By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: Why do Chinese talk so damn loud?
I really get annoyed going to a restaurant to have a meal and some assholes five tables away are talking so loud that everyone in the restaurant can hear their never-ending bullshit. It's bad enough that they fill the place with smoke and spit on the floor, but they force other people to talk loudly just to hear the conversation at their own table. And not restaurant manager will dare to tell them to turn down the volume.
The same shit happens on the subway with people talking on their mobile phones. What's up with this volume thing?
Chinese language is 'pronunciation' based language. If word in Chinese is pronounced different, it gets completely new meaning. That's why all 'dasheng' thingy!
RiriRiri:
Yeah, sure.
Taiwanese, Hong-kongers and generally speaking all the Chinese with a little bit of education, they just speak a custom version of Mandarin/Cantonese. Is that how it is in your fantasy or do you have a better excuse?
icnif77:
My fantasy! There was 1 million Qs this morning from the same poster, so I guess I get a bit annoyed.
BuTT.....once I asked very lively class of 9-10Y olds: 'Do you know Yao Ming?' Silence in the class.
Later TA told me, kids understood I'm asking about 'death and graveyards', because of my (incorrect) pronunciation.
I know 10 Chinese words!
RiriRiri:
I can only suggest you get a grasp at how the tone system works then.
You can speak perfectly neat mandarin without the need to yell ever. Breaking news, you can even whisper mandarin.
In fact, yellers usually tend to speak the most disgusting and retarded-sounding accents of mandarin. Who'd believe.
icnif77:
I imitate my students, when I'm repeating after them. I must move my head (and neck) to get out similar sound. e.g. ''silence' in Chinese looks like 'I'm dancing' 'phon. 'anzjeee'!
However, I'm doing it to show them how difficult is for me to speak proper Chinese, so kids would realize their English mistakes are not that grave.
I've never found interest to learn Chinese, because I can't read Chinese. I can only copy their sounds, but 5' later, I cannot look at my notes and repeat the same word.
Kids (8-10Y) are teaching me Chinese, while we walk home for lunch. They can't tell me English meaning of the new word, so I must repeat word till afternoon's classes, when I see Chinese teacher, who give me an English translation. Last time, she put her hand over her mouth, and walked out of the office, after I told her my new word. Translation of the new Chinese word was 'f. cunt'
Kids are bad!
I asked a local friend the very same question.
I was told that this is from the time that most people were farmers and had to use loud voices to converse with each other in the fields. It is a habit that has never changed.
i am not so sure.
It could be that 'he who speaks loudest is the most important'
Mobile phone : the person you are calling is maybe very far, so you need to talk louder, everybody knows that.
Restaurant : if you don't feel disturbed by others talking loud, why you would feel bad talking loud yourself ? And it gives a lively atmosphere.
MAYBE IT IS JUST PART OF GENERALLY LOW SOCIAL SKILLS
Probably to drown out the Americans who are notoriously loud.
I think it starts in primary school and continues from there. If you are in a room with 50, 60, or 70 + students the only way to be heard during class breaks is to scream and yell. Later in life as you walk down a street how else could you hear each other over the constant car horns and loud speakers every other shop thinks it need to have draw attention to itself?
Because they can't hear themselves with the obnoxious white laowais constantly yelling next to them.
DrMonkey:
With 0.01% of the population being foreigner, of which laowais are just a fraction of that already small population ^^
Everyday I must struggle with this problem in the faculty room. I am surrounded by eight female Chinese teachers who got gigantic lungs. I am nobody to correct or change their habit so I found two ways to entertain myself instead. Every time they have a session，I use my earphones to listen to my fave songs, i turn up the volume when their voices gets louder. I also watch their mouth move, and relates that to the shape of their "flower".
How else would your precious self stand out and impress others?
Not by saying anything meaningful or intelligent for sure.
What about phones?
Well people are so far away, how can they hear you if you don't speak loud.
It's due to lack of consideration for other people, pretty simple. It's why you see people walking around blasting music on radios. They could use earphones, but that would require considering other people.
It seems that you haven't been in china for a long time. That is not the worst, you will have to put up with worse behaviors and manners than that, chinese are very shellfish they just care about themselves, don't expect that in the restaurant the other customers care about you and I give you a personal advice. Make good friends in china foreigners or chinese who can help you in case you have a serious problem, no one is going to help you if you don't give a feedback
harryjohn:
it is hard to justify a bigger issue. i have chinese friends and they dont talk like what we are describing. i am not sure if they got it from good education or breeding.
