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Is It Rude to do This? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 2 weeks ago by augusto@lemmygrad.ml to c/china@lemmygrad.ml

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hello! I'm a Mandarin learner from Brazil (very much a beginner). I know how to write some ideograms, how to say some everyday things, etc.

Close to my home there is a small market with Chinese workers. I'm not sure if they're speaking Mandarin or Cantonese, but I wanted to know if it's rude to say a "hello, are you speaking Chinese?" cause I wanted to strike a conversation with them. I don't want to be mean or sound like an nuisance to them.

谢谢！Thank you! Any more details you might want just let me know

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[–] SovietReporter@lemmygrad.ml 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Can you ask "Mandarin or Cantonese" instead of "Chinese"?

[–] augusto@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 week ago

yeah, I asked what language he spoke when I heard him last time. it went ok overall

I figured asking if they were Chinese could sound rude if they were not Chinese or something

[–] bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

it is definitely not rude but from experience overseas chinese are very hit and miss in regards to friendliness. i have tried speaking to many chinese people in my town, some went great and some went terrible lol. but you should definitely try it.

[–] augusto@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

yeah, I tried it and he was not very friendly. he was nice, don't get me wrong, but he obviously was just trying to do his job and not talk much

overall it was nice though, he spoke mandarin!

[–] bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 week ago

lol could you manage to understand him? i thought i was doing well with chinese until i first went to talk to a chinese person lol

[–] Kultronx@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago

I would just wait until you have learned enough Mandarin to the point of where you can differentiate the two. there are many videos on the subject of the tonal differences and once you learn enough Mandarin it will become glaringly obvious