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Q: Do you find that Chinese people often give incredibly vague answers?
I've noticed how people just don't give detailed answers here quite often. Today, I heard one person asking the other if they lived nearby and the guy answered "Chabuduo" which has to be the vaguest answer ever. If an English speaker was asked the same question and answered "more or less" it would be considered rude and a bit of a conversation killer.
Or often when I ask Chinese people about their opinion on something one of the most frequent answers is "hai keyi" which again, isn't a yes or no it's just some vague in between word. Why can't they just be more affirmative and give more detailed answers?
11 years 1 week ago in Teaching & Learning - China
Yes! In fact I swear all these words like chabuduo, yinggai, haikeyi are designed to deliberately through you off the scent.
Because detailed answers give them more opportunity to drop themselves in it. Vague means sitting on the fence. Usually not one side nor the other. Chinese are not accustomed to giving forthright views about anything other than the size of someone's waistline.
I would guess that history has made it difficult for people to be comfortable giving honest and clear answers as in the past, this could offend someone. and if that someone was powerful, it could lead to very unhappy experiences.
On top of that, you have the importance of "harmony" where disagreements are frowned upon be it because of culture or as a result of good manners.
In a way, I can see it (maybe I have been to long in China?), For example, you are all happy about a movie you saw and ask a friend who also saw it how did he like it and he answers "it sucked". That can be a bit of a conversation killer...
Actually I think I sometimes often maybe kind of find their answers sort of a bit hai keyi....
Yes. Information sharing is not encouraged. Keep your cards hidden and you will possess power over your fellow man, is the mantra.
If China one day realize that information sharing is a powerful tool, the world will be a better place.
Maybe. Probably. Perhaps. Maybe not. It depends. Yes and no.
The circumspect answers are based in large part on, as Scandinavian says, the precept or maxim of withholding information and the largely circular manner of communication which, it now occurs to me probably derives from the rule of withholding information. Keep your cards close to your vest and so on.
But as we all know, every coin has two sides. Someone please shoot me, I am grading papers.
It's part of the Chinese culture....I guess it's not a very good side though~
I'm Chinese, sometimes it bugs me a lot too!!!!!! Details, plans, common sense, sometimes I wonder if those words make any sense to my own people.....and because of that, I'm consider to be STRANGE.....
Scandinavian:
I think maybe this part of Chinese culture was important some hundreds years ago when China was at it's pinnacle. It's used to be a capital offense to teach foreigners 汉语, the secret of making china was guarded etc. At the time, having something like china to trade with the rest of the world was important. Today, well, I guess China's fear of copying stuff has vanished.
My (Chinese) wife hates this with a passion.
Situation: we go to Walmart (or any supermarket) and she wants to find some item so asks an 'assistant', invariably the reply is "over there" with a vague wave of the hand or even just a nod of the head. It's got to the stage where my wife will walk around the entire store before she'll ask an assistant anything.
GuilinRaf:
Shame on you! Teaching your wife bad western habits! 
I jest. However, on a more serious note, I have noticed that some of the things that irritate me, now also irritate my girlfriend. Things that she used to take for granted before.
Not sure if this is a good or bad influence, let the locals decide.
Hugh.G.Rection:
I didn't teach her anything (I wouldn't dare)! Not even English. 
However, we lived in England for almost 7 years after we got married and I think that may have had more of an effect than I realised at the time.
LAR:
Ah yes, the customer service here generally speaking is the absolute worst! Regarding Wal-Mart, in my experience it's not that bad.
honest people give upfront and detailed answers. dishonest people give vague answers. so your answer is, they are dishonest.
They don't want to be accountable for the rubbish that may come out of their mouths so........ The strange thing is they all do it (and they are all aware of it) so I wonder how the hell anything gets done here.
While I do agree with most of the answers posted on here so far, I'd be one to say something like 'more or less' when it came to 'Do you live around here?" I don't want too many people knowing that!!! (and especially not having a stack of other strangers who hear the conversation also knowing where I live!)
Ask them if they like something. If they say "so-so" that almost always means no.
Try being married to a Chinese Girl
Vague is a understatement
A big reason is the 'loss of face' by saying 'I don't know'...
When I first came to China I often had to ask for directions about some location. When some kind person decided to stop and help a lao wai but did not know how I could get to a certain address, they just made up something. That even happened to me with traffic police. Often even just a vague wave of the hand... 'over there'.
It seems in China people either do not give you an answer or a wrong one, just to save
face.
Yes, they do just like their stupid "No why" and "Never mind" (Actually the BABO South Koreans utter these words more frequently in my experience.) words.
ok i will take a crack at this one. From my experience there are several reasons for the vague answer. (1) Maybe they didn't really understand the question you asked and maybe thought it was a statement from you. Our questions many times confuse them unless they see something in writing (like in a book). (2) They are not taught to be opinionated in any way and I think that is self explanatory from a government standpoint. (3) Afraid to be wrong about something or anything even when it is only an opinion question. They want to follow the norm and are afraid to stand out in any way (except law students, but they will not touch real issues) (4) They are shy about having an opinion on just about anything at all, Only a few will tell you what they really think (trust issues). (5) and the best reason is that their language and language is really vague. If you translate the mandarin language you will understand it is really not as specific or colorful as English. Actually most of their speaking is only relative or literal. I think many of our words do not translate well or at all. hope this helps clear the mud.
I must be the most un-observent person in the world because I cannot find anything in my experience here to support this idea. I've asked for help, directions, a number of things, a thousand times. If people know they tell me, if they don't know, they don't. I wouldn't say I pry into people's business but i've never felt people were playing their cards especially close to their chests, or at least no more so than I would expect people to back home. We are all in the same country, right?
It is part of the chinese culture. Chinese people are really dishonest and the most hypocritical people I haver met. Maybe you have not been in China for a long time
i am amazed that chinese have no sense of directions but proudly remind you they made the compass
ambivalentmace:
ask a chinese person what is north of a city and see if they give a good answer, they dont know the sun is in the west in the late afternoon. obviously you did not get the ironical sarcasm.
Yes, and it's quite frustrating. Now, like the other posters, I just find what I am looking for on my own or with Google Maps.
One day, if it ever happens that a local asks you for directions, try to give them answers that are more vague than what they usually give:
-"hha lou! You know where is bar with many lao wai?
-"over there" (point anywhere and start making a large semi circle with your extended arm)
I was going to say the one that bothers me is when you ask a women if they are ready and they say "pretty much" in Chinese, then you end up sitting there waiting another 30-40 minutes.
Then I realized that's just women anywhere in the world though 
I thought in Chinese language answering was very vague if at all, if they don't answer the question, you probably won't like what the answer might be.
That equates to the infamous "no why" uttered to me several times a week. Most of the time after I pester them about why they are not answering me they say " I do not know how to answer you". it's a little weird to say the least.
