How do I say "I'm just looking (around)"
dreiundzwanzig
March 16, 2010, 09:45 PM posted in I Have a QuestionWhen I'm in China it often happens to me that I go to some random shop and some employees rush to my side and want to give me advice or answer my questions.
It's just that I often do not want a shop employee to stick around and just want to take a look at all the stuff in the place in peace ;-)
I didn't really know what to say to them so far, so I usually used "我看看一些" or something similar with "看看". While this always worked perfectly fine, I'm feeling quite unconfident that this is correct.
Does anyone know the correct way of telling an employee that you're just taking a look at all the stuff and don't need "consultancy"?
谢谢你们！
jen_not_jenny
April 15, 2010, 05:00 AMA Chinese friend once told me it's a combination of both reasons bodawei and tal mention. Shoplifting is a huge problem in China. With the enormous population and national love for shopping, shops see a ton of foot traffic. You can understand why a shop owner would instruct employees to "look after" customers in a very literal sense. It does feel a little bit overbearing at times, though. Especially when wine shopping...I can usually read the English label well enough to tell which country it's from myself, thank you! ;)
In this situation, I usually tell the assistant, 谢谢。我自己看一看，可以吗？
helencao_counselor
March 17, 2010, 12:58 AM“我只想看一下”、“我随便看看” is good.
I usually say “谢谢" to them first if they keep sticking around me and giving me advice, and then say 我先看看（看一下）" .
:)
helencao_counselor
March 17, 2010, 01:03 AMBoth"我只想看一下"and "我随便看看" are good.
I usually say "谢谢" to them first if they keep sticking around me and giving me advice, then say "我先看一下（or 看看）"。
:)
changye
March 17, 2010, 01:23 AMA comment posted by helencao 老师 has disappeared.
helencao_counselor
March 17, 2010, 01:24 AMBoth "我只想看一下"and"我随便看看"are good!
I usually say "谢谢" first if they keep sticking me around and asking me questions, then say "我先看一下（or 我先看看）".
:)
changye
March 17, 2010, 04:30 AMHere is another convinient phrase when you're shopping.
谢谢，我（再）转转看。Thank you. I'm just gonna walk around a little bit.
P/S. 转转看 (zhuan4zhuan4kan4)
zhenlijiang
March 16, 2010, 11:57 PM我随便看看。
is what our textbooks say. I can't recall whether I've actually ever used it or not.
helencao_counselor
“我只想看一下”、“我随便看看” is good.
I usually say “谢谢" to them first if they keep sticking around me and giving me advice, and then say 我先看看（看一下）" .
:)
helencao_counselor
Both"我只想看一下"and "我随便看看" are good.
I usually say "谢谢" to them first if they keep sticking around me and giving me advice, then say "我先看一下（or 看看）"。
:)
hamshank
March 17, 2010, 06:02 AMIt seems to me the shop assistants speak a completely different language...Especially when announcing things generically. I don't think I ever manage to catch a word comming out of their mouths even when I should easily recognise what they say.
Perhaps years of shutting off to pushy salesmen back home has taken its toll on my brain.
PS. Does anyone know what the people in 7-11 are saying everytime someone walks in or out? Its been bugging me ;)
Tal
Not sure about 7-11, (you must mean Hong Kong right?), but on the mainland it's customary in many restaurants and some shops probably for the service staff to say :
欢迎光临 huānyíng guānglín! = Welcome!
when you enter, and
谢谢光临 xièxie guānglín! = Thanks for your custom!
as you leave. This and the aforementioned constant attendance and hanging around of the assistants are perhaps the 2 main quaintly strange and/or annoying features for the westerner new to China.
hamshank
Thanks Tal, I will listen out for that now next time I'm in there.
jen_not_jenny
might not be Hong Kong...southern China has plenty of 七十一stores. Someone once explained to me that anti-Japanese sentiment is not as strong in the south because they were somewhat removed from the wartime atrocities.
I can't remember employees saying anything but 欢迎光临 there, though, hamshank.
dreiundzwanzig
March 17, 2010, 08:04 AMThanks to all of you - very useful stuff!
I'm also glad to hear that my version wasn't too far from being correct so that I don't have to be embarrassed now ;-)
bodawei
March 17, 2010, 08:11 AMThey are following you around not to help but to check that you are not stealing anything. ;-)
dreiundzwanzig
Haha, probably I don't look trustworthy enough then :,-(
Tal
Actually I don't think that's necessarily the case, or at least not the main reason. It's a significant cultural difference in my opinion. In the West we've become very used to the idea of browsing in shops, of being 'free' to just roam around and ask for help if we need/want it. Chinese culture just doesn't view shopping in that way. The customer is there to be served (that's the idea anyway I think.) I have Chinese friends who will take a very dim view of any establishment where such help is not immediately forthcoming, the clerks/assistants have to do this to show the boss they're not lazy!
orangina
There are also plenty a clerks at the shop, and I think sometimes they are board(sp?). If westerners get extra attention (and I am not sure that they do) I think it is because we are interesting and maybe all those years of studying English will be good for something.
jen_not_jenny
A Chinese friend once told me it's a combination of both reasons bodawei and tal mention. Shoplifting is a huge problem in China. With the enormous population and national love for shopping, shops see a ton of foot traffic. You can understand why a shop owner would instruct employees to "look after" customers in a very literal sense. It does feel a little bit overbearing at times, though. Especially when wine shopping...I can usually read the English label well enough to tell which country it's from myself, thank you! ;)
In this situation, I usually tell the assistant, 谢谢。我自己看一看，可以吗？
dreiundzwanzig
March 17, 2010, 01:07 PMHaha, probably I don't look trustworthy enough then :,-(
Tal
March 17, 2010, 01:26 PMNot sure about 7-11, (you must mean Hong Kong right?), but on the mainland it's customary in many restaurants and some shops probably for the service staff to say :
欢迎光临 huānyíng guānglín! = Welcome!
when you enter, and
谢谢光临 xièxie guānglín! = Thanks for your custom!
as you leave. This and the aforementioned constant attendance and hanging around of the assistants are perhaps the 2 main quaintly strange and/or annoying features for the westerner new to China.
bq1314
March 17, 2010, 01:27 PM
hi !!i am from china,i am here for freinds who also want to share foreign language!!my e-mail is xh13680494639@yahoo.com
ICQ：626317830
helencao_counselor
March 17, 2010, 05:06 AM不好意思，之前发的贴子被我不小心删掉了。可能是我一开始没加入这个group的原因，所以发了几次都没有成功！
现在应该可以看到了！:)
xiaophil
March 16, 2010, 10:05 PMI always say 我只想看一下. I also don't know if that is right, but I can't see why not. I'm not sure, but I think saying 看 twice and adding 一些 is a bit strange as 看看 and 看一些 have the same meaning. Combining them is overdoing it (I think).