Comments on: Stating the Obvious

By: Mitch Davis

Mitch Davis — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 08:43:26 +0000

When asked “how are you?”, I’m so tempted to tell them I have an in-grown toe-nail and my wife doesn’t love me any more. Neither is true, but if they didn’t really want to know, why ask?

By: Bruce

Bruce — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:16:09 +0000

I am have similar problem here in Australia as Valerie does. ‘G’day’ is meaningless to my Chinese ears. I never want to answer ‘How you going?’ because my life is always miserable.

By: Mitch Davis

Mitch Davis — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:26:52 +0000

You could comment that their hair was still black (or grey), or that they are still female or still sitting at the same desk, or anything incredibly mundane.

I started a conversation with a guy on the train tonight by saying 你下班吗？. Totally obvious, but it did the trick. Anything but 你好！

By: Valerie

Valerie — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:22:23 +0000

Interesting. I found this cite because I was extremely frustrated with two asian women that I work with here in Canada. I never know how to respond to them when they state the obivous in a tone that implies that I didn’t know what they just told me. Every morning one tells me what the weather is like… it’s raining or it’s windy… I know, I just came from out there. I guess we would say, ‘wow, it’s windy out there, isn’t it’ or some such thing. I thought this was how they learned English – by making statements, but it interesting to learn that they speak this way in their native language too. It’s the tone that irritates me. If you have an suggestions for me, I’d be pleased to hear them. Thanks.

By: Carl

Carl — Sun, 30 May 2010 14:07:49 +0000

Yep, we all got our quirks. I think English is worse. Why we always have to say “how are you?” at any given moment is beyond me. It doesn’t mean anything, but I can’t stop myself from saying it. Somehow, it just feels natural I guess.

By: Roger Dempsey (anglo-sounding enuff?)

Roger Dempsey (anglo-sounding enuff?) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:35:47 +0000

It’s a reflexive release of anxiety, like a sigh.

By: William Fitzgerald

William Fitzgerald — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:21:06 +0000

This is very common but I would like to know if this happens to any Chinese people or perhaps a I don’t know what to say to the 老外 thing? I will go ask them now actually…

By: Chris Watkins

Chris Watkins — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:27:12 +0000

When I lived in Java I noticed that friends often asked questions I’d already answered. Is my Indonesian that unclear? No, no, I was told.

It was only when I overheard them talking (once I learnt enough of the local language, Javanese, to follow conversations) that I realized it’s perfectly normal for them to ask the same question, perhaps worded a little differently, 3 times. I felt much better.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 08:36:58 +0000

Mitch. This two-year-old post is still active, isn’t it? Am I stating the obvious?
I was taught that to start a conversation with an English speaker one has to talk about the weather. ‘Nice day!’…well, obviously. I see it too.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:45:51 +0000

Can one comment on a 2-year-old blog post? Let’s see…

Being a westerner in Australia, I don’t have much chance to talk with Chinese people, so I have to find some way to break the ice with random Chinese people, for example, when I’m on the train.

You can’t really start a conversation with “nihao” – it’s too widely known by westerners who can’t speak Chinese. But after I read your blog post, I realised that there’s no reason why *I* can’t state the obvious too! It shows you have some ability, in a non-threatening way.

Lady with bag: “去过购物”. Man with sandwich: “午饭”. And so on! Turn-about is fair play, and I’m really getting into it!