Long Time No See
sparechange
January 18, 2008, 04:15 AM posted in General DiscussionIs it 好久不见 (hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn) or 很久没见 (hěn jiǔ méi jiàn)? I had only heard the former, but I just discovered the latter in my "Reading & Writing Chinese" book.
My 中国朋友 (Chinese friends?) will be returning to the US at the end of January after a month-long visit home. I was hoping to drop this phrase when they got back, but I would like to make sure I have the right one first.
谢谢！
sparechange
January 19, 2008, 04:23 PMI restricted my results to pages written in 汉字, and got roughly 1.4M for 好久不见 and 1.7M for 很久没见. It's close enough for me... I like 好久不见, and it seems it's used often enough that I'm not going to get any funny looks if I use it.
frank
January 18, 2008, 04:46 AMSure does! I actually heard it on an episode of "How I Met Your Mother" once. I nearly fell out of my chair.
bazza
January 18, 2008, 07:04 AM好久不见 is the most common I think.
AuntySue
January 18, 2008, 08:51 AMCould it be that the one that doesn't roll of the tongue like a well formed package, sounds more heartfelt and sincere?
bazza
January 18, 2008, 03:47 PMThat reminds me of a audiobook I have, where you've just been hired as a spy and you have to learn Chinese quickly in order to complete your mission, 妈妈爸爸好久不见 was a secret phrase you had to remember.
goulnik
January 18, 2008, 04:30 PM…了 I'd say! 好久不见了，很久不见了
sparechange
January 18, 2008, 04:34 AMThanks, Frank. The first one definitely rolls off the tongue a bit easier.
furyougaijin
January 18, 2008, 05:40 PM好久不见 - 344,000 hits in Google 很久没见 - 355,000 hits in Google
Joachim
January 19, 2008, 12:21 AM"long time no see" - 4,030,000 hits in Google :-p
sparechange
January 19, 2008, 02:11 AMhaha... maybe I should just stick with that one.
relrel
January 19, 2008, 02:22 AMIn my textbook, 好久不見了 is used by a 服務員 to greet a 常客 in a restaurant. I think the 了emphasizes a change in state. I have trouble with 了 too, but this phrase helped me get more comfortable with it because the 'change of state' is so clear cut. (It's been a long time that I haven't seen you, but now I see you!)
AuntySue
January 19, 2008, 04:36 AMDid I do this right? Google results for 很久没有看到你 - 2,460,000 or 我很久没有看到你（了）！
furyougaijin
January 19, 2008, 01:01 PMGoogle hits appear to be very sensitive to the point of entry in the search. 好久不见 produced 344,000 hits on my work notebook defaulting to an English-interfaced google.com. The Japanese-interfaced google.com from my personal notebook comes back with 858,000 hits for the same phrase... And with only 15,800 hits for 很久没见... But the traditional 很久没有 gets 1,700,000 hits. The bottom line is, a google search is often a much better way to find out how a certain phrase is used...
sparechange
January 18, 2008, 04:57 PMAny mention of 了 sends me into shock.
frank
January 18, 2008, 04:20 AMI don't know about the second one, but 好久不见 (hǎo jiǔ bú jiàn) is one I use all the time. It's also the one Aggie throws at me whenever we catch each other online. That's where I put my money.