admin
Ms G
The other day, when I was trying to pick up some everyday Shona, I found something interesting; the Shona people are very warm in the way they greet you; they would wish you well in the beginnings and endings of conversations and possibly inquire after your family members, especially if it has been some time since you last met. This discovery about saying Hi in Shona has added to my fondness of the people I meet in this country, whom I have always found courteous, cheerful, a bit shy from time to time, and never fail to give you the most beautiful smile.
But do you know how the Chinese say Hi in our language?
Many Chinese learners know there is Nihao (literally translated as you are well). I have been greeted in this way many times in the streets of Harare. While this could be one way to address strangers or people with whom you have only a nodding acquaintance, people who are familiar with each other rarely use this as Hi.
The Chinese do use good morning in the beginning of the day, but good afternoon and good evening are not that common. Good night is usually reserved for intimate friends. During the day, there are many little questions you can ask to show friendliness.
These include “you are here?”, “busy?”, “taking a stroll?” “heading back?”, “what are you doing?”, and “where are you going?” Basically, you describe what you see the other person is doing and put a question mark at the end.
Questions like this need an answer. This may strike foreigners as intrusive. But don’t feel obliged to give a very concrete or detailed one. The person greeting you is not asking for real information. So don’t panic.
Even if you are not in fact doing the thing he or she has just described, you can still say, “Yeah, what about you?”. If you have the time to explain, it is also fine to say a bit more. If you are asked wh-questions, like “what are you doing?”, a simple answer of “nothing important” is good enough.
The inclination to find out about what other persons are doing may be explained by the fact that, for thousands of years, the Chinese society was a tightly-knit, kinship-based community. Residents of one village had the same family name and were related in some way.
Personal boundaries were not that important. It was like the meaning of Ubuntu; they saw one another not as a separate individual, but one part of a whole to which they all belonged.
For many Chinese, being asked “how are you” can make them feel a bit awkward; because it is not one of those “easy questions” we are used to and we feel the pressure to give a substantive answer.
But the interesting thing is if you add a time adverbial, like “recently” or “these days”, it immediately takes the pressure aways and we can respond in a more relaxed and natural manner.
Without the adverb, we feel there is something wrong with us that has caught the attention of others.
Generally speaking, the Chinese are not as good as greeting as Zimbabweans. In most cases, we simply smile and nod. Some foreigners may find the Chinese a bit cold or even impolite. But it is only a cultural thing.
Online Reporter