Newbie - Seeing Somebody to the Door

My wife developed this habit while in China, then took it back to the US.  I think it was lost on most of her non-Chinese friends and family, and certainly me until she explained it.  Thank God she's not doing it on these frozen New England nights.

Hi patmetheny

Your wife should do it even more on frozen nights! The amount of face the host gives is directly proportional to how inconvenient it is to see the guest off.

Unless I was blind or demented,can't see much use in being songed out...but if they wanna help put my shoes back on....that would be a useful service. hehe

..but seriously,I wouldn't allow the latter at all,and it is a very nice gesture who's thoughtful intentions are not lost on me.

I don't find the literal breakdowns strange.It helps me understand exactly where the word or phrase has come from and it is not much of a leap at all to the intended meaning.

hello,

Would someone please help me how to complete the "listen and type" part of the exercise. 

谢谢

Pearltowerpete,

I showed my wife your response to my post.  She agreed with you regarding having the door open to the snow and freezing rain in order to see guests off.  Maybe i'm happy that we don't have any friends :)  Her sister is coming for a visit this weekend, and we'll see if she leaves the door open to send them off, with our baby daughter next to her.

When attending meetings in China I really enjoyed it when people walked me to the elevator, or down the elevator, or even to the street (not to mention that sometimes it helped to have a native speaker help with the taxi instructions).  It was a pleasant way to end a meeting and I liked the sense of winding down that it gave. However this lesson left me wondering if I should have been more forceful with "buyong" along the way...  Probably wouldn't have changed anything.

@orkelm Appearing to know a lot about China and Chinese customs by your affectation of Chinese manners and other polite idiosynchrasies will certainly evoke endless compliments on your in depth understanding of China customs - regardless of whether you are an expert and 'Gongfu Cha' (tea ceremony) or just saying 'bu yong le' when someone sees you out.

我走了。(wo3 zou3 le)

This 了 is an interjection that is used to soften the tone, and at the same time, it also connotes "I have to go now" or "It's time for me to go", which is a kind of so called "change of circumstance".

不用送了。(bu2 yong4 song4 le) = 别送了。

This 了 is an interjection too, and it also has a function to soften the tone of these imperative sentences. Just saying "不用送" or "别送" could sometimes sound somewhat rude or blunt-spoken.

*irrelevant comment deleted by moderator*

A more formal way to say 不用送 is 请留步 qǐng liú bù literally translated as "Please leave your steps (at the door)". Isn't Chinese custom just beautiful? Not sending someone off just seems quite ill-mannered or hostile. It can be done to actually show a guest is not welcome, or has offended the host. One would then say 不送了bùsòngle or ask the house servant to 送客 sòngkè (see out the guest) instead of doing it personally.

Hi flyrealhy

well, you just listen to the sentence and type in the word/words that are missing. You type in pinyin and indicate tones with numbers, i.e. 1 for first tone, 2 for second and so on. Neutral tone is 5. So, to score in the first sentence you type zou3. No spaces are alloed, so if you were to type the word 麻烦 (trouble) it would be ma2fan5. Not ma2 fan5.
Now check you message inbox :)

I have to agree with bababardwan, the translation is not really a stretch here. Way back, walking was pretty much the main mode of transportation. I see it this way:

wo zou le = Im walking = Im traveling = Im leaving

wo song ni = I deliver you = I send you off = I escort you out.

man zou = slowly walk = dont rush off and/or walk (travel) carefully.

Long ago to send someone off or to deliver them meant to walk them home or perhaps half way. Modernity has changed that but I can see where the expression comes from.

Nice cultural tidbits here!

Thank you changye and rjberki for the wonderful explanations you shared.

One of the reasons I love Chinesepod is that other non-Chinese students are able to answer many of the grammar questions that stump me.

How would you say 'I insist' if somebody 'buyong'ed you?

I would say "没事儿，没事儿，我送你！" or something like that.

谢谢Changye叔叔！

patmatheney

what part of new england are you in?  I am in the Boston area.  does your name indicate musical preference. haha

gregg

My husband and I travel a great distance when we visit China,and we have gray hair.  We are therefore treated as the honored guests.  Rather than say bu4yong4, should we just say xie4xie when people offer to see us off?

greggs,

I was a Pat Metheny fan well before I moved to NH and New England overall, but I did see the Pat Metheny Group a few times at the Orpheum Theater.  You and I possibly drive past each other on the commutes at some point, as i'm usually taking rt3, 128 and the turnpike.  Or maybe you work from home.......

