in France, but I personally wouldn't be shoked by someone saying "comme ci comme ça". It does sound a bit old fashioned, but isn't outright weird
@@LouitonCorp Merci!
Me : let's try to watch Chinese drama without subtitles
Also me: the only word that I know is Ni hao ma and it is not even used >
This video is actually misleading so, no.
People still use many of the phrases and just because some phrases are more formal, it doesn't make them "outdated", just more used in certain contexts.
Also, just because she doesn't use it, it does not make it a rule for all of us living in China.
no worry~ni hao is still useful when you want to say hi to a stranger or new friend.
Thanks ~~~ so I still have the hope ^^
I really like chinese language and i'm doing my best to learn it 😊
@@Oumayma_GuXiang You are welcome~
hahah same, I also wanna watch Chinese dramas (The untamed and other ancient dramas) and read manhua -w-, my goals xD
Actually, "mamahuhu" is so far out, it's in.
Using this phrase immediately confers the status of Super-Cool upon the speaker.
I thought I would be baffled by #5 for a long time...thanks for clearing up so many things.
mǎ mǎ hū hū (马马虎虎）is really common in northern part of China, especially in Beijing, east part of Inner Mongolia and northeast area, we use this word to express something we don’t finish well or not complete earnestly, it’s quite common and we use it very frequently. While, indeed I almost never heard any of my canton friends (or southern area)who ever said this. I think it’s a regional difference. So don’t mislead please 😂
I thought 马马虎虎 is careless
Thanks!
oh, it's just a new trend - to say, that no one says "你好". But when students just start learning Chinese, first person they are greeting is their teacher. And Chinese students do greet their teacher saying “你好”，or 老师好, not 老师，最近怎么样！
you can say 你好 and it's not weird. but 你好吗 is weird.
We greet our teachers saying 老师好 or 您好. It not polite to use 你 to greet our teachers.
”老师，最近怎么样？” 哈哈哈哈哈
Hi, I'm Japanese girl. This is really nice learning video!! How easily understand, I love it! Thanks to make such a fantastic video.
I say " mamahuhu" often just because it sounds so unusual . Chinese friends will laugh when I say mamahuhu.
WHY？ laugh
You can say "一般般" instead. "mamahuhu" sounds weird for Chinese people. Sometimes, "mamhuhu" even let people feel like you are good at things what you said before.
@@toyslea571 No, not weird, but kind of old school.
Hahahaha
Toys Lea mostly you are right but,mamahuhu isn’t weird to us at all.We do say it sometimes
I’m a native Chinese speaker. I definitely use 再见 with my friends and my families, and I use it kind of a lot depends on different occasions. Also, we do use 派对, at least the Chinese I know do use it. And a lot of comments are talking about how you can use 小姐 in Taiwan. Basically, it is okay to say 小姐 in southern China mainland as well. The problem will show up when you are in the north. But overall, I assure less and less Chinese are picky on the term 小姐 nowadays.
I'm in Chengdu: the main meaning of 'xiaojie' here is definitely 'prostitute'. I heard one Westerner use it to a waitress: the waitress's reaction made it clear that that was definitely not OK.
@@waylandsmith8666 yeah, it depends on context, situation, and who you're interacting with. If you're in a formal conference or meeting, no one is going to think along the lines of prostitute. On the other hand, if you're at a karaoke bar...
派对说的不多但也说，小姐要看地方，也是随着语言发展以后才有这种说法的，我爱人还是常说的。爱人单独说有lover伴侣的意思不过不常用，我爱人我的爱人就是说配偶了。
I think the confusion with 小姐 is when it's used alone. If 小姐 is used alone, then it means 'prostitute'.
For example. ‘你看那个人穿得像个小姐’ or '你看那个人是小姐’
Whereas when 小姐 is used after a family name, then it means it's in a formal setting.
For example. '周小姐，您好，请问今天想看些什么？’
小姐，是在华语区广泛使用的，对女性的一种称谓，相对于男性的“先生”。
So many things depend on areas. The way I was being taught Mandarin from a Taiwanese teacher, some of these things they do commonly use. People always have to adapt to the slang of different places. That's something that applies in other languagea/countries, too. Like German, it can be very different depending on where you are in Germany.
I got a number of phrases from the 1943 Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary when I was starting out. My teacher used to call me "The Hundred-Year-Old Man."
As a native Chinese speaker too, I must claim that her video has no big problem. Indeed, my friends and I do not use most of these phrases in our daily life. 这个视频大致是没问题的，中国这么大，每个地方的用词都有所差异，不必过度追究
hello Han, are you fluent in Chinese? can you help me translate the dialogue below into Chinese with correct grammar? your help means a lot. thank you🥺😭
老师 : 到这, 你们明白了吗?
Dio : (teacher, I don’t understand what the difference between DNA and RNA? )
老师 : (simply, DNA is located in the nucleus, while RNA is located in the cytoplasm, and nucleus as well. Do you understand?)
