How to say "pretty good" in Mandarin?

[bossdude100]

I have heard "ting hao" and I've heard "man hao", and I would like to know if there are regional preferences (ie. mainland vs taiwan; northern vs southern China) for one term over the other? Chinese speakers, pls tell me which one you use and your background!

[Mindmaxd]

fei chang hao or hen hao

[889]

As always, context is key in translating. Pretty good can cover quite a range of goods.

In any event, all the suggestions so far are at the high range of good. For something that's good but not really 非常非常好, I'd go with something like 还可以.

As for regionalisms, for some reason I associate 蛮好 more with Taiwan than the Mainland.

 

Remember that compared with English, when talking about yourself in Chinese you tend to ratchet down the good scale and when talking about others, especially someone you're talking to, you tend to ratchet up.

[abcdefg]

How to say "pretty good" in Mandarin?

 

不错

[陳德聰]

How did you do on the test?

Ehhhh, pretty good I guess.

還好吧

How good would you say his Mandarin is?

It's actually pretty good!

真不錯

How do you feel about the program?

Pretty good. But not awesome.

感覺還不錯

Etc. as for 蠻好 vs 挺好, I heavily lean Southern and I almost never say 蠻好, but I certainly hear it.

[liuzhou]

I'm with abcdefg

 

不错 is what I hear most.

[Hofmann]

不錯 came to mind, because "pretty good" is less good than "good" which is less good than "very good."

[Guest realmayo]

I can't believe there isn't an english-forums.com somewhere with a topic asking the exact same thing in reverse and then agonising over when 不錯 can mean "just okay..." and when it can mean "really not bad at all" and when it means "pretty good" and so on.... 

 

The OP asked one question in the topic title, but asked a different one in post #1. To answer the second of those, ting/man is indeed north/south, ish.

[Lu]

Yah, 挺 is more northern, 蛮 more southern. But this is not a black/white thing (as Chen Decong illustrates). Both are correct.

[889]

The other point to keep in mind is that in Chinese as in English, inflection is half the ball game, and can move any particular word well up or down the good scale.

[Kenny同志]

This is a pretty good book. 

這本書挺不錯。

這本書蠻不錯。

這本書挺棒。

這本書很好。

 

 

 That's a pretty good idea.

這法子挺不錯。

這法子蠻不錯。

這法子挺棒。

這法子很好。

 

 這法子妙得緊。

 

 

He feels pretty good about himself.

他洋洋得意得很.

他甚是自得。

 

Edit: I am a native speaker from central China and use all these translations.

[Kenny同志]

Yah, 挺 is more northern, 蛮 more southern. But this is not a black/white thing (as Chen Decong illustrates). Both are correct.

I tend to use 挺 more often in Mandarin and 蠻 in my local dialect.

[skylee]

Personally I write 蠻, as it is what I learnt when I was a kid. But the MOE Dictionary says 滿 is more correct (see attached photo). I don't agree, but that is the official view in Taiwan.

Just in case anyone is interested, in Cantonese we say 幾好/ 唔錯.

[Demonic_Duck]

Yah, 挺 is more northern, 蛮 more southern. But this is not a black/white thing (as Chen Decong illustrates). Both are correct.

 

This is true. But all the same, if I hear someone saying “蛮” in Beijing, I can be close to 100% sure they're originally from somewhere southern, no matter what other clues their accent does or doesn't give away.

[studychinese]

I have heard a lot of 还不错。

[stapler]

I like to use 湊合. I know it only means "its okay..." but I just love to say it!

[abcdefg]

I like to use 湊合. I know it only means "its okay..." but I just love to say it!

 

Good luck with that approach to learning to converse in ordinary daily situations!

 

(You were probably joking, weren't you? Let's hope.)

[Demonic_Duck]

“凑合” is more like “to get by” or “to make do”. You can use it when you're being modest/self-depreciating about your talents (e.g. your Chinese level) or your material situation (wages, house etc.)

[stapler]

Ah good to know. I better stop calling my food "couhe" haha

[Demonic_Duck]

Yep, especially if the person who made it is within hearing distance!