Is it fine to reply this way or the host will feel we aren't giving him/her enough respect?

Guest: 不用送了

 1) Host: 就送到这儿了

 2) Host: 不远送了

dunderklumpen,

多谢你

flyrealhy

不用谢 bu4yong4xie4 You're welcome.

Why am I always so late here? :-)

This is great stuff. Break it down into small pieces and examine those. Excellent!

This was also SPEEDY. When I first listened I almost thought I've landed in Japan. I could not make sense of anything said. After getting to around 5 min. it ALL made sense. Pretty impressive. On your behalf.

Then I have to admit - slightly embaressed - that Jenny's voice is - ahem... - addictive. Very nice to listen to.

Then we have my favorite area: pronunciation. Is it la? Or is it le? Obviously there is no consensun here, but how much depends on the fact that you are Shanghai based? How much differs in language between Shanghai and Beijing? Will I be able to use my presumably Beijing based pronunciation in Shanghai with EASE? Hong Kong "Mandarin"? No problemo? At all? Or where?

Could someone explain the difference between:

他走了吗？

and

他走吗？

(他走了吗？ appears in the expansion.)

my wife has brought her beijing customs to florida and we sòng all our guests that come to our house.

its just more wonderful chinese ways that i love so much.

Hi caccapone:

A host would not generally say 就送到这儿了, but he or she could say 不远送了.

A guest can say 不用送了or 就送到这儿吧。

Hi fangaili

他走了吗？means 他已经(already)走了吗？Has he already left?

他走吗？means 他要走吗？ Will he leave?

How much differs in language between Shanghai and Beijing?

--of course~It is totally different in pronunciation.just like the north accent&south accent in the USA,people in shanghai can uderstand what other people speak beijingh话（hua4=accent），but a man who come from beijing cannot understand what a shanghai man says.so you know there are so differences between them....北京话（bei3jing1hua4）is Mandarin others are dialect,,,,,,

hehe,my name is snail~~come from sichuan~~

Thanks, pearltowerpete.

About accents -- I remember how we could not understand the Sichuan adults, and their children had to "translate" for them. Funny .

Hi,

我的狗送了她的公猫

wo de gou song le ta de gongmao

I think this is a different "see off".

Jack

patmatheney, gregg,

  I am in the Boston area, too! We all pass each other on the way to work in the AM :)

dawnoctopus, so we're all listening to cpod on CDs in the car, inbetween the times when we're listening to Morning Edition/All Things Considered.

This was a very good lesson! Everything was easily understood, and with a little practice I learned what was new. I also wrote the new characters 50 times, for extra practice. Overall, great lesson CPOD!

Thanks for another culturally rich lesson….but I think the whole concept of seeing someone to the door goes beyond China.

The reason I say that is because my Filipino friends are the same way. They are my age but always insist on walking me to my car and then watching as I drive away. Then there was this one time at the airport….I went with them to drop off a friend who was moving out of the country. I thought we would just walk to the door and then leave within a few minutes after saying goodbye…

Nope! We had to stay and wait with our friend the whole time for like 2 hours! Then, they insisted on standing there, waving and smiling for 5 minutes until our friend was literally out of sight! When i inquired later about it, they said it was just "the right thing to do"

It really says something about the love and respect asian cultures have for their friends and family. I thought it was so sweet, quite endearing and it brought tears to my eyes…I will never forget it.

Is there a place where newbies can go to ask questions instead of here.

I exported my vocab list to excel but it came out not looking anything like chinese.

谢谢你们

That's Praxis Language's entrance on the photo, isn't it?

Thank you for this lesson. There are tones of useful language and cultural tips on it. 

Hi monica5

You got it!

And just a reminder, all poddies are welcome to swing by for a visit whenever you are in Shanghai.

How suitable is 慢走 outside of the context of seeing someone off?

Could it be used over the phone or as a signoff of an email?

Hi vagabondpilgrim

Good question. Although 慢走 can be translated as "Good-bye," it's actually closer to "don't be a stranger, now." So you can't use it for hanging up the phone or in closing an email.

