Conversation Starters in China Culture (part 1)

Summary

• Each family learns 100 English's phases before the Olympic.
• People may ask some intimate questions.
• Chinese people have less sense of privacy.
• When having a conversation, people tend to stand very close to you.
• Love to use nicknames to each other while talking.
• Chinese natives do not like to give negative responds.

As the result for preparing for the Olympic, the Chinese government require each person in the household to learn about 100 English's phases. If you plan to travel to China during or after the Olympic, you do not have to worry about the language barrier as much as before.

In a conversation, Chinese people may ask some very intimate questions such as:

• Where are you from? (question will get better)
• Are you married? (even better)
• How old are you? (Can the question get any better? Oh yes, it can)
• How much do you make? (Ding ding, this is a very common question to be ask)

When talking to each other, Chinese people will stand very close to a person. Personal space is less important to the Chinese than it is to the Western. At first, I thought the reason is because the people do not have enough land, but I was wrong. If you want to know more about this please goes to the body language section.

Chinese people tend to not give a negative response when you ask a question. If it is your first time travel to the country, this custom is very good to know beforehand. For example, if you ask "Is this way goes to the school?" even it's wrong, they may still say "Yes."

When doing business, the same rule applies. Instead of asking, "Can you deliver the phone by Saturday?" you may ask "When can you deliver the phone?" The second question will be more effective.

When people answer the phone, they may say "Wei, Wei" (pronoun as way, way) meaning "Hello."

The Chinese people love to use nicknames to each other as a sign of closeness and friendship. The most common is "Xiao" meaning short and young people, and "Lao" for older person. If you want to know more about nicknames, please click here.

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