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Q: why is it so hard to ask a question in china?
i simply ask a question like where is the metro station?(in chinese), and my chinese isnt that good but the person will start talking about something else that has nothing to do with my question, and then my chinese friend will ask the same question and they seem to be talking for over 5 min, what the hell where they talking about lol
why do people go around the question without answering it and why doesnt the other person say anything about it
I ask my wife a question or offer an opinion on whatever and, if her mother is around, they go off on a tangent for a few minutes. Upon completion, she tells me they discussed whether or not the question is of any importance and if they need to spend any time answering it.
Figure that one out.
stan118:
havent they already wasted time lol, a simple "its not appropriate" would of been enough
Simple
Don't ask a question that you don't already know the answer to.
just like being in court (please don't ask how I know this)
as for China in General
It is just one of those magical things about China
haha same thing happens with me all the time. The more Chinese I learn though the more I realize it's nothing unsual, it just seems weird because you don't understand what's being said. If they were speaking in English and you didn't understand English it seems like they are talking forever and 'what they hell are they talking about' as well.
For example, the other day I was at the dentist and I asked how long will the procedure take. Since I don't speak much Chinese the dentist started talking to my girlfriend instead of me. They talked for about 5 minutes until finally my girlfriend said "it will take about 30 minutes"..... I thought "what the hell, why did it take so long to say that".
Later I asked my girlfriend about that exact situation and she said the dentist was just explaining the procedure in detail, why it would take that long, if there were any complications it might take longer, and then my girlfriend started following up with other questions.
So in this situation to me it seemed weird cause I didn't understand what they were saying. But if you do understand what they were saying it was a pretty normal conversation and nothing weird or long about it.
Yes ,It's just a part of our culture,people don't usually answer questions directly ,if you do,it can be rude sometimes.So, It's different with western culture,you guys like to get an answer straight away.
To me,It depends on who asks me the question,if a westerner ,my family or my best friends,I will just answer their questions straight away ,if a stranger and he or she is Chinese,I will probably answer the question in a Chinese way.
It's not asking a question that is hard, it is getting an answer that is difficult.
mArtiAn:
Seems like one thing but it's another. You're in a foreign country, it's easy to have a misunderstanding. My advice: don't sweat the small stuff. AND WHAT IS IT? (All together now!) It's ALLLL small stuff:)
It's the the dang culture. I asked my wife the same thing why all this boolsheet when a simple yes or no would suffice? Gave me the impression that Chinese likes to talk about nothing.
I think they do not understand you clearly.
Regarding your Chinese friend talked to them, probably they are talking about where are you from ? which country, where is the country...etc, something like that...
I used to have experiences to go out with foreigners, some other Chinese always ask me these questions...... I am so tired to answer so many times...
