Learning more about Chinese people (2)
You have learned some Mandarin or Cantonese and you are able to understand and hold some elementary conversation with the Chinese.By the time you get acquainted with new Chinese friends or business people they will tell you that you speak Chinese very well. Actually, even if you only can pronounce a few sentences they will tell you exactly the same, they will tell you that you speak very, very well (they know, however, that your Mandarin (or Cantonese) is poor and at the same time they truly admire you because you are trying to speak a very difficult language).In these situations don’t simply say ‘Thank you’. If you say ‘thank you’ it will give the Chinese the assumption that you really think you speak very well.The best answer to give is ‘my Mandarin skills are poor’ or ‘no, no, I don’t speak well’.
