Fact/Question

[JohnSmith1980]

Hi everyone,

I know that I have only been studying for a year but I am finding it very hard to get into a conversation with Chinese people whom i seem to bump into. It seems to me that when I meet someone, ie in an elevator - instead of what seems to be the western way of opening up a conversation by asking a question, chinese people seem to say a fact...in which I'm not sure how to reply, apart from a simple 'Shi de' or "Dui' (probably a result of my current chinese level!).

anyway...just something thats been on my mind for a while. Any opinions..????

Chris

[wfujkramer]

I can't tell if that is a question or a statement. Sometimes it is goodzif you're talking to someone for a while and you miss one thing and just hit back "dui" to a "dui bu dui" ending, but if your'e having entire conversations like that and have no clue what is going on it might not be the right way to go.......... haha.

[JohnSmith1980]

hmmm...yeah it's more like I statement but I was hoping to get some inisght! haha

anwyay..I should be more specific......but the only example I can think of isn't that great, but when I was in the elevator coming back to my place today the elevator lady looked at me and said "Xiu xi" (rest), and to this I was utterly confused how to reply. Is that "You should rest" is it "Are you resting?" is it "have you come back to rest?" etc.

I'd like to know if it is something to do with the level of chinese I'm at at the moment or if it is a common chinese conversation starter to whip something like that out and leave it to you to evaluate ?

[Quest]

Just 休息? It could be a question asking if you were off today... Your answer could be "不，我刚下班回来" or simply "是啊“ or "对，今天休息，我刚出去买完东西回来” or whatever you were doing today.

[carlo]

Or you could draw attention away from yourself: 是啊，您呢？一整天坐在这一定很累吧