3 Responding to xièxie (thanks)
In Week 1, you learnt how to respond to thanks using bú xiè. Listen to the recording to refresh your memory.
Download this audio clip.Audio player: lxc001_wk2_act_aud003.mp3
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Now listen to the following recording and pay attention to another way of responding to xièxie. Reveal the transcript whilst repeating, if you wish.
Download this audio clip.Audio player: lxc001_wk2_act_aud004.mp3
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Respond to xièxie
As with many other languages, there are different ways to respond to ‘thank you’ in Chinese. Apart from bú xiè (lit. no thanks), bú kèqi (lit. no polite) is another commonly used expression. It is the equivalent to ‘you are welcome’ in English. Here are some other expressions that can be used:
- Nǐ tài kèqi le (lit. ‘you too polite’) It can be loosely translated as ‘you are very welcome.’
- Zhè méi shénme (lit. ‘this no thing’) It means ‘it is nothing’. Another similar expression is Méi shìr (lit. ‘no thing’). Again, it means ‘nothing’ or ‘no big deal’.
- Yīnggāi de (lit. should be) By saying this, the speaker thinks what he/she did is his/her duty.
Note that people respond to xièxie with different expressions depending on the context. The important thing is to be polite and show your gratitude.
Activity 4
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