We will have a lesson on stuff people say when hanging up the phone in a few days (there's a whole big ritual to it!)

For closing an email, you can't really go wrong with

致

礼！

It is a bit formal but works well. Some people (usually women and girls) do stuff like 天天快乐，事事如意 and so on.

I often hear shopkeepers, salespeople and even taxi drivers say "慢走" when customers leave. Maybe it's the most simple phrase used for "seeing customers off" in China. Its formal version should be "欢迎下次再来" (huan1 ying2 xia4 ci4 zai4 lai2, please come again).

To caccapone:

Guest: 不用送了。

Host: 好的，那请慢走。

hehe;yeah,great tip Ken about not just going up to people and saying 我送你 wo3song4 ni3 [I send you].As a newish learner brimming with enthusiasm and champing at the bit for any opportunity to practice newly learnt Chinese phrases,I can imagine it being a trap for new players like me.

btw this is the same 送 that you use when you're shouting someone to dinner, right [or other gift giving]?

I was very happy when our host last night 送'd us, at midnight in her pjs, a couple of blocks to where we could get a taxi. Finding the street was triply complicated because the gates to their complex had been shut and there were no guards, so we had to walk through the back entrance of a 冷锅串串 (cold hot pot) restaurant to the street.

@sushan Hey that's pretty cool, sometimes the  送 sòng (the escorting out to the street) is sometimes something that goes beyond just being polite to something that has to be done in order for the guests to be helped on their merry way home. I'm interested as to why your host was already in her pj's before you left...was she already pj'd before you arrived?

sushan,

Great story.Thanks for sharing.hmmm...seems there is more to this songing than first meets the eye.I take it your friend accompanied you through the restaurant in her pj's too.Was this taken as nothing to take notice of by the restaurant patrons...or had they left? What a thoughtful gesture.Seems they really look after their guests.Perhaps western culture could learn something from such great hospitality.

@matt_c yes, we got there a bit late, about nine, and had watched a movie together

@bababardwan, there were still a few people there but they didn't seem to see anything amiss

Hi bababardwan

I'm not really clear on what you mean about shouting someone to dinner, but 送 is definitely the verb for giving someone a gift.

Pete,

oops.Thanks for pulling me up on this one.I was getting 请 ing someone to dinner mixed up with the similar concept of 送 ing someone a gift.I've got it clear now thanks.

sushan,

hehe.Yeah,I think people in the west would give more of a reaction.Just goes to show how cool they are in China.I like more of an anything goes attitude.

哎哟 (aiyo)，I wish I'd learned 不用 two weeks ago!

I visited my friends in 台北 (Táiběi or Taipei) right after the Western new year, as that's when I had time off from classes.  One of the nights we went to the 士林夜市 (Shìlín Yèshì), one of the night markets in the city, and while I was buying a few things for friends back in 美国 (měigúo), the friend I was with was 送ed to the restrooms by one of the shopkeepers, so when I was done I had to stand around awkwardly waiting for her.

But the other shopkeeper insisted that I come to the back and have tea and peanuts with him while I waited!  I had no idea how to respond - a month ago I couldn't even say 早上好, much less "thank you but no thank you, my friend will be back soon"!

So, very embarrassed, I sat down and tried to stumble through a conversation about Obama and how terrible my spoken Chinese is.  When my friend came back she and the other shopkeeper actually joined us and we both stumbled through the conversation (though her Chinese is better than mine by far).

Alas for not knowing 不用！

pete,

照片中站在右边的那位先生是从台湾来的吗？

Hi cassielin

是的呀，你怎么猜得出来呢？厉害，厉害！

嘿嘿，我有超强的第六感！

I love it

Hello, can someone tell me the difference between using hen 很 and zhen 真.  Why is it

Hello Mystic, maybe there are more differeces...but I think 真 is more intense than 很. Like in:

今天真热！Today it is very hot!

今天很热！Today it is hot! 

Sometimes 很 is even not really translated as "very"...more as a filler to complete the sentence. i think you can not say 今天热! Also when you say 我很好！ It does not have to mean "very good" it can just mean "fine/good". But with using 真 you always express something is "very", "extremely"...

hope i am right with everything... :-)

Thank you, gesang.  That makes sense.