chichi Posted March 10, 2006 at 02:30 AM Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 02:30 AM what is the corresponding Chinese for "what's up?"? And how should I respond if someone say "what's up" to me? I'm studying in the US but whenever some one greets me with this, I don't know how to respond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ncao Posted March 10, 2006 at 02:45 AM Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 02:45 AM Just say "nothing much". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferno Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:06 AM Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:06 AM hah it's almost lost it's origional meaning of "how are you doing" just say "sup" right back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chichi Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:13 AM Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:13 AM shouldn't it be yup instead of "sup"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferno Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:27 AM Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:27 AM what's up --> wassup --> sup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xiao Kui Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:36 AM Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:36 AM Possible replies to "What's up?": nothing much, whassup with you? OR same old, same old OR Actually tell the person what's going on in your life. A friend of mine in Chengdu who was sick of teaching "Hello. How are you? I'm fine, thank you. And you? " which no one actually says, taught her kindergarten students the following dialogue: "Hey Harry, what's up? Nothing much, What's up with you?" It was pretty cute seeing them talk this way around the school. Back in the day (1980s) we would respond to "What's up?" with "the ceiling" or "my pants", answering the question quite literally. How cheesy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chichi Posted March 10, 2006 at 06:06 AM Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 06:06 AM 谢谢大家，下次别人再和我打招呼，我就不用装作没听见了， Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mugi Posted March 10, 2006 at 09:25 AM Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 09:25 AM what is the corresponding Chinese for "what's up?"? 最近混得怎么样? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrianlondon Posted March 10, 2006 at 10:21 AM Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 10:21 AM You have to just learn all these different greetings by heart, really, and understand that the original meaning behind the question has gone. When I first visited Australia (I'm from England) it confused me that people kept saying "see you later" when I left a shop or restaurant, even if they knew I was never coming back. Say "see you later" in the UK and you're meant to mean it I guess it's like asking "have you eaten yet?" in Chinese. You don't really want someone to start explaining what they've just had for dinner. Being reserved and British, I usually respond to the American "wassup!!!!" with "Hi". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amego Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:02 PM Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 at 03:02 PM I guess it's like asking "have you eaten yet?" in Chinese. You don't really want someone to start explaining what they've just had for dinner. Haha, true 吃饱了没有 = How are you? Being reserved and British, I usually respond to the American "wassup!!!!" with "Hi". I usually say "Yo". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrinkDrankDrunk Posted March 11, 2006 at 04:28 AM Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 at 04:28 AM Heh one of my favorite pastimes is to translate idioms from english to chinese and the literal translations are hilarious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chichi Posted March 11, 2006 at 05:50 PM Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2006 at 05:50 PM How I wish I knew someone like you when I was pursuing a BA in English so that I could always provide such a "pastime" for him/her which was actually endless homework. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipponman Posted March 15, 2006 at 06:31 PM Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 at 06:31 PM An increasingly common way to reply/replace 'whassup' is with, 'whas good wit u?' or 'whas good'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parasite Posted March 19, 2006 at 10:02 PM Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 at 10:02 PM 怎么是你？ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
count_zero Posted April 2, 2006 at 01:37 AM Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 at 01:37 AM It's true, the culturally correct response sould be 'nothing much'. Or if someone asks you what you did last night you should also say 'nothing much' or 'not a lot'. If you start launching in to how you read a dostoyevski or translated a short story from Chinese to English or something people will look at you like 'Why are you telling me this?' If I ask a Chinese person 'how are you'. They often say 'so so'. In fact the correct response is 'fine' or 'good, good'. Even if you are dying of prostate cancer the appropriate answer is still 'I'm fine'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
owshawng Posted April 2, 2006 at 08:46 PM Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 at 08:46 PM To reply to "wassup" you could say "How u doing" short for "How are you doing?" It's the New Jersey/New York City english version of Ni hao. People don't really expext a detailed answer to this. Most likely you would say good, good; Hanging in there; How you doing? etc as a reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Junrui Posted April 3, 2006 at 05:05 AM Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 at 05:05 AM Personally, I don't like when I ask people "What's up?" and they answer with "not much" and the like. When I'm asked that I usually just tell them what I'm doing at the moment or whatever, such as downloading programs or looking at forums. But that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mind_wander Posted April 6, 2006 at 12:08 PM Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 at 12:08 PM chichi, I can answer the question about how to respond to "what's up", since your in the Northeast, while I am from NY; the same cultural respects are the same. In order to respond it correctly, it really depends: A) African-Americans, you just respond back as "what's up" back to them as an acknowledgement, then say "nothing", "not much", "ok", "chilling-stand still"etc. All this must me SHORT term conversation response, anything longer will result in a negative response(making you look stupid). This is there cultural thing! B) Others, you just respond back as "I am doing ok", "alright", "Doing great", etc. Something close to this, it can be alittle longer, but don't make it too longer than 5 words. I hope this helps, been in the US for a long time, during high school, populated African-Americans had tested me with "whats up." The same difficulty in which your having, on how to approach this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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