Quick translation please (How to ask someone out on lunch)

[spiderspider]

Hi,

I'm friends with a chinese girl. I'm going to ask her to come have lunch with me after class tomorrow, and I want to surprise her by asking in Chinese.

Can someone tell me the precise chinese translation for the following:

"Would you like to have lunch, pretty lady?"

Please say in english, so I can write it down and when I'm about to ask her I can pull out the paper and read it from there.

Real translation only please, and no pranks. Thanks!

[muyongshi]

měi nǚ, yào bu yào gēn wǒ yī qǐ chī fàn?

Obviously you are a first timer....none of us would ever dream of pranking you

[renzhe]

We should warn you, though, that it will be very difficult to get the pronunciation and the tones right just by reading it and without hearing it.

There is a good chance that you won't be understood, especially since pinyin romanisation used for Chinese doesn't always sound like you would expect it to.

Muyonshi's sentence would sound something like:

May new, yao boo yao guh-n woah ee chee tsch fan

The tones are either a constant high tone ( - ), a rising tone ( / ), a falling tone ( ) and a low falling rising tone ( v )

[dsrguru]

I don't think this is a good idea. If your pronunciation and intonation are off, which will most likely be the case, she won't understand you (not good). If your pronunciation and intonation are close enough to be understood (unlikely since you're not familiar with Mandarin pronunciation), you'll probably sound really funny and/or stupid (not good). If she happens to speak one of the many Chinese languages/dialects other than Mandarin, she certainly won't understand you (not good). With all things considered, your odds of impressing her by speaking in Chinese aren't very good. If you insist on doing so, at least listen to how the sentence sounds. I'm attaching an mp3 file to this post, but I suggest you listen to a native speaker (or at least a fluent speaker) if you can because I'm just starting to learn the language and my pronunciation probably reflects that.

By the way, if you are actually interested in learning the language, you should first learn proper pronunciation and a romanization system like Hànyǔ Pīnyīn. The FSI course is a good place to start. You can find references to plenty of learning resources on these forums for further study. I personally recommend Chinese Learn Online.

muyongshi, I think 一起 sounds more like yìqǐ (like how 一百 sounds like yìbǎi), at least at conversational speed.

chinese.mp3

[johnd]

Is měi nǚ an appropriate way to address her? (This is a question, not a statement - I'm really not sure myself)

[skylee]

Is měi nǚ an appropriate way to address her? (This is a question, not a statement - I'm really not sure myself)

IMO it is not appropriate. It sounds frivolous and some might interpret it as sexual harrassment (especially if it's an office environment). Oh but some girls might just like it.

[huisheng]

pretty lady = 美丽的女士

[muyongshi]

Is měi nǚ an appropriate way to address her?

In Sichuan it is a completely acceptable way to address any female. They hardly say 小姐 but will say 美女 all the time. So, sorry if my locality gets you sued for harassment!

[huisheng]

It's generally perceived within Chinese culture addressing a woman 美女, especially at work is flirtatious. But again, it depends on the individual. I call my friend 美女 when she's not, subjectively, but she's happy.

[gougou]

I've known a couple of girls who did not want to be called that - they said it's used for "that kind of girl" you meet on the internet.

[Lu]

It seems to depend on where you are. In Taiwan, addressing a young woman as 美女 is often completely acceptable, for example when addressing an audience as '各位帥哥美女', or when the breakfast shop laobanniang today called back a young man who forgot his cup: 'Hallo, 帥哥'.

If she happens to speak one of the many Chinese languages/dialects other than Mandarin, she certainly won't understand you

Most people in China understand Mandarin, as it is the official language and they learn it in school. If she grew up in China and made it to university, she certainly speaks Mandarin.

[muyongshi]

I second all Lu said....

If she happens to speak one of the many Chinese languages/dialects other than Mandarin, she certainly won't understand you

And even if it is a dialect and doesn't know mandarin who says she won't understand??? In sichuanhua it would be said "mei nv yao bu gein wo yi qie ci fan" which is very close to mandarin (sorry I don't know how to represent the sounds very well, just know what they are)

[dsrguru]

True, certain dialects (like Sichuanhua) are more mutually intelligible with Standard Mandarin. I was referring more to the less mutually intelligible languages like Cantonese and Taiwanhua. My use of "certainly" was a poor choice of word since the woman in question might well have been educated in China or Taiwan in which case she most probably would understand Putonghua. When I read the original post, I got the impression that she was of Chinese ethnicity but not necessarily that she actually came from China (i.e. an ABC or the equivalent for the OP's country). My point was that the OP would make a fool of himself if he didn't first teach himself Mandarin pronunciation and that there isn't just one spoken Chinese language.

[skylee]

I heard it on the radio today and I thought "Finally !!" -> 廣東肇慶：導遊不得以“帥哥”“靚女”稱呼遊客

“標準服務語言”中規定，對成年男性要稱呼“先生”，對境外男性要慎用可能引起歧義的“同志”稱呼，禁止使用目前民間較為俗氣的“靚仔”、“帥哥”等稱呼；對成年女性稱呼“小姐”，忌用“美女”、“靚女”，對年紀較大的女性忌稱“阿姨”。

[Lu]

Who complained, and why? I might fully agree with them, am just curious.