Quick!!!!

[Oso]

somebody tell me how to say 'yes' in mandarin.

[bawang]

shi pronounced shrrr (the "sr" in sri lanka)

[RD'S Alias - 1A]

"Yes, in Mandarin" :p

[bawang]

yes in mandarin is "wang ba" meaning yes, and "niao ren" means ok sure
thank you is "cao ni niang" or "cao ni ma de ge bi de"

[Oso]

now i'm even more confused.

so, a simple 'yes' is 'shi' pronounced as shrrr...what tone?

[bawang]

its from high to low liek anormal yes in english.
why you ned to know that word?

[Lucas]

i thought 'shi' "shr"

was used as an afirmative response under specific context.... i may be wrong of course.

[bawang]

shi is formal, informal is dui, meaning yes/ok/right.

[Pork Chop]

if it's response to a question, can't you also say "hao" as in "good" (pronounced like umm "how")?

ps. that other stuff you posted is just plain evil bawang :D

[Oso]

its from high to low liek anormal yes in english.
why you ned to know that word?

because one of my students asked and I said I thought that 'dui' or 'hoa' could mean 'yes' contextually but didn't know what a simple 'yes' might be.

thanks.

[GeneChing]

In Mandarin, you don't always say 'yes' or 'no'. Typically, you either confirm or negate the verb. For example, you might say "ni chi ma?" which means literally 'you eat *question indicating word*' or 'have you eaten' (a typical greeting in a nation with so many people that many go unfed). The reply would be "chi" or "bu chi" literally "eat" or "no eat" but meaning "I have eaten" or "I have not eaten" (remember Chinese has no verb tense) or more simply "yes" or "no".

Shi literally means 'is'. Hao means 'good'. Dui is correct. Either can be used as a yes/no reply in many contexts, but you can see how it sounds a little funny as a reply to 'have you eaten?' You can also see how that might work with a question like "Is there lead in this toy?" and the answer would be "shi" or "bu shi". As a side note, the name of our President is pronounced "bu shi" in Mandarin.

That being said, herein lies a fundamental cultural difference between Chinese and English. The fundamental answer of 'yes' or 'no' is context dependent. In Chinese culture, context is everything. I find this applies to the martial arts tremendously, since Westerners tend to take a lot of CMA out of context. Americans want a simple yes or no answer, but we often don't get it. It's frustrating until you understand that the basic mechanics of the language are very different.

bawang, you're nasty.

[bawang]

Yes, this is complicated because Chinese doesn't have a word for yes.
"shi" means "is, are , am" while "dui" means "right, correct" and "hao" or slang "hao wa" means "good".

mr oso
you can use these words interchangably bu it sounds awkward, though not a big problem.
when in doubt always say "dui" three times, "dui dui dui" or nod your head fervently and grunt "ahhhh! ehhh or mmm!".

P.S. how did you guys understand what i wrote :eek:
if i offended i aplologize, it was joke :)

[bodhitree]

Mr. Ching
Yes, this is complicated because Chinese doesn't have a word for yes.
"shi" means "is, are , am" while "dui" means "right, correct" and "hao" or slang "hao wa" means "good".

mr oso
you can use these words interchangably bu it sounds awkward, though not a big problem.
when in doubt always use "dui" or nod your head fervently and grunt, it always gets the point across.

P.S. how did you guys understand what i wrote :eek:
if i offended i aplologize, it was joke :)

what you wrote was wrong, poor oso will get a black eye from a chinese dude:D

[bawang]

sry, the insults sounded funny in my dialect, it's like Chinese ebonics

[Pork Chop]

P.S. how did you guys understand what i wrote :eek:
if i offended i aplologize, it was joke :)

It looked close enough to the Taiwanese cuss phrases i picked up from my old roommates back in college that I figured it was probably the mandarin equivalent. :p

[GeneChing]

No worries, bawang. I've played the same joke on others. Maybe not as crass, but the spirit was the same. ;)

[Oso]

what you wrote was wrong, poor oso will get a black eye from a chinese dude:D

eh? not effing likely though one might try if I were foolish enough to repeat phrases in a language I don't understand. :D


great, now I have to tell some 8 and 9 year old kids that there is no 'yes' in chinese.....'why not????' :rolleyes: