Making Compliments In Chinese

[geek_frappa]

I have been using the same compliments for years. What are some new fresh compliments to give people you are meeting for the very first time or the first time in a long time.

Been using, "I love your blouse, where did you buy it?" "Oh! You did your hair. I love the new look..." "Nice tie. Is that Armani?" 等等。。。

What are other ways to compliment people in Chinese?

[Gulao]

One that I've heard is acceptable, and in fact a fine compliment is of the mold of 你好象胖了一点儿。"You seem to have gotten a little fatter." The reasoning is that a little bit of fat is a sign that your interlocutor has been eating, and thus is doing well.

Also, my professor was telling us in class the other day that a good way to be polite with someone one hasn't seen in a while is to ask personal questions along the lines of "have you gotten married yet?" "Have you eaten?" "Have you been sleeping well?" etc. The idea is that you're being polite by showing interest in their livelihood and well-being.

Hope it helps.

[heifeng]

你好象胖了一点儿

I'd be careful with that one even if your professor said that since the famine's been over for a while hehe!!!!

Conversely you can say you are still so pretty and thin if you haven't seen a friend for a while (Ok, well I've heard people say this to my manager alot, but I'd be careful with this one too....)

[skylee]

I agree with heifeng. I would be quite unhappy hearing 你好象胖了一点儿 .

[sjcma]

I'd avoid 胖了一點兒 with the fairer sex. You _may_ say 發福 if the person in question is not too vain, but please restrict it to guys.

[skylee]

too vain???

[sjcma]

too vain???

Yes. Is there a problem with my suggestion?

[roddy]

You could maybe risk "Hey, you're looking fatter" if you are talking to a portly businessman and follow it up with "Must be making lots of money!", but otherwise I wouldn't risk it. Except perhaps with people I didn't want to speak to any more. Other than that, women always look thin, and old people always look healthy.

[Ric Yow]

u may say, 你今天看起来很精神; 你今天气色不错; 你今天很漂亮(对女孩子); 你今天穿得很帅(对男的). dunt say 胖 to females at any time ^_^...

[djwebb2004]

On the subject of the meaningless greetings along the lines of 你吃饭了吗?, these seem to be what mobile phones were invented for, in China at any rate. I get several messages a day asking whether I have had lunch - none of them are meaning that they want to have lunch with me. I could cope with those. But then I started to get text messages at 9 in the morning asking if I was out of bed yet? 你起床了吗？You can have a lot of fun with that one. And then in the evening, you can get messages telling you to go to bed early! 你早点儿睡吧！Now, I haven't had any asking me whether I have brushed my teeth....not yet anyway!!

[Gulao]

I had had my reservations about 胖一点 myself, actually. I read it in a book, and the book's descriptions seemed somewhat apocryphal in general vis-a-vis what hearsay would have me think, although it did seem accurate in its descriptions of other words, so I wasn't sure.