HORSE HORSE TIGER TIGER.
 
If you come to study Chinese at That’s Mandarin in either of our schools in Shanghai or Beijing, you might be viewed as a rarity to some local Chinese people, and possibly that receive considerably more compliments than you might at home on a day-to-day basis. If you manage to greet your taxi driver and tell them your destination, you may be told in reply that your Chinese is extremely good：“你说得非常好(nǐ shuō de fēicháng hǎo)”.  
 
Although as foreigners we would see these compliments as somewhat over the top, the novelty of being told that you’re Chinese is excellent, you’re extremely clever or very handsome/ beautiful does, naturally, take a while to wear off. The more you study Chinese, the more you’ll come across vocabulary or phrases useful to this particular kind of situation. It’s handy to have a reply to such flattery, and in China this takes a particular form which is as follows: when someone compliments you they will generally use words like really, very or extremely. They won’t do it by halves. However, when replying to the compliment, no matter how much truth you think there may be in there, it’s generally expected that you should disagree.  
 
When you visit China, you’ll find yourself involved in this little song and dance of (albeit potentially false) flattery and modesty. So should you want to handle such a situation the way a local would, here are a couple of Chinese phrases for you from us at That’s Mandarin Shanghai to help you out.  
 
Firstly “哪里哪里(nali nali)?” or translated literally as “where, where?” is used in the sense of you replying “Where is my good Mandarin?”, “Where are my good looks?” and so on. This is often used in a situation where you meet someone for the first time and are complimented. Another tactic is to reply with the phrase “马马虎虎(mǎmǎhūhū)”, which literally translated as “horse horse tiger tiger”. This means that something is not special, but it is mediocre. Why, you ask? Well, the idea behind this one is that if something is “马马虎虎(mǎmǎhūhū)” it is neither one nor the other; it is so-so. So when you begin to study the origin of the phrase, it actually starts to make a lot more sense, doesn’t it?
 
So being complimentary and being modest are two seemingly equally important parts of Chinese culture, and unless with friends or family, this rule of thumb is best adhered to.

The more you study Chinese, the more you’ll come across vocabulary or phrases useful to this particular kind of situation.
 
If you’d like to know more weird and wonderful phrases, then why not get in touch and get involved with the That’s Mandarin team. The beauty of classes here is that you can study whatever form of Chinese that you want, what’s most interesting or most important to you.