What are you supposed to say when Chinese pay you compliments?

[Kenny同志]

To Brandon:

I wouldn’t say it’s wrong, but it just doesn’t sound good.

[Scoobyqueen]

I mostly say 八字还没有一撇儿呢 which makes them surprised because the expression is colloquial and the attention is then taken a bit away from the compliment.

[semantic nuance]

The point is to stop the compliments, not encourage them.

Believe me, if you reply 沒什麼好, then another compliment will show up: 怎麼會? 你說的真的很好! Trust me, being negative towards that kind of compliment will wind up having another coming. ;)

[adrianlondon]

I started off saying 还差得远呢 after also getting it from the Practical Chinese Reader book I used to self-study in London. However, once I got to BNU (2006) I asked my teacher what I should say when someone decides to compliment my beginner Chinese. She said ... nowadays you can just say 谢谢. So I sometimes just say that, but usually I revert to my 1970's Gubo personality.

[889]

"Believe me, if you reply 沒什麼好, then another compliment will show up."

Yes, that's why I said you have to make your reply in a soft, throw-away manner, then immediately change the topic before you get another compliment lobbed your way. It's very difficult to construct a response which is appropriately modest in the Chinese sense but which doesn't invite a "No, really!" in return, so the best approach is just to move on ASAP. If you don't quickly move on, then it looks like you're waiting for the "No, really!" to be batted back at you.

Perhaps someone will have the nerve to admit that the only thing worse than getting complimented on your Chinese is not getting complimented on your Chinese.

(I'm sure those Chinese that constantly compliment foreigners -- which is just about everyone -- would find this thread dissecting a proper response pretty puzzling.)

[Chinadoog]

if someone says that my chinese is good, i usually say ''thank you,'' or ''谢谢啊！''

or sometimes i just don't say anything

[mr.stinky]

reply with 你的也不错呀！

they invariably respond with "but i'm chinese!"

to which you can reply 啊，我以为你是法国的。。。

by now, your new friend is thoroughly confused....

[ironlady]

I usually use some variation of 谢谢 主任 （or whatever title, obviously) 的鼓励 or else 还在努力。But the latter does tend to draw follow-up questions like how long have you been studying, etc.

About NOT getting complimented, though: that is my preference. If I am doing a conference and some engineer grabs me at a coffee break and tells me something like "You got the word for Whatever wrong; we say it This Way (or, sometimes, 'We just say it in English')," he is tacitly saying that he is dealing with me as an interpreter, not as a foreign performer doing an act (if you know what I mean). He is not making the point that it is unusual or weird for me to speak Chinese, he is just reacting to the one thing that stuck in his mind. So it is like the issue of whether my Chinese is good or not has become a non-issue, which is what I want.

[aristotle1990]

So it is like the issue of whether my Chinese is good or not has become a non-issue, which is what I want.

I was up at the Old Summer Palace (圆明园) once, and this old lady came up to me and asked me directions in Chinese without first asking whether I spoke it or not. I replied in Chinese, and she thanked me and went on her way, making no mention of my ability to speak Chinese. It is moments like these that I live for.

[Outofin]

I would say "I've been working hard on it." If your Chinese is good, you should acknowledge and enjoy your achievement, without bragging.

"I spend a lot of time on it." 我花很多时间学汉语。

"I've been learning Chinese for a year." 我已经学了一年了。 (Don't say this if you only learned for a month. That doesn't sound polite. )

[Lu]

I used to use 还差得远啊, my Taiwanese friends found that very funny, but afaik it's correct. Currently I go with 还可以啦. When the compliment is 你的中文怎么这么好 or something in that vein, I use 学了很久了, which by now is true.

I also prefer not being complimented on my Chinese, because gradually I've found that 'Your Chinese is so good!' often has little to do with one's actual Chinese ability, but rather is Chinese for 'Well look at that, the monkey can talk!' (Also, it can be quite a conversation killer.) Once I was sending a package in a Taiwanese post office, conducting the whole transaction in Chinese without any problem. Another foreign girl next to me spoke Chinese, but not very well. She got complimented, I didn't. I saw that as a very good thing.

[889]

Some years ago I got into a silly but fierce argument with a couple of Chinese while travelling. They were trying to cut into a ticket line or grab my train seat when I stretched my legs or some such, I've forgotten the details. But I haven't forgotten how they tried to end the argument by slinging the ultimate insult: "And you don't speak Chinese very well, either!"

[Brandon263]

"And you don't speak Chinese very well, either!" - ROFL, that really was the ultimate insult.

[jbradfor]

Perhaps someone will have the nerve to admit that the only thing worse than getting complimented on your Chinese is not getting complimented on your Chinese.

I'll admit it!

The one time I was in Beijing (a couple years ago) I toured around the city for a week speaking nothing but Chinese, I didn't get a single compliment! I was hoping for at least one or two. But no more than that

[And no, for me it's not as others have suggested because I speak well....]

[muirm]

I usually say “哪裡哪裡，一般吧”, meaning I just possess regular or average competency. I also sometimes say "不敢當“, meaning I don't deserve that compliment.

[xianhua]

My repertoire also includes 不敢当.

[Etwood]

What about "没有什么了不起的"? Or is this totally the wrong context for this phrase?

[realmayo]

When I whip out my modesty shtick I sometimes get the (not entirely serious) "ooh, and you have learned our Chinese culture of modesty too!"

I've noticed too that if I'm speaking Chinese to a friend it's natural to use these kind of expressions, but if I'm speaking English to the same person I'll quite happily say "thanks" instead.

[889]

When having an English conversation in China, is it rude not to say, "Why you speak English better than I do!"?

[Farkas]

How about "正在努力", a little 谦虚, a little 对对方的肯定,