Dio : (I understand, teacher.)
老师 : (last week I gave a homework, is there any problem?)
Aldo : ( I don’t understand one of the biology questions, what is ribosome?)
老师 : (Ribosomes are organelles where cells make proteins, do you understand?)
Aldo : ( I understand, thank you. )
Dio : 老师, 我的成绩不太好. I dissapointed.
老师 : ( that’s okay. Keep study and get better score soon! )
Aldo : (okay, thank you teacher.)
Dio : (alright, thank you teacher.)
After doing tone training for even two days, i could hear all the tones on these phrases! Thank you for this suggestion!
In Singapore we use 小姐respectfully. Though once I addressed the waitress as auntie. My colleague later said she wasn't that old.
中国大陆在一般场合说小姐也没人会误解啊，脑子里搞黄色的人才会天天以为别人随便说个小姐是侮辱性词语，小姐从古代也指大户人家的女儿称谓，咋就到现代变味了。。一般来说中国人说小姐的特殊含义都是有语境的变化的，懂的人都懂，听不懂是哪层意思是个人中文没学好的原因，我觉得她视频有误导性
@@yitingzhao3997 thanks for sharing!
I assure you guys, mamahuhu is a normal and very common phrase in China. But it is used to describe the quality of some kind of WORK 工作. But 一般/还好 indeed is more universal and can describe something like salary/appearance/clothing, anything
Me saying all of these as a native:
*chuckles* I'm in danger
loool!
哈哈哈
Hi! Your humor is just the top of the top! I like it sooo much =)
It's totally OK to use 小姐 independently in Taiwan, that just mean "miss".
We use "小姐" in Singapore and Malaysia. It means "Miss". It's perfectly ok to say it in these two countries.
一个大陆人在这个频道下面居然看得津津有味。哦！那些熟悉的我们学外语碰过的壁原来老外们也会碰到！
I’m a Chinese living in the mainland, I found that there are so many familiar things happen when we learn a foreign language.
其实我觉得她真的每一条都说在了点上，现在的年轻中国人真的非常频繁地在日常口语中使用简单的英语单词。
I am totally agree with the point views in this video.
Well, from where I came from I used all 8 of them 😅
A language is used and understood within a cultural context that they're part of so for those non native learners you can keep this in mind but when visiting other Mandarin speaking countries you're going to hear different 😉
Just to give 1 more example. In Singapore, drinking straws we call it 水草 (I don't even know how this term came about because the literal translation would be water grass..which sounds technically incorrect but this term stuck with us 😅) vs 吸管 (translared as: Sucking pipe.. as per Mainland China)
According to my dictionary 草 also means straw (as in dried grass) so that makes sense to me. Straw can be a nice tube so I imagine that's where the English word comes from too.
I studied Chinese for one year and I kinda love it, and I already know a lot of this expression: them are used a lot in Chinese mothers drama
I think I now understand why my chinese teacher (it was her first year and she volunteered, she was as new to the textbooks as we were, but a native speaker.) starting randomly laughing at teaching us 小姐. It must've been funny hearing us practically chant it over and over. She was hilarious 😂
Your tone pronunciation is very clear, helpful in learning.
小姐 in Taiwan is okay to use, but when i went to China, I was trying to get a waitress' attention by calling her 小姐. She looked at me like "what the hell"..🤣. My aunt said they don't use it that way in China. They use fu wu yuan. I turned to her and was like oh...no wonder why she gave me a weird look.
I noticed that much of the older generation will ask did you eat yet instead of asking how you are.
haha.. studying in taiwan here and i want to say... the title should be 8 phrases and words that you should not use in china... since some of the words like zai jian is sometimes heard in taiwan.. with xiao jie carrying the meaning miss instead of prostitute unlike in china....
I was taught to use 美女
@@realryanvarnell yeah. I've heard this, too, but it just seems impolite...almost like you are trying to pick up a woman. Lol.
@@ryanr8121 so what should we use to call a miss/lady then?
@@yara-kg6fq I don't know. Its not wrong.. It's just different. What do you use to call an older lady then?
LE.
Pai dui = party , is a phrasal word i learnt from watching Taiwanese drama.
Pa ti = party , is what i used normally in Malaysia.
我的天啊。我现在住在哈尔滨，很多人说"你好"。真的!
when you meet with a person who you've never met before, you can say"你好", but when you meet a person who get close relationship with u, 你好 sounds weird.
you can say "嘿！在干嘛呢？""去哪儿呢？""要一起去玩吗"and so on.
我们这儿说 li hao
Наверное, так обращаются только к тебе как к иностранцу)
中国人见到不熟悉的人，或初次见面，双方会说”你好“. 但是如果是好朋友或亲人之间，是绝对不会说”你好”的。否则一定是反效果。
Enjoyed you video, like all your videos. Yes, some words don't have a direct translation. Like the word 'novio' in Spanish. This is when you are in-between friend and engaged to be married. Example, she is my novia. This is more than a girlfriend but not a fiancé or spouse. But also if you are engaged or newlywed novio/novia still works.
