How to Draw Attention

[芳芳]

When asking for information, i've been taught to say "请问", but i don't really know if it is used a lot or more a laowai thing...

En français, on peut dire aussi: "Choque!" [spelling?]

"Hey!" works just fine in Chinese too. I hear it often but am not sure if there's a character that corresponds to it. In some circumstances, like "Choque," Mandarin can use also: "小心!"

Well, never heard that before, french being my motherthongue. I tried to find something with a closed pronunciation but it didn't come. Did you heard that in Canada maybe? Which was the context?

[HashiriKata]

"How to Draw Attention" in itself is too wide in meaning and can therefore suggest very different things in Chinese (小心! 师傅!不好意思!请问! etc.) . It should therefore be something more specific like "drawing attention for what purpose" that we may get more precise Chinese expressions for it.

[dan ni er]

请问， 麻烦您问一下

is fine to get someone's attention to ask them a question

[Long Zhiren]

Well, never heard that [choque!] before, french being my motherthongue. I tried to find something with a closed pronunciation but it didn't come. Did you heard that in Canada maybe? Which was the context?

Somewhere in France, probably Paris. Somebody's walking along and about to run into someone else. The someone else says "Choque!"

[芳芳]

Thanks Da ni er.

For Long Zhiren:

Somewhere in France, probably Paris. Somebody's walking along and about to run into someone else. The someone else says "Choque!"

Ah, then maybe this person was anticipating on the shock between the two persons, and then said aloud what would happen if they continue... But it is not something that is said to draw attention before an accident, this is more specific to this guy at that time (and quite curious).

For efficiently drawing attention to prevent an accident i recommend a good "attention".

[melas]

"bu hao yi si" (不好意思), as "Excuse me", can often be heard in southern china, and i guess it's possibly the influence of Taiwan and Hong Kong culture.

Customer:　誒，不好意思！（hey, excuse me)

Waiter: 不好意思，要你久候 (sorry to take you wait so long)

[Fun123]

RicoRico

i would try "lao jia". i think this is what you'd say to get attention in those situations. I'm pretty sure this isn't very rude too

"劳驾" is polite, but if used in southern China, it may be considered somewhat strange. So is "您" in southern China. On the other hand, 不好意思 works just well in "粤" culture. I think using 不好意思 in Hongkong, Guangdong and Guangxi will have no problem.

Yuchi

喂 (wèi) and 诶 (èi) comes to mind, use it as you would "hey!".

If being used to a friend, that's fine. However, when applying to a stranger, it will be considered rude. As a Chinese, I will definitely not answer those stranger who call me 喂. But since you are foreigner, people may not be mad at you.

[RobAnt]

what draws my attention is Tataa you use, it's typical British English, right? i first heard of it in my English class, and it reminds me of my teacher...

tatar or tataa or taraa (depends on where you come from) is adultified baby talk, meaning "goodbye" - but yes, British English or rather English English!!!

There doesn't seem to be any generally agreed spelling, though.

There is a discussion on this forum. http://wordwizard.com/ch_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5638

[RobAnt]

The very first two words Pimsleur teaches you is "对不起, 请问," .(Duìbuqĭ, qĭngwèn) Which, according to them, means "excuse me, please may I ask".

That would work in most situations, wouldn't it?

[heifeng]

Vendors:

Usually my Chinese friends just yell out " 嘿"~! to get their attention then ask their question.

Strangers on the street:

Maybe start off with 阿姨 or whatever title is appropriate then just ask what you need to ask and thank them at the end.

[梓橦山南麓]

1.嘿(hei4),喂(wei4),哎(ai4),I usually use them when I want to draw my friends' attention,but to straners or people much older than you it's not polite,so you can say “你好”after them to make it more polite.

2.不好意思：I live in Shandong province and I usually use it.If you want to ask something you can say"不好意思，请问……"or"你好,不好意思,(我想)请问一下……".They can used to any people.I also say"那个，我想请问一下".Here "那(nei4 ,not na4)个" has no meaning，it's not a 代词，just to draw people's attention.“对不起，请问……”is also right.

3.“师傅”can be used when you talk to a taxi driver.I think it can be used to any kind of bluecollar workers.

4.I usually use "劳驾" when someone is getting in my way and I want to let him or her give way to me.You can say "劳驾（or 麻烦or对不起or不好意思），请让一下".

[QiHaoMing]

I heard and used 不好意思 a lot when I was in China. Of course I was in Kunming though and as someone already mentioned earlier, it's a phrase that's more likely to be used as "excuse me" in the south.

Aside from that though I would just use the typical: 请问。

[coalminer]

I am a chinese and planning to write a line for your information/reference.

in general, 你好/您好 would be more applicable and widely used word when you want to start a talk, draw an attention to a stranger or just say hello for a little kid or a young girl in the street. it is formal and friendly. The situation to use this word is much likely to be similar to that when some people unfamiliar each other meet in the morning in a narrow morning trail of some hill parks. it is almost identical to Hey owing to the fact that both of them are simple words and you can say them to any people no matter their different ages, sexes and professions an so on, but 你好 in Chinese is much formal than Hey. For example, Premier Wenjiabao is also say 你好 to foreign guests when there is an official interview.

In the case above, I can not say 劳驾. it will be more appropriate to use 劳驾 only if someone is in the way and you just want him to be noticed (similar to Excuse me???). personerly, I think the work might have been out of fashion now. On the other hand, pay attention to your pronunciation and accent "laojia", simply becuse it is almost identical to the 老家(also "laojia") but meaning hometown.

be careful when you say 喂，嘿，哎. it is not formal word and might be a little impolite or rude, especially the word 喂. The best occasion for you to use them is when someone happen to lost his wallet in the street, and then you, behind of him, want to get him informed (if you do not want to pick it up and hold it in private). On the other hand, there is no universal and fixed criteria for the usages of Chinese characters. for example, I can use this words above to my good friend with a much warm tone or mood "喂~/嘿~/哎~, so long no see" and subsequently I usuall prefer to give him a big hug and shake hands.

师傅，服务员，阿姨 etc. have specific meaning, and thus are only suitable for specific pepole. Therefore, they will be a little bit difficult to master the usage for some foreign people who are too lazy to learn Chinese well. for details, pls look up for you dictionary.