Stance-taking / Epistemic stances in Chinese
Activities (Lesson Plans)
Refusals in Chinese
PRACTICAL IDEAS AND RESOURCES
Resources in this section curated by: Jaidan McLean
How to Politely Decline an Invitation in Chinese | Blog Post
This brief, yet thorough TutorMing article gives five key phrases for refusing an invitation. Included with the phrases are descriptions of what specific characters in each example mean, as well as cultural explanations associated with the phrase. For example, one of the invitation refusals that this page provides is 改天吧 (gǎitiān ba; ