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

[Meng Lelan]

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

Dude, you've said it. Those are moments I live for too.

Thanks for sharing this.

[JessieJessie]

To Brandon,

"您太见外了"is often used when people say "thank you" to you, and you try to act as if you are close to each other, which is not necessarily the case. If someone praised your Chinese, you may say "您过奖了"、"哪里哪里"、“班门弄斧了”or"谢谢"，which all make you polite and modest; or "比起你的差远了" which is more casual and makes people smile.

[crazy-meiguoren]

I learned to use 哪里哪里 when I took Chinese, so that is what I've been using all along. Now I find out it's considered dated. :unsure:

My instructor once complimented me for doing good work on an assignment. I responded, but used the wrong "nali" - I wrote 那里 那里 instead. I was corrected, of course, but felt a little foolish over the blunder. (Hey, I aim to please.) But I still got a good grade, so all's well that ends well. So "there, there"! lol

[carlo]

As others have said, the subtext sometimes is "Oh, I thought you couldn't speak," and the compliment is just there to hide surprise, embarrassment, defuse conflict and so on. If so, the best reply I know of is a kind of grunt. Any further acknowledgement is likely to make matters worse.

If the other person understands my situation to some extent, and/or has experience of living in foreign countries for a long time, etc, then I'm flattered. I remember once in a hotel in Shanghai I politely complained to reception about a whole list of issues for like five minutes, the lady just stared back and then said, "your Chinese is very good." Ok, what do you say to that? "Could you then please listen to what I'm saying?" LOL.

[kongli]

I usually just say 一般般，没什么好的，and then, as others have suggested, I try to switch to a topic not related to my chinese speaking abilities.

Also, I agree with others who say it feels good when people DON'T mention your chinese and simply have a conversation with you. I once had a conversation about the iraq war with a taxi driver in beijing, not a word was said about my chinese. After I left smiling.

[andelicek.andy]

i say "。。。比你还差好多。。。" and all chinese say “当然，我是中国人”....sometimes i continue 你看我不是吗？

...i dont consider sentence "你说中文很棒！" as compliment, i think its kind of "how r u" in chinese for foreigners

[realmayo]

Given how routine it is to get these compliments, even (especially?) where our ability is nothing special, do you ever feel you should hit a Chinese person who speaks moderate-to-poor English with a "Your English is very good"? And as a first-up, rather than in return for them being nice about your Chinese?

[jenniferting]

i think “谢谢” is perfect。

[rob07]

Has anyone tried something like this:

当然，我是中国人，黑龙江省俄罗斯族的。

[anonymoose]

I have, on more than one occasion, been mistaken for 新疆人, but I've never deliberately pretended to be 中国人.

[Meng Lelan]

当然，我是中国人，黑龙江省俄罗斯族的。

No, but I was constantly taken for a Russian when I was living and traveling in north China, kind of what I expected considering I come from generations of Russians.

[yersi]

.

[889]

Is my suspicion correct that this practice is limited to Westerners, that Asians -- Koreans, Japanese, Thais, etc. -- are not constantly complimented on their Chinese?

[andelicek.andy]

few times happend to me, people thought i am 维族 (urguy from Xinjiang)...even few mintues chatting with me :D

[Lu]

Is my suspicion correct that this practice is limited to Westerners, that Asians -- Koreans, Japanese, Thais, etc. -- are not constantly complimented on their Chinese?

They just get mistaken for Chinese, I think. Once, during my first week in Beijing, Chinese still quite shaky, I shared a cab with a Japanese girl who chatted with the driver on the way. The driver took her for Chinese, and complimented her Chinese when he found out she wasn't. But then, her Chinese really was very good (as far as I could tell at the time, at least).

Given how routine it is to get these compliments, even (especially?) where our ability is nothing special, do you ever feel you should hit a Chinese person who speaks moderate-to-poor English with a "Your English is very good"? And as a first-up, rather than in return for them being nice about your Chinese?

This does seem to be the done thing... on meeting with future landlord just now, future landlord asked me, in English: 'Do you speak Chinese or English?' 'Both,' I replied, and we continued in Chinese. When he left to get the key, the housing agent, who was also there, commented to me that the landlord spoke really good English. This was based on this one sentence.

[Brian US]

My Thai friend said an old lady on the bus told her she sounded stupid speaking Chinese (thinking she was Chinese). When she informed her that Chinese is not her first language, the lady praised how great she spoke.

[yersi]

What do people think about ignoring the compliment and just continuing the conversation? Too rude? I don't usually do this but sometimes I get so tired of hearing it that I'll justt ask another unrelated question in return or continue talking about the previous topic. My interlocutors seem to perceive this as a signal that I'm not speaking chinese for entertainment purposes and they seem to take the conversation (and me) more seriously afterwards.

[tortue]

In that situation I like to say something like "I'm just trying", so I sometimes go with:

"wo shi yi shi"

But I don't have a clue if that really does express what I want, and what chinese think about that phrase? they usually smile...

[skylee]

I have, on more than one occasion, been mistaken for 新疆人,

ah so roddy was not the only one.

[renzhe]

I have, on more than one occasion, been mistaken for 新疆人, but I've never deliberately pretended to be 中国人.

I've always wanted to convince somebody that I was born in Beijing to foreign diplomats and left when I was 8 years old.

I'll probably never manage it, but it would mean that the accent is good B)