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Q: How do Chinese respond to the regular compliments?
It’s getting kinda annoying to hear the generic compliments at regular intervals (not that I hate it but it gets too… eh). Like Chinese skills, usage of chop sticks. For the record, my Chinese is pretty crappy- I’ve been learning for almost a year, but can only understand basic conversations and it’s sometimes incomprehensible for a normal person. Chop sticks- I can maybe eat rice with it, but have difficult time picking up the greasy food, last week while eating hot pot my food flung out of hotpot and landed on my lap – twice... lol
So Anyways, usually if someone gives me a compliment, I return it with commenting on their hair or shoes. To men – a smile and thanks!
Soo my question is, since it’s IN the culture… and they themselves know its fake most of the times. Do they give each other these many compliments (maybe not on trivial stuff but generally)? How do Chinese respond to it? Do they believe it? Or just nod, turn around and go “yeah, right”...
In my experience many local people brush the compliment aside with false modesty.
For example:
Me: wow MeiMei that dinner was great
MeiMei: Mmm, it was ok. I will try to make it more delicious next time.
Me: wow, your english is quite good
Zhou: No no no, I'm sorry for the rudimentary inadequacy of my lexical proficiency and will ensure to the utmost that my subsequent endevours to interpret the paradoxes and idiomatic structures of your profound language will achieve a level where I may express my angst regarding the perfunctory norms and sanctions imposed upon the proletariat by the oligarchial overlords in a more satisfactory manner.
iWolf:
I can make up meaningless crap that sounds legit at the drop of a hat. But we've all experienced the same bullshit from time to time. 
My boss thinks I am clever....ha ha ha
In my experience many local people brush the compliment aside with false modesty.
For example:
Me: wow MeiMei that dinner was great
MeiMei: Mmm, it was ok. I will try to make it more delicious next time.
Me: wow, your english is quite good
Zhou: No no no, I'm sorry for the rudimentary inadequacy of my lexical proficiency and will ensure to the utmost that my subsequent endevours to interpret the paradoxes and idiomatic structures of your profound language will achieve a level where I may express my angst regarding the perfunctory norms and sanctions imposed upon the proletariat by the oligarchial overlords in a more satisfactory manner.
iWolf:
I can make up meaningless crap that sounds legit at the drop of a hat. But we've all experienced the same bullshit from time to time. My boss thinks I am clever....ha ha ha
