Top 10 most hilarious misunderstandings between Chinese and foreigners

Have you ever had a joke or misunderstanding with a foreigner? The cultural differences between China and the West will cause the two parties to have different attitudes and approaches to certain things. Long live better communication and understanding. In order to make it easier for you to get along with foreigners, we have summarized 10 common misunderstandings and their solutions.

Top 10 Praise

Westerners are happy to praise others, and they are also happy to accept praise from others. In order to show humility, Chinese people often "reject" compliments from others. This kind of "rejection" will make the foreigner feel confused, as if you don't appreciate his favor.

Also, Chinese people are always willing to say caring words out of politeness or to get close to others. In order to show our hospitality, we often like to say to our guests, "You must be tired? Have a good rest." However, ordinary greetings may be misunderstood by Westerners as expressing concern about her physical condition. They love being complimented on how young and strong they are, and will even get angry if you question their health.

Top 9 Acknowledgments

Chinese people believe that helping family members or good friends is one's own obligation, no need to thank or be thanked, and there is no need to say thank you to each other. It seems that there is a strong relationship. Foreigners are accustomed to saying thank you to family or friends for their help. They expect polite expressions like "please", "thank you", etc. Therefore, when getting along with foreigners, never be stingy with the word "thank you". Missing "thank you" will only make foreigners think you are shy and impolite.

Top 8 Travel

When Chinese people travel together, if they buy something, the person who spends the money will usually count the number of people and then buy things based on the number of people. Even if there are people Even if he politely said no, the Chinese would still buy him a copy. When a Chinese offers refreshments or drinks to his colleague, his colleague often declines the offer politely, because he doesn't want to trouble the person who offers and it also shows his politeness. Normally the person who offers still prepares or buys refreshments or drinks , and this will be expected by his colleague. Sharing food and drink when going out together is common among colleagues and friends.

However, when traveling with foreigners, if you politely say that you don’t need something, then the foreigner will really not buy it for you. They think they respect your decision not to buy it for you. Respect one's own decision, "yes" means one wants it, "no" means one doesn't, politeness is usually shown by the expression_r 'thank you' or "please".

So, if you want something, just say it directly. Saying sincere thank you afterwards is polite in their eyes.

Top 7 Titles

When foreigners hear Chinese people calling them "foreigners", they are unhappy because they feel that they are not old and are very healthy. . They dislike being labeled as "old", being young valued above being old.

When they heard that Chinese people also call foreign children "Laowai", they realized that "Lao" is actually an honorific for a certain person, such as Lao Zhang and Lao Wang. "Lao" is a commonly used term by Chinese people to address someone who is older than the speaker to show his politeness, respect and closeness. The term does not necessarily mean old age. "Lao Wai" is a colloquial term of address for foreigners .

Top 6 Farewell

Chinese people express emotions in a relatively restrained way. When bidding farewell, they held back tears and refrained from hugging. Their various "coldness" behaviors deeply surprised foreigners. Therefore, if you are saying goodbye to a foreigner, you may want to act more relaxed and unrestrained, but don't let them think you are a "cold-blooded animal".

Like everyone else we are affectionate to our friends and relatives, but perhaps we show our affection in public less than other peoples. Maybe the whole family as well as some friends will go to the railway station or the airport to see a person off, no matter whether he/she goes abroad to study or to another province for work. This may well strike many Westerners as very moving, yet they might be puzzled when they see that nobody will hug or kiss when the time comes for saying goodbye. Friends may shake hands with the person who is leaving and parents may hold his/her hand for a long time with tears in their eyes, but with no other physical contact. In fact hugging and kissing are rarely seen in public in China, no matter what the occasion is.

Top 5 Applause

When speaking in public, if others applaud them, in order to express their gratitude, Chinese people usually pause their speech and then applaud along with the audience. In this way he expresses his thanks to the audience. But foreigners don't understand why they should applaud themselves. How immodest it is to applaud yourself. Of course, when a Chinese speaker claps his hands as the audience is applauding, he is not applauding himself, but expressing his thanks to his audience. As noted earlier, Westerners feel puzzled when watching such a scene, since they think the speaker or the performer is applauding himself. Therefore, in the future, when foreigners are present, the speaker may wish to bow or wave instead of applauding. Of course, standing with a smile is also an option.

Top 4 Eyes

Many Chinese people are shy about making eye contact with the audience when talking to others or speaking in public. Some of them, perhaps because of nervousness, like to bury their nose in their manuscript to read their speech all the time. This approach is actually rude.

When communicating with others, foreigners expects eye contact, though this does not have to be constant. When speaking in public, foreigners look at his audience now and then. They will not bury their heads in The manuscript speaks for itself.

Speaking in public is also a kind of two-way communication, which needs eye contact from both sides. The speaker will certainly feel embarrassed when he sees that his audience do not look at him. But if he doesn 't look at his audience now and then, his audience also has the right not to listen to what he is saying. interactive.

Top 3 Gift Giving

Chinese people like to give gifts in pairs, such as two bottles of wine and two cigarettes. One is to show that he is not a stingy person, and the other is to get a lucky number. It is very common to bring some fruit when visiting a friend or relative's house.

However, in the West, when people give wine as a gift, they only give one bottle.

One is quite enough, two are of course welcome but unusual and not expected. Because they have to drink the wine brought by the guest when eating. If the guest takes two bottles, it seems to indicate that the guest is a drunkard, and the host may be afraid that one bottle of wine is not enough.

When visiting a friend’s house, you usually don’t give fruits as a gift. Fruit is usually given as a gift when visiting patients.

After reading this article, I hope everyone can avoid the minefield of misunderstandings, communicate without limits, and make friends without borders.

Moreover, when Chinese people receive gifts from others, in order to show that they are not greedy for money, they are accustomed to quietly putting the gifts aside and then unpacking them after the guests leave; while foreigners hope that you Open the gift in front of him and praise his gift.

In the West, it is regarded as polite to open gifts as soon as they are given to express appreciation. In China, the situation is quite the reverse. Normally we Chinese feel that if you open the gift as soon as it is given, you might embarrass the person who gives the gift and you might be thought greedy. So Chinese people tend to open the gifts after the visitors have left. What is more, many people send gifts without wrapping them, and if they wrap them, they usually tell the receiver what is inside, and the receiver will thank the sender and put the gift aside without unwrapping them since they already know what is inside. However, when we receive gifts from an English native speaker, in order to avoid misunderstanding, we may follow their custom by opening the gifts in front of him or her and express our appreciation.

Top 2 Being a Guest

When Chinese people visit other people’s homes, they like to wander around and look everywhere.

But what do foreigners think of these behaviors? "I'm often taken aback by the way visitors come round to my flat and seem to feel free to take the place over, putting on the telly, pulling down books from my shelves, even peering at letters I've left lying around on the desk." Although it is good hospitality to make guests feel at home, foreigners still taboo against you wandering around his home or even peeking into his privacy when you are a guest. Similarly, when it comes to privacy issues such as salary and age, we should not ask them openly.

　Top 1 Eating

　“People are like iron, and rice is like steel. If you don’t eat one meal, you will feel hungry.” Many of our interactions with foreigners happen at the dinner table. When Chinese invite foreigners to their homes for dinner, they may prepare 8-10 dishes. You'd better prepare foreigners mentally, or they may not have the stomach to eat the next dish. They may find Chinese people hospitable, if anything too hospitable.

If you go to a foreigner’s house to eat, maybe there is only one dish prepared on the table! And they also like to say "The dishes are quite good; these dishes are quite famous", which is definitely not like what Chinese people like to say. : "If you're not well prepared, let's just eat something."

Also, in order to show enthusiasm, Chinese people like to pick up food for others. But foreigners don’t like to ask others to pick up food for them. "I don't think I'll ever get used to the eating habits out here. You know, the way people put things on your plate..." Foreigners are happy to let people choose the food they like. They think to help yourself is the best way. Foreigners give guests the chance to choose what is their favorite.

When dining with foreigners, Chinese people must not be modest and reserved. "Chinese never seem hungry when they come round to my place. Whenever I ask callers if they'd like a bite to eat they always say no." Most foreigners are real people. When they ask you if you want something to eat, if you decline, they will respect your decision and really not give you anything to eat. So, just shout out when you are hungry.

In a word, foreigners are more direct in their expression and way of life, while Chinese are more diplomatic.

Foreigners never pretend to be modest. They just tell others what they think. If a Chinese person is faced with the same situation, maybe he or she would say, "I'm sorry. The restaurant is a little bit small and the dishes are just so so, but I hope you'll enjoy yourself."

The list of 10 major misunderstandings is complete. I hope you can avoid the minefields when getting along with foreigners in the future. Communication has no limits and exchanges know no borders.