In this video, I will tell you 8 phrases and words that Chinese native speakers almost never say, 99% of Chinese learners used these phrases and words before because they are all from your TEXTBOOKS!
These phrases and words include:
01:27 你好吗 nǐ hǎo ma
03:27 你好/再见 nǐ hǎo/zài jiàn
04:05 派对 pài duì
06:00 汉语 hàn yǔ
06:57 爱人 ài rén
07:28 马马虎虎 mǎ mǎ hū hū
08:49 小姐 xiǎo jiě
After you have watched this video, do be careful when you use these phrases and words, try to avoid them or replace them with other phrases and words that Chinese people DO say (You can find them in this video too)!
Then what should we use instead 小姐？美女？
Xu Miao officially u could say 女士 or put her surname before 小姐, in unofficial case u could say 美女 or 小姐姐
小姐姐 is a word created from Chinese Internet, it looks similar as 小姐, but they are not the same.
Or if u r in Northeast of China, u should say 老妹儿，or 丫蛋儿. but if a foreigner say these two words it's a bit wired lol
Yeah but there’s nothing wrong with saying 你好 and 再见 and ideal with native speakers all the time and I always hear them say 你好 and 再见 but maybe that’s cuz they’re patients ( I work at a doctors ) and we’re not friends
Hahaha, I can't stop laughing near the end. You have a good sense of humor.
Once again disagree with the 小姐 point. You'll hear it constantly and everywhere in Taiwan. Don't say 美女 in Taiwan, don't say 小姐 in China. I had to learn that the awkward way
Cool and great video. When I was in Taiwan I found people usually say 中文或者國語 but when I lived in Beijing and Shanghai I found most people usually say 汉语 ， not so much 中文。 Just my personal experience
This was really useful. I had been wondering when to use 中文 and 汉语 for a while now.
I think the difference is that 汉语 emphasizes on the speaking part. people would say 写中文 instead of 写汉语. 文 is the whole literature as a system. 语 implies speaking. But 汉语 is a word I frequently use as a native speaker. I don’t think it is strange.
As far as I know "Han Yu" is meant for Chinese ancient garments/ dress used by the Chinese people until Ming Dinasty, can be seen in Hongkong Shaw Brothers' Chinese legends films ..The term "yu" meant "dress", NOT about language.., *Han Yu = The dress of Han people*, versus the MANCHU's Qi Pao (cheongsam) dress which is usually now mentioned as "the chinese dress".
@@santiom5631 語 has a pretty old history, appearing on bronze inscriptions. It is composed of a semantic radical 言 (speech) and phonetic component 吾. It is reconstructed in old Chinese (baxter-sagart) as /*ŋ(r)aʔ/. It has a cognate in old Tibetan, /*ŋak/, meaning speech.
Basically, unless it was mistaken or sound-borrowed from a different meaning, 漢語 means "Han Speech".
汉语 is mostly used when you want to emphasize on the history, culture or art of the language like poetry, sayings etc. Most people don't use that in a day to day conversation. If people want to refer to Mandarin, they would use 普通话(mainland China), 國語(Taiwan), or 华语(South East Asia).
Hey , you are a modern teacher, like the way you teach, and also all the modern chinese, thanks a lot, you are excelent!!,😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😊😊👊✌️
I mean a language changes so fast over the internet in just a month. My textbook is the latest one for my course and it's over 4 years old. There's no way someone can write a book that isnt outdated by the time they finish it.
That's why I don't mind being "outdated". Sure it can be a little weird sometimes but sounding formal is an art.
I feel you're exaggerating how fast a language writ large changes. Sure, in informal situations, expressions and new sayings can change at the tip of a hat, but that's at the very intimate, often person-to-person or local community level. But the language as a corpus remains very much the same for a much longer time. Just because new slang words or expressions appear in English doesn't mean the language reinvents itself every 5 years; it stays constant over time, and expressions in standard usage remain common even longer. Chinese is largely the same.
@@romanr.301 Agree.
for those who say they are a native speaker but don't agree with what discussed in this video, I think it is fine to summary up as the video, the point is to let people realize there might be some differences in what non-native speaker learned from the textbook and the real daily life. There is no really serious wrong or right thing cause even in the same country people from different parts have local or personal habit of saying some things. Like in English speaking countries, Australians may tend to use G'day to greet you but not other countries maybe, but even in Australia, there are people who never use this G'day because it just makes themselves uncomfortable, but we still could say Austrians tend to use it more compared to other English speaking countries.
My parents (born and raised in China and later moved to US in the 90s) use ma ma hu hu all the time hahaha so I definitely picked that up from them 😂
I used Xiao jie in Taiwan (or certain areas in Monterey Park, CA or Flushing NY (New China Town), but in Hebei sheng,etc., I definitely used Fuyuan(r). Fuyuar! Da Baor! 😅lol. I have learned a lot from your videos! Thanks so much!❤️Please continue 🙏😁
As a native speaker of both english and mando, I use "yi ban" the same way I use "so so ". It's not particularly good or bad.
我的英语？？不行不行，很差的。😂
你好 is still a widely used greeting phrase, especially when you meet someone for the first time. 你好吗, hmm..., not quite often, pretty much when you meet your ex girl/boy friend... 最近怎么样? It's usually used when you speak to someone you know.
Oddly when I was in Suzhou i was told ni zen me yang was too much and was told to just say ni hao ma. I suppose different provinces have different preferences?
07:28
In Teochew, it is GoiGoi AhAh (chicken chicken duck duck)
In Thai, it is Ngu Ngu Pla Pla (snake snake fish fish)
老师好 . Loved the video! Thanks for keeping it authentic and practical as well as short and sweet! Giving it to us as it is on how native speakers actually talk and do. I currently study on my own from textbooks and also from UA-cam such as your channel. Thank you for your contribution to my learning. By the way I believe you whispered the word "weed" when talking about what people bring to a party. Hahah gotscha!
Haha this is my stereotype of western parties😛
Teacher, you are not far off in your assumption. I enjoyed your role-playing. What did you used to get that mustache? Makeup?
@@chungchhen I just forgot to shave :P
You have a great sense of humor! And it shows in your videos! Thank you.
Thanks for the video! In addition to English, I speak Spanish, French and learning Chinese. So, the more I study a language, the more I realize the need of continuing learning; for the same reeson, I'm careful to tell my students, "Never use SOMETHING." Simply because languages are evolving entities and nobody can dictate what can or can't be used. It depends on context, subject matter, ocassion, language proficiency of the speakers, cultural or regional preferences and some other factors. Let's continue learning together!
Not using "how are you / ni hao ma?" is the same in Japanese too. Westerners who are self taught throw out the 元気ですか？ a lot, but most teachers tell students on the first day that no one says it so people who have taken classes rarely say it. Like in Chinese most just say 最近どう？ "how are things recently?" Although if you haven't seen someone for a long time a "おぉ、久しぶり、元気？" "It's been a while, are you well?" is common. It wasn't until later that I linked that aspect of Asian culture with "why the hell is this person telling me their life story?" when I would ask an exchange student how they were. lol
你好吗 is a more old way of saying like in the min dialect which is older than mandarin, we usually say 汝好乎（li4 ho4 bo2） which literally translates into 你好吗 in mandarin characters.
Huh? Not sure who those Japanese teachers are. Japanese people say "ogenkidesuka" to me all the time. It's a very common phrase used by Japanese people.
@@EyeLoveTheStars I've lived in Japan for over 10 years now. Speak fluent Japanese. JLPT N1 over 6 years ago. Have a Japanese family. Only Japanese friends. Work at a Japanese company speaking Japanese with Japanese clients. I cannot even recall the last time I even overheard someone say お元気ですか？
When friends meet after a not seeing for a long time it's just, 久しぶり！元気？
and in a little more formal settings sometimes 元気にしていますか？
In business usually just a ご無沙汰しております。
I don't know what Japanese people you are talking to but that is by no means an often used phrase. However my experience is mainly with Tokyo area 社会人。田舎の年寄りの方ならよく言うかもw
Oh we Chinese people often say "今天又是元气满满的一天！"😂"元气"comes from Japan.
Ore wa?Ore..arigoto,ore wa 元気 janai. Kyo watashi wa korosu tsumoridesu.Ore wa itsumo itsumo on nanoko daisuki desu,demo josei wa totemo mendō Death!
小姐這個詞在南方很多地方依然可以表示小姐
The word 小姐 is still used as a way to address a girl in many southern areas.
Actually Mamahuhu is not that unusual. As a native speaker, I often use it in daily conversations. Mamahuhu means "not too bad". Chinese culture encourage us keep humble, so when I was asked by my friends questions like "what about your exam today?", I would reply him with mamahuhu, even if I did really well in it.
I think mamahuhu is wuyu or shanghaihua - Chinese language is not homogeneous.
I met a Chinese girl and I thought I'll surprise her. So I'm learning Chinese(wo zai xue han yu)first time and Wow! Very hard ,dialog,pronounceation etc...but I will get there ?may be in 5yrs( yi ban)-ok .lol.ba ba or Hao hao (bye) : )
Thank you for teaching my knowledge
My pleasure!
Obviously viewers shouldnt take it too seriously because this is probably from her experience and a small sample of people.
Just informative for some people in some events/circumstances.
Thank you! This video helps a lot!
I thought that the difference between 汉语 and 中文 would be that 汉语 implies the spoken Mandarin and 中文 the written Mandarin. Thank you for correcting!
Party , that's americanized Chinese term used by americanized young generations ! The Cultural Revolution which erased all Chinese culture has left no other choice than to use American culture to fill the void/ emptiness, like using US wedding ceremonies & dress instead of the red Chinese wedding dress, US slangs, social interactions norms etc.
Btw as far as I know "Han Yu" is meant for Chinese ancient garments/ dress used by the Chinese people until Ming Dinasty, can be seen in Hongkong Shaw Brothers' Chinese legends films ..The term "yu" meant "dress", NOT about language.., *Han Yu = The dress of Han people*, versus the MANCHU's Qi Pao (cheongsam) dress which is usually now mentioned as "the chinese dress".
These active examples are really helpful.
I used 中文 anyways because I'm afraid I'll accidentally say 韩语 instead of 汉语 😂😅🤷♀️ I'm still struggling with the right tones 🥺🤦♀️
Or you can always use Zhong guo hua And Han guo hua. Meaning Chinese language and Korean language
@@jackl2257 we don't call it zhong guo hua....we call it pu tong hua (普通话)
Btw if you are referring to chinese outside China (Singapore, Malaysia, etc) you can say 华语
releve_plie56 i never do, maybe because I’m from the north
Same.
:) they say teachers are frustrated actors, and this definitely applies to you. Not frustrated probably, but you surely are an actress, a very good one in this case
小姐 is literally the same as the word “rapariga” between Portugal and Brazil hahdh
In Portugal they use the word “rapariga” like for “girl/miss”
In Brazil it is not used at all and it means “b*tch” lmaoo
Atenção que "prostitute" e "bitch" significam coisas diferentes, embora em português tenham a mesma tradução. No Brasil, significa "prostitute".
Neko Mata bitch tmb pode ser prostitute mn, se vc chamar alguém de rapariga lá no Br é a msm coisa que chamar alguém bitch em inglês..
雷小 sim. Verdade kkkkkkk
This video is a total misleading, who told you （小姐 in the video）that 小姐 = Prostitute？ based on this logic, 先生 = drug deal？
@@edwardzhou6936 uhhh me? Most people in China(? lmao of course it’s not wrong to call someone 小姐 and it doesn’t mean something bad either, but the interpretation that people give is what matters and it creates a lotta confusion. In Taiwan you can easily say it and that’s normal, not always in China. Although you can hear people calling the female waiters 小姐 in restaurants, it’s better to say 美女.
The last example is really nice😂
Well, 小姐, in Malaysia, doesn't have that connotation... it is more like nong or miss here...
I want to practice Chinese. I had a Malaysian friend five years ago and she wonderful person. Where can I find malaysian person who speak Chinese.
@@laryssasoulless1089 Most of the Chinese here can speak Chinese... However, there are some (like me) are Chinese character illiterate
@@laryssasoulless1089 idk maybe in Malaysia
@@laryssasoulless1089 In Malaysia. bruh!
it depends what situation of the language,ni hao ma absolutely right but we're just not using it often we usually say hi or hey when we met best friends,but as for good friends we might say ni hao ma
Horse horse, tiger tiger...people mountain, people sea.
sea.
@@toyslea571 oops. Didn't realize it.
@@ryanr8121 people do see in fairness
wow you are good at it.
马马虎虎，人山人海。
In fact, as the popularizing of English, we start use some English word directly, or some abbr of English. e.g. “赶论文的DDL” means we hurry to finish the essay before the deadline. “DDL” is the abbr of deadline.
And for software, we will directly use Word, Powerpoint(PPT) and Excel to call the document, slide and the spreadsheet, because these three Microsoft Office softwares are widely used.
e.g. 把这篇文章打成word
做一下明天讲课用的PPT
Disclaimer: While I am a native speaker, I am not from mainland China and am not 100% clear on how grammar/vocab usage may differ from place to place. These are just my comments concerning some of the points mentioned in the video.
1. 你好吗 (ni hao ma) is actually completely acceptable in normal day to day conversation and is as common as the English "hello". saying 你最近怎么样 (ni zui jin zen me yang) is more like saying "how have you been".
2. While it is true that we don't usually say 你好 (ni hao) when conversing with friends, using 再见 (zai jian) is completely acceptable when saying goodbye to friends.
3. 我去我的朋友家玩 (wo qu wo de peng you jia wan) is not wrong, but oddly specific (going to my friends HOUSE). Usually we would say something more along the lines of "我去找朋友喝茶“ (wo qu zhao peng you he cha) which means "I am going to have tea with my friends" but is commonly understood as "I am going to hang out with my friends".
4. The literal translation of 汉语 (han yu) is the "language of Han". Han is the dominant ethnic group in China and their dialect is the current official language of China, aka Mandarin aka 普通话 (pu tong hua). 中文 (zhong wen) on the other hand has a literal translation that means "chinese text" but is used commonly to refer both to written and spoken Chinese. An intersting thing to note here is that while 汉语 refers explicitly to the Mandarin dialect (which is a DIALECT), "Chinese" is an umbrella term that covers multiple dialects like Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka, Foochow and so on. [Basically, saying 中文 is fine for conversation, but if for some reason you want to be oddly specific and mention MANDARIN, you either say ”汉语“ or ”普通话“]
*文 (wen) literally means "text" while 语 literally means "language". 英文/英语 mean English text and English language respectively, but yes, there is no big difference in daily usage.
5. Honestly yi ban (一般) and ma ma hu hu (马马虎虎) do not carry the exact same meaning. 马马虎虎, does mean "average", but it also conveys that someone is not taking things seriously/putting an effort into doing something. Saying "doing things 马马虎虎" implies that you are not taking the thing in question seriously and is likely to be careless while carrying out your task rather than doing your job average-ly. People do use 马马虎虎 commonly when they are trying to convey this "careless average" meaning, so I wouldn't say that it is uncommonly/not used in day to day conversation.
6. As far as I know, the connotation for 小姐 (xiao jie) exist only in mainland China; the usage of 小姐 in other Chinese-speaking countries is completely acceptable (althought some may prefer other terms) and the word means "miss".
Lazy Giraffe I grew up in the US speaking mandarin with my mom from Canton/Taiwan and always used Ni hao, and ma ma hu hu - getting yelled at for doing a so so job or for not putting enough effort into what she asked me to do. I’m sure Chinese speaking in the US among the Chinese immigrants is different from mainland/Taiwan
@@SaphsContainerGarden I'm sure speaking styles differ from place to place even if it is coming from native speakers, the ways we express things are different and personally, I do like the way Taiwanese speakers speak Chinese :) but yep since I'm not from the mainland, Taiwan, or the US I have no idea how people in those places speak Chinese, I'm just commenting on the fact that the video implies that we shouldn't use certain words/phrases and how I think those phrases are actually acceptable where I come from!
不同的地方说出来的华语都带有不同地方的特色，但是影片里说不该说 ”你好“ 啊 ”再见“ 啊这些词语就有点不对吧？毕竟这些词语还是有在日常生活中运用到的 :)
Our party here in mainland china is like family and friends eating in a round of table and have a little drink, the party was like to us is like family and friends gathering or visiting close to us.
Fun video!
But only one thing: from my personal experience, 汉语 (hanyu, the language of Han) is used as frequently as 中文 (the language of China), at least in the North. To me Hanyu sounds more comfortable because of the modest attitude of Han not to represent the entire China（中）.
Also from Shuoshuo's accent(e.g. pronounce xiaojie as siaozie), these tips should be a very big help to foreigners who live in Southern China.
I like your videos, interesting, funny, yet informative.
Just a PSA: you can say 小姐 xiao3 jie3 in Taiwan, it's doesn't have the same connotation in 大陆 (China mainland), it just mean "miss".
对的！别的同学也告诉我了😂 这是思敏吗？
@@ShuoshuoChinese 对，我是思敏。我当然已经关注了妳的频道 😆❤
I don’t know understand why people just don’t use common sense and just tell by context that clearly they are talking about miss and not calling you a prostitute
Jordan Davis well, no one use the work miss unless it’s an formal interaction
This is the same in Malaysia too!
Love ur video! super helpful. 谢谢啦集美
I started watching Chinese dramas a year before I started learning Chinese in college. I noticed how even in new books they still teach old phrases. So I tend to learn half with my textbook half with dramas😂
They are not old phrases, nowadays, we still use them in daily life! 😂
👍👍 good explain.
Wow your english is good!
Actually, I have had one occasion when I called my girlfriend a 小姐, she got a bit upset and said that I shouldn't be calling her that. 😱
did she want you to use 姑娘 instead or something? lol
Try calling her Ta Jie (older sister) instead of Xiao Jie (little / younger sister)
@@santiom5631 Calling her Da Jie will make her go "So you're saying that I'm old?"
Based on experience.
now we use 小姐姐😁
@@kori228 Agreed. As a Chinese northerner, I think 姑娘 sounds both gentle and masculine, like something a hero in wuxia novels would say. Somebody mentioned 小姐姐, but that feels a wee greasy for me, and I can confirm 小姐姐 is mainly used for girls you don't know very well, not for your precious one.
Me as a Malaysian chinese still use most of the chinese that you list as outdated. There the some you recommended like 嗨， 你最近怎么样 are for friend which is more close. Dont really do that to a stranger, just a 你好 will do. And for 马马虎虎, we will use ok instead of 马马虎虎. we do alway use 小姐 or 帅哥 when we go to market or cafe (but not for friend, only for stranger). 小姐 is a compliment tho. If you say that to a mid age lady this will make her day.
Now, I am all over the place with comments: I do like your videos. RE: 派对 - we were taught to say 聚会 . How's that sounding in today's colloquial Mandarin？
yes! You can say 聚会 for a group of people getting together.
聚会 is like gatherings / hangouts 派对 is party
A church gathering is also called that.
Amazing video! Thanks for clarifying all those phrases!
One time i went to Taiwan, I realized everyone say "zhong wen" instead of "han yu" (when they're talking about the "I can speak Chinese" topic), so I started using "zhong wen" like they do, they were surprised when I say "han yu" at first =))))
國語 - this is the way.
@@CaseyDuBose it's a bit hegemonic saying the Han language is the national language, while that's true, it does discount all the other spoken languages of minority ethnicities. Han language is more "correct" in terms of classifying the language
You didn't spend enough time there then. Taiwanese usually call Chinese 國語， not中文
for me, i think some of them in text book is correct but if u want to learn more about it
其实"说汉语”是正确的，而且很常用。
我聽過中國人用「漢語」無數次啦。台灣叫「華語」。
严谨一点来说，汉语是说的语言，中文是写的文字。说汉语/写中文 才是正确的用法。
@@williamylee 中文其实最近说得少了，我感觉可能是民族主义情绪开始上升了。
Name Fake 蛙仔。台湾不是叫国语吗？
我们这儿一般都是说"中文"这个词，有时候也会说"汉语"，很少人说"汉语"，而是"中文"，因为说习惯了，听起来也会顺耳一点。派对这个词一般少说，其实听到有人说也不奇怪，一般不说：我家开了个生日派，而是说：来我家帮我庆祝一下生日！😂
I have a frustrating experience. Not knowing where to begin or hitting a plateau can feel demoralizing and make it hard to hit the books and study like you know you should…Having friends from other cultures makes me more creative. In fresh ways about space and how people create their own world and environment. It is best way to connect between creative thinking and cross-cultural relationships
作为中文母语者
听到最后一个关于“小姐”的对话，笑喷了哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈
As a native speaker of Mandarin, when I listen to.....
The last conversation about 'xiaojie' , it makes me laugh for a long time, hhhhhhhhhhhh
嘻嘻 可以用小姐姐呢
Claire Zhang 小姐姐年纪一般都不小了……😂
I thought it's Little sister? Someone explain it to me HHAHAHAA
It's the same for Chinese students learning English. I had a whole list of things that I told them not to say ('how are you recently?' included😆)!
(many of them were direct translations that sound normal in Chinese but very weird in English, so it's no surprise that it's the same the other way around)
I lived in Taiwan for 2 years and many people used horse horse tiger tiger to mean so so
In mainland China, using 成语 the idiom in daily chatting, would make your young peer feel weird and show off.
George Smith in Mainland mama huhu is rarely used. Sounds too old fashioned. Just say hai xing, hai ke yi, sounds more natural and casual
They are more old fashioned I guess you can say
@@jackl2257 I wouldn't say old fashioned, more what traditional 汉语 looks like without the force changes the mainland were put under.
R H that is...old fashioned....keeping the tradition...
这个对我学习中文很有帮助的 非常好
I've been learning chinese for almost 10 years now and im not really fluent in it LMFAOO i feel like i wasted my parents money, but fair enough i can understand a few sentences and stitch the words that i know to make the sentence make sense
Omg. STOP lol. That's my greatest fear. I started back up after a 4/5 years hiatus from studying, and I'm so slow on my progress. At the 10 year point, I better be at least casually fluent.
我学中文学了6年。我觉得我中文是非常的流利。你只是没有去认真地学习而已。
You've been learning for ten years and you're still not fluent? I understand Chinese is a hard language, but c'mon lol.
@@cole7367 I think to make what you said sound more natural, it should be "我中文学了6年，我觉得我的中文非常流利（Although if we go by the Chinese humbleness most native speakers would probably say 我觉得我的中文还不错/蛮流利的）。你只是没有认真地去学习而已。
@@MagicalKid 谢谢MagicalKid。我最好要多铨叙一点。我好久没有住在中国了，所以我的中文腿部了很多，又不是我的母语。我真的应该不要吹牛！
Why did I, an native Chinese speaker, actually clicked into this video😂😂😂
Great video though❤️❤️!
What a coincidence😂
Totally disagree about 马马虎虎. It's perfectly acceptable to use it in northern cities like Beijing and Xi'an, even in Shanghai you can hear people say it every now and then.
Agree, mamahuhu sounds ok to me.
Yes, I often hear the shorter 马马.
@@markscott554 that's probably 妈妈 (Mama, mom). 马马虎虎 is a 成语(4-character idioms), and we don't usually abbreviate them...
@@phoenixz7011 It was a long time ago. I must have got my Chinese mixed up with my Japanese. Certain things are similar in both languages like weather in terms of sound and character (Tianqi/tenki). I remember people definitely shortening it to ma ma and NOT meaning mother. My Chinese my be poor, but it's not THAT bad.
