website Posted September 19, 2004 at 07:38 PM Report Posted September 19, 2004 at 07:38 PM I feel like a real dope saying "Ni hao" or "Zao shang hao" everyday at the grocery store. Does anyone have suggestions for other ways to say "Hello" in Chinese? Are there any other Mandarin phrases that have the similiar meaning to the ones below? "What's up?" "What's going on? "How are you doing?" "How's it hanging?" There must be at least 10 ways to say "Hi" in English. Quote
geek_frappa Posted September 19, 2004 at 09:54 PM Report Posted September 19, 2004 at 09:54 PM "What's up?" ni hao "What's going on? ni hao "How are you doing?" ni hao "How's it hanging?" ni hao .... JUST KIDDING ... ok, here is my cantomandarin ... "What's up?" zenme yang? ... or shenme zenme yang? <--- try this!! "What's going on? zenme le? :-) (you may confuse them as if something bad happened) "How are you doing?" ummmm .... ni hao ma *shivers* "How's it hanging?" <---- i dare not translate from cantonese. this thread might go in the wrong direction. very few things hang in china, and most are not a good topic for public conversation. hmmm... now that i think about it. do you want some sample dialogues with fill in the blank sections? :-) Quote
geek_frappa Posted September 19, 2004 at 09:57 PM Report Posted September 19, 2004 at 09:57 PM Does anyone have suggestions for other ways to say "Hello" in Chinese? ... if they are good friends .. try this .. ya eatin' yet? chi guo le ma ... (funny thing to say in a grocery store, but it make get a smile back at you) ... Quote
xiaomawang Posted September 20, 2004 at 01:58 AM Report Posted September 20, 2004 at 01:58 AM Agree that there are many ways in English to say hi/hello, but it depends on the situation, right? So as Chinese. 'ni hao' 'zao shang hao' just for general. It all depends on the relationship between you and the one you talk. I've heard someone say 'chi bao le ma', 'hai, yi zao jiu peng shang le', 'ni hai lai shangban na', even 'ni hai zai ya' ....but you can't say these to everyone. Quote
Leilei Posted December 7, 2004 at 02:12 AM Report Posted December 7, 2004 at 02:12 AM I think you also can say "Zui Jin Hai Hao Ma?" which means "Is everything going on well recently?". Actually, I think it is quite common to greet each other using "Hi" in China now, especially among the youngs. Quote
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