repeating

[Scoobyqueen]

Is that a way of showing you got the tones wrong? I

[querido]

As long as no one is being intentionally ridiculed, if this is a cultural trait- wanting the language to be used right, wanting to be helpfully corrective- I think it's a beautiful thing, and appreciate it very much. Near the beginning of my studies, I exchanged a few phrases with a waitress. She corrected everything, and of course I knew I wasn't ready yet.

Knowing that the listener is likely to carry this discipline, or ethos, in addition to the effort required to resolve the riddles posed by for example using wrong tones, makes me conscious of the imposition my errors could be, and makes me eager to be *right*. This pressure, present whenever you study, must be helpful.

[kdavid]

They do it all the time with each other, not just with foreigners.

Now, if when they're repeating the word they are exaggerating the tones, it's to show you that you said the word incorrectly. If they're just repeating the word, as if pondering, and then going on with the conversation, then it's just cultural.

[renzhe]

It will depend on the context, but I find that when a native speaker repeats what you just said, and corrects any mistakes in the process, is the most helpful thing they could possibly do.

It's far preferable to pointing and laughing, or giving up and switching to English.

Language teachers tend to do this a lot, as do parents of young children. I think it's awesome. You speak, but get immediate feedback and correction. And it doesn't interrupt the flow of the conversation (much).

[roddy]

In my experience it's just about confirming you said what they think you said, very rarely have I felt I've been corrected - although it does tell me that I might have not hit all the right sounds. Particularly likely to happen in lower-context situations when there's a wide range of things you might be saying - walking into a shop and asking where the XXX are, ordering food without pointing at the menu (want to know how good your Chinese really is? Stop pointing at stuff. For extra credit, order stuff that's on a different page.), maybe taxis, but where the listener can't really afford to take a punt on guessing what you want. Repetition doesn't mean you got it wrong, but it happens less often when you get things right, I reckon.

In the OP's example I'd maybe put it down to general conversation / time-gaining. What's on the agenda today? Ah, well, on the agenda today we have . . . Might have been a correction, might not have been.

Edited July 19, 2009 at 07:59 AM by roddy

[liuzhou]

I was once advised by a Chinese friend never to go to the X 没 X formula as many Chinese people will take the lazy way and just repeat the last thing they heard - 没没.

Whereas with 你没吗, they have to answer the question.

This may be complete nonsense. My friend also told me many ridiculous things.

[muyongshi]

I agree with Roddy. Most of the time they are resaying it it is to confirm what I just said. Sometimes, they just aren't sure of my meaning, other times I did get the tones wrong, and other times, they just didn't hear clearly. Either way I've never taken offense to it. It happens between Chinese people as well just less frequently.

[shivasprogeny]

There was a post about this over at Laowai Chinese and he mentioned that this also happens among native speakers.

I know that in Japanese there is a very strong cultural/linguistic tradition to repeat what the other speaker said. This is a sign of a respect and shows that you are listening. I'm not sure, but there may be a similar feature present in Chinese culture.

I found that Chinese people love it when a foreigner can speak Chinese, even if it's not perfect. I never took offense if they corrected me and I'm sure they meant the best by doing so. As others have mentioned, this is a great way to recognize your mistakes!

[yan420honggg]

No,it's a habbit.It's the way they speak.