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How to say "kind" in Chinese?


chinesekitten

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Hi I never know what's a good word to describe your friends, something like "nice" "kind". I want something that doesn't sound too distant, but like we're close friends, you know what I mean?

 

Also I wrote a little text and want it to be correct, so can somebody maybe point out my mistakes or things that sound weird? Thank you! 

 

还记得我们第一次见面吗?没想到你以后就会变成我在这里最好的朋友。我感觉自己好幸福遇到这么可爱的,这么kind的朋友。虽然昨天见面可能不是最后一次,我心里还是很疼。谢谢你每次带我出去玩,真希望以后还能遇到你。

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This little text does sound "foreign" and distant to Chinese.

XXX (nickname here),你丫记得来找我玩! ----this sounds natural and close, if it's what you really want.

Chinese do not usually say "my friend u r kind & nice""I love u guys""I m so happy to meet u my friend" or stuff of that ilk. We judge the closeness of a relationship from our behaviors (including verbal behaviors). We treat them as our friends (eg. sacrifice our time for them, confide in them, gift sth unique/precious, make promises, invite them to partake in some activities we like) instead of stating how much we can love them.

btw, kind: 好、善良、难得 etc..

 

embellished:还记得我们第一次见面吗?当时我没想到你会变成我在这里最要好的朋友。我感觉自己好幸福能遇到这么可爱、这么难得的朋友。虽然昨天可能不是我们最后一次见面,但离别还是让我很难过。谢谢你每次都带我出去玩,真希望后会能有期。

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还记得我们第一次见面吗?没想到你以后就会变成我在这里最好的朋友。我觉得自己很幸运能交到你这么好的朋友。虽然离昨天见面过去还不到24小时,我已经开始想你了。谢谢你每次带我出去玩,真希望我们的友谊天长地久,如果非要给这份友情加上一个期限的话,我希望是一万年。

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@Messidor I have had an email similar to this from a Chinese friend  I have known for 10 years. She said she was happy to have met me as I had helped her with xyz over the years. Our friendship dated back to such and such a date she wrote highlighting how strong the friendship therefore was.

 

So some Chinese people do write this way 

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@Tøsen

Maybe some Chinese are straightforward enough to write this (or even speak face to face). It is also possible that the email was a thank you letter, or that she was treating you as a foreigner, or that youngsters today have grown less reserved, or that more Chinese girls find such letters less embarrassing than boys (it's possible that I'm biased cus I'm male)…

囧 The text chinesekitten wrote is certainly acceptable; but imho it is not native, nor sounds close. 

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I think it’s fine to mark things as being culturally unexpected or culturally avoided but the idea that “Chinese people wouldn’t say X” (but not because of incorrect grammar or collocation) is something I think is wholly unnecessary and also detrimental to language learner self-expression.

 

*edit:

I translate support letters for immigration applications that sound basically just like this, and sometimes even more over the top, on a pretty routine basis.

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