General Degrees of Politeness

[AlexanderH]

On the airplane, in starbucks, etc. is it polite to simply use 给我一杯水。 给我一杯咖啡? Are these the most common and polite forms?

[SiMaKe]

I don't know what's the minimum accepted, but, regardless of the particulars, I always try to say 请 first. And smile.

[renzhe]

I'd drop the 给我, or replace it with 我想.

[xianhua]

Or consider using 来 so 来一杯茶. This may sound direct, but it's a perfectly standard way to order such things. You could add in a 请 for good measure as SiMaKe said.

[skylee]

Is 來一杯茶 a perfectly standard way to order? Where does this apply? Personally I find this quite rude really. IMO 給我一杯茶 is not polite either.

SiMaKe's is a very good suggestion. I also suggest using 可以 ......嗎. And don't forget 謝謝.

[gougou]

I hear 来xxx all the time here in Beijing - but of course, the perfectly standard way to order on the mainland doesn't necessarily have to be polite...

[doraemon]

I usually like to go "我想要..." or　"请来一杯／一个etc..."

I think that simply saying "给我..." is a little bit rude/demanding.

[tooironic]

The Chinese language is not exactly known for its "degrees of politeness". I've observed most friends just say what they want without prefixing it with anything.

[Holiday]

It's OK to say 给我一杯水 or 给我一杯咖啡。But if you want to make it more polite, you can change it to 请给我一杯水 or 请给我一杯咖啡。You can try our talking phrasebook China2Go( www.hnhsoft.com) to enhance your knowledge in Chinese.

[Kenny同志]

小姐，麻烦给我一杯咖啡。

I would usually say things like this.

[Yang Rui]

Agree with SiMaKe and Kenny. One thing I would bear in mind is that, just because you see other people ordering things and talking to people in a certain way, doesn't mean this is the best, or most polite way to do it. Even in Beijing, where this kind of direct approach is common, I still have Chinese friends who use pleases and thank yous, and it always comes across nicely. I think that, as a foreigner in a strange land, it's always best to err on the side of politeness.

Another thing is that, what goes in some areas might not be acceptable in other areas. I remember the first time I went to Taiwan being surprised how often Taiwanese people actually used words like please and thank you. The northern Chinese-style "gimme a beer" didn't seem so appropriate in this context. Once I had realised this, I tried adding a few "请" and "麻烦" when i was back in the mainland, and it always went down quite well.

[realmayo]

Is adding a 谢谢 on to the end of an otherwise rather abrupt sentence widespread in China? And how does it rank in the above terms of politeness?

For instance, “来一瓶啤酒，谢谢。”

[Kenny同志]

I tend to say 谢谢 upon the delivery of the service.