Chinese Greeting：nihaoma

Posted 2018/1/18

I think two things when a foreigner in China greets me by saying: "Ni hao ma?".
 
First, I understand that person has learned Chinese in a textbook for foreigners before coming to China, rather than through observation and practice.
 
Second, I feel like telling him or her: "That's none of your business."
 
Well, that's a bit harsh, no?
 
Let me explain. If you have studied a little Chinese, you certainly know adding the particle "ma" to the end of a sentence turns it into a question. So, is the guy asking me if I'm good or not?
 
Well, in fact, "ni hao" literally means "you + good". But in this circumstance, the two words mean, "I wish you well", like when you say "goodnight" or "good afternoon".
 
I've been in contact with China for 27 years and living here for more than 21.
 
In real life, I've never heard Chinese say "ni hao ma?" when introduced to a person or as a greeting when they encounter an acquaintance on the street. When you run into your neighbor in the stairway, do you ask him whether his health, business and family are doing well?
 
"Ni hao ma?" is definitely a question - not a greeting.
 
To a friend, one will rather ask a simple question related to daily life as a greeting, such as "ni huilai le? (You're back?)", "chifan le ma? (Have you eaten?)" or "ni xiaban le (off duty?)" to a colleague who is leaving the workplace.
 
If one is talking to an old friend whom they haven't seen for a long time, the question "ni hao ma?" may follow the greeting, as one wants to know about the health, family and work of a person they hold dear.
 
I wonder why this fundamental mistake appeared and persists. I guess it's a translation of the American "How do you do?".
 
But this expression has become obsolete in the Western world.

Why, then, should the Chinese language imitate English? Are all foreigners Americans? Do the Chinese think foreigners will understand better?

Then, why not to use the French formula with the French and match that of every other nationality?

It's certainly not by ignorance of their own language that Chinese teach the "ni hao ma" greeting to non-Chinese. They want to adapt to their counterpart's culture to facilitate learning.

But the result is not always desirable. When a Chinese inverts his surname and name, and the Western counterpart knows that things usually go the other way in China, the situation degenerates into perfect confusion.

If you speak French and come from Canada where the ground floor is - as in China - the first floor, and a Chinese tells you he lives on the fourth floor, you'll never find his house.

When a pinyin (romanized Chinese) inscription is abbreviated as "BJQJDKYD", you'll spend a long time looking for Beijing Quanjude Kao Ya Dian (a famous Peking duck restaurant branch).

One colleague asked me whether I'd visited the church near our office. I was surprised I'd never noticed that church and asked her to show me.

Once there, I realized it was a Buddhist temple I knew very well. My colleague had assumed "we" were all Christians.

Now, Chinese have started touring Europe - mostly in guided groups.

But these 12-day tours of seven countries offer just enough time to snap pictures to show others back home - not to observe, enjoy and absorb the multiple cultures that shape the mosaic of the outside world.

They generally assign the bits and pieces they see to all non-Chinese and say: "You foreigners say, do, eat, think this or that." Because their German host goes to bed at 9 pm, they assume, "foreigners go to bed early".

I'll never get used to that kind of generalization.

 

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