@@markscott554 well.. I am Chinese. I happen to know a bit Japanese and I think you mixed it up with "まぁまぁ", which roughly means "alright, alright / there there / about so" in Japanese, but not in Chinese:)
i hear this on eposed and chinese movie but you are realy good teatcher and when am in china i see all what you say in this video good job
I think you are Cantonese, right? This is my first time here, and I agree all your points.
She's from Changsha, Hunan.
Doesn't strike me as a Cantonese speaker since she doesn't mention 普通话 vs 国语
小姐 is fine to use in the northern cities, or at least it was 10 years ago anyway. Though it was known that in the South it would not be appropriate to use it in the same way.
Thought it's the other way round
ah is it why when i ride didi to a university,and when we arrive the driver asked why there is so many people.
i answered : 今天有汉语比赛。
he didnt get it : 什么比赛？？
i must repeat it a few times and eventually explain it and say 中文
it really sounds unfamiliar to him
Exactly!
中文比賽？Is it like the equivalent of an English spelling bee or something? I'm trying to picture it...
@@jasondicioccio880 it is chinese language contest for foreigners. Including speech,quiz about 成语，story telling, talent shows related to Chinese culture, etc depending on which round it is.
Jason DiCioccio pretty much exploiting foreigners for money
@@jordandavis6709 is it fun?
That bowl of dumpling is hillarious >< how important tone in Chinese language. Thank u
As Chinese,we do use 派对 in our daily life,it's OK.
我这边都不说诶 我们就说party
陈雨子 是的，我常常听很多大陆朋友说“party”. 他们直接用英文说，很少用”派对” 这个字。
Oriole Cheung 对 因为我们本来也很少的人才会party 所以直接用英语也够用
So I have been learning Chinese for a little over two years. I do it in my spare time. My teacher who is from Beijing, always uses 汉语, never 中文 。She also would be considered in the younger generation like myself, she's around my age, 36. So, it can't be due to age variations.
When I started learning Chinese, I knew right away that native speakers didn't use 你好吗 everyday. It's a matter of adapting. I respect and admire my teacher, I just wish I had someone to practice with more, Im from the US and everyone speaks English and Spanish where I live!
Francis Li maybe she says 汉语 because she wanna make her language accordant to ur textbook terms...I mean, this word exists but there are few people use 汉语 while put 中文 aside
All your videos are so awesome, full of humor as well, that I can't decide if I like them more for the content or for the funny moments I have while watching it. Good job, keep producing more!
When I lived in China older people would ask me "ni chi fan le ma?" and I would take them really seriously and explain when I'd most recently eaten as if they cared.
😂
Lol i would have responded with chi le 😂😂 simple and short hahaha just like how i would respond in cantonese
Me too bro,me too!
I always answer "Kung pao shwimp"
Hello 我是莫桑比克人 and your videos are really helpful cause I’m living in China ! Thank youuuu 😍😍😍😍
After watching this video
Me: what the hell am learning through the last three years!!?
@simplegateaux definitely you're right, just feel strange that I used to use such expressions in the daily life while I'm in China. And now it looks like bad words.
Many thanks for your opinion.
@simplegateaux totally agree,
Anyhow I'm out of China and not using Chinese in communication.
But I'll go back to China as soon as possible
@@ehab5108 This is a total misleading， if 小姐 = Prostitute？ based on this logic, 先生 = drug dealer？
@@edwardzhou6936 your explanation so funny 😂, agree 👍
I think 派对 is ok to use, another words I usually use is 晚会, my college roommates were all Chinese, when I had a party with friends and might come back late, I usually say "我先去参加派对or晚会，今晚可能晚点回." they got it, sometimes they would say the same, when they had a party to attend to. Another one, I usually say 你最近怎么样了？ to friends, but to professors or someone I respect I usually say 您好 then proceed with 您最近怎么样了？I think its more formal。 I miss China a lot, I hope this pandemic can be over soon and I can visit again someday hahaha
My Chinese friends definitely use 马马虎虎。 Maybe it’s a regional thing?
She is wrong. mamahuhu is a normal and very common phrase in China. But it is used to describe the quality of some kind of WORK 工作 or something requires efforts. But 一般/还好 indeed is more universal and can describe something like salary/appearance/clothing, anything.
Phy Ju Amazing! Thank you for the explanation
马虎 ( mahu）is used for as a single word, which means “careless” or “sloppy”, while 马马虎虎 used as chinese idiomatic, that means somewhat equivalent to ‘muddle through’ in English (lit) rough and ready, etc. It can be meant “OK”, “ fine” or neither good nor bad”. The use for ‘mama huhu’ in daily conversation depends on in context
As a native Chinese speaker, 你好吗 would sound like I’m sick, lying on a bed and people are visiting me.
Technically just ask people 吃了吗 or 吃了没 in Chinese when greeting your friends. Both phrases are equivalent to “have you eat?“
Use 你好 (hello) in formal occasions, especially when you greet someone for the first time there.
你最近怎么样 would sound like you haven’t see this person for a long time.
If you are really not sure, just wave your hand and say hi. Usually people would understand