Chinese ceremonies for beginners

First published 15 August 2015 @ sólo algunas palabras

The Russian expression без китайских церемоний (literally, without Chinese ceremonies) can be translated as “without formalities”, “simply”, “casually”, or even “bluntly”. Chinese ceremonies in question can be expanded as “tedious and unnecessary conventions; excessive display of politeness; meaningless etiquette”. In his short story Китайская церемония (1924), Mikhail Zoshchenko humorously refers to the habit of shaking hands as a Chinese ceremony, even though Chinese have nothing to do with it.

Chinese, however, see nothing wrong in being excessively polite. The more excuse mes, can I asks and pleases, the better. Instead of rather blunt 你好吗 “How are you?” (literally “You good?”), you are more likely to hear 你吃饭了没, “Have you eaten rice yet?” — because if you did, things cannot be too bad. Interestingly, the polite response to 谢谢 🔊 “thank you” is 不客气 , literally “don’t be polite”. If you are at all interested in learning Chinese, you could do worse than start with a few polite expressions.

Han characters		Pinyin	Meaning	Etymology
trad.	請	qǐng	Please
simpl.	请
trad.	請問	qǐngwèn	Excuse me	請 “please” + 問 “ask”
simpl.	请问
trad.	抱歉	bàoqiàn	(I’m) sorry	抱 “to carry” + 歉 “apology”
simpl.
trad.	謝謝	xièxie	Thank you; thanks
simpl.	谢谢
trad.	不客氣	bù kèqi	You’re welcome	不 “not” + 客氣 “polite”; literally “don’t be (so) polite”
simpl.	不客气
trad.	您好	nín hǎo	Hello (formal, said to a single person)	您 “you” (formal) + 好 “good”
simpl.
trad.	你好	nǐ hǎo	Hello (informal, said to a single person)	你 “you” (informal) + 好 “good”
simpl.
trad.	你們好	nǐmen hǎo	Hello (said to a group of people)	你們 / 你们 “you” (plural) + 好 “good”
simpl.	你们好
trad.	你好嗎?	nǐ hǎo ma?	How are you?	你 “you” (informal) + 好 “good” + 嗎 / 吗 (question tag); literally “you good?”
simpl.	你好吗?
trad.	你吃飯了沒？	nǐ chīfàn le méi?	How are you?	你 “you” (informal) + 吃 “to eat” + 飯 / 饭 “cooked rice” + 了 (perfective aspect tag) + 沒 / 沒 “have not”; literally “have you eaten cooked rice?”
simpl.	你吃饭了没？
trad.	早安	zǎo ān	Good morning	早 “early” + 安 “peace”
simpl.
trad.	晚安	wǎn ān	Good evening; good night	晚 “late” + 安 “peace”
simpl.
trad.	再見	zàijiàn	Goodbye; see you later	再 “again” + 見 / 见 “to see / to meet”
simpl.	再见