Do you know...

[donneth]

When I speak english I have the habit of beginning questions I ask with "do you know..." so as not to appear presumptuous. Can this be done in mandarin?

Occasionally I've asked a taxi driver 你知道XXX在儿？and looked expectantly for him to say yes and take me there., but I don't know if this is a normal way of saying things, or even if it is even an issue in Chinese.

Similarly, I have problems asking for things politely... rather than say "I'd like to reserve a room", I feel as though I'd rather say "Is it possible to book a room at this time?", or "Can I book a room now?"

How do you not be presumptuous in mandarin!?

PS I have one other question if anyone knows, when you are in a shop or at a front desk and no-one is around what do you shout to get attention? Seems be a bit strange to shout 你好！

[seaverq]

hey there

"do you know..." ="你知道吗？" or "知道吗？"

about book a room

you can say "我能订个房间吗？" or “请问我可以预订一个房间吗？”

not be presumptuous in mandarin？？？

uhh...

use 您， dont use 你

use "请问......" when you ask something

and everytime keeping smile

when you are in a shop or at a front desk and no-one is around what do you shout to get attention?

just say "请问，有人吗？" or "有人吗？" is OK

[davidj]

I've asked a taxi driver 你知道XXX在儿？

Did you mean: 你知道XXX在哪儿？

I think the problem with this is that the question is about the knowledge, rather than the location, so a question word relating to the location doesn't make a question of the knowledge.

Also, in English I think one would would ask if they knew the place, rather than if they knew where it was. I wonder if that would be better translated with 认识?

On the room, I wonder if there is a way using 有空?

[donneth]

Ah yes I meant ...在哪儿？For some reason the MS IME isn't working to well for me. davidj how would you use 认识 instead then?

The classic situation I am imagining is getting into a taxi and rather than just saying "i want to go to XXX", to say "do you know XXX hotel? I want to go there." Obviously the question relates to the drivers knowledge of the location, but at the same time I am not asking for an explanation of how to get there for myself, but just if they know of it and can take me there. I'd feel a bit silly jumping into a taxi and comanding the driver to take me somewhere he didn't know how to get to!

I feel as though I want to expand use of this in other situations though...basically as I would use the english phrase "do you know..." in most cases. e.g.

"Do you know if the internet is working?" rather than "Is the internet working?"

"Do you know how to get there?" rather than "How do I get there?"

"Do you know if it is open?" rather than "Is it open?"

Asking the question both ways hopefully would yeild the same response, but asking it in the first sense seems to lack a presumptuousness that the answerer has the information (and so is therefore generally more polite).

My limited chinese inclines me to just prefix 你知道 to each question, e.g. 你知道怎么走XXX rather than 怎么走XXX but am worried it just doesn't make sense.

Using 请问 also seems a bit artifical in the sense that although it is polite to ask then wait for permision to speak further question, the actual question may still imply a presumption that the answerer will know the answer.

Does this make sense? Am I just getting wrapped up in english politeness that doesn't apply in chinese?

[davidj]

how would you use 认识 instead then?

That was really a prompt to someone with better knowledge of colloquial Mandarin; I find there is sometimes a tendency to give near literal translations, rather than consider the sense.

I was speculating on something like:

你认识地方吗？ or 你认识地方吧？ However I'm not 100% clear on when 认识 should be used.

I think your other examples are all 知道。

[skylee]

use "请问......" when you ask something

and everytime keeping smile

this is very good advice.

Using 请问 also seems a bit artifical in the sense that although it is polite to ask then wait for permision to speak further question' date=' the actual question may still imply a presumption that the answerer will know the answer.[/quote']

I don't think so.

[zhxlier]

IMHO, asking taxi drivers “你知道xxx在哪儿” sounds presumptuous. It is almost as if you are testing their knowledge. I always assume taxi drivers are knowledgeable and know better than I do.

I think it's ok to just tell taxi drivers the location. If it's really hard to find, etc., you could then ask: “您认识吧？/您知道怎么走吧？” Use “吧” to imply that "I believe you know how to get there; I just want to confirm". Do not say “你认识吗？你知道怎么走吗？” -- which sounds questioning and implies that you are not confident of his knowledge.

When asking for directions, you can start by “请问……” , and can combine “请问” with “你知道”: “请问您知道去xxx怎么走吗?”

Always use 您, unless the person you are talking to is considerably younger than you.

[imron]

I always assume taxi drivers are knowledgeable and know better than I do.

Haha, this is not always the case! I once had a taxi driver at Beijing West Station tell me he didn't know where Beida was!

[donneth]

I too had a driver who didn't know where BNU was... which was a problem because neither did I!

That is useful to know to use 吧 instead of 吗 though.

About using 您 rather than 你 are you absolutely sure? Last time I was in China (which was admittedly only for about 2 months, I didn't really experience anyone using 您 instead of 你 so I didn't really bother with it myself unless I met someone obviously important -businessman/policeman/army etc, even then only for saying hello rather than generally using it on its own as "you".

Similarly I hardly ever heard 请问 being said - there were quite a number of occasions where an (obviously young) Chinese friend of mine would go up to a stranger in the street and just say 哎你好怎么走... to get directions somewhere.

[zhxlier]

Well, I think it depends on personal styles. I always use 您. 您 is not used much in southern dialects though.

About using 您 rather than 你 are you absolutely sure? Last time I was in China (which was admittedly only for about 2 months, I didn't really experience anyone using 您 instead of 你 so I didn't really bother with it myself unless I met someone obviously important -businessman/policeman/army etc, even then only for saying hello rather than generally using it on its own as "you".

Similarly I hardly ever heard 请问 being said - there were quite a number of occasions where an (obviously young) Chinese friend of mine would go up to a stranger in the street and just say 哎你好怎么走... to get directions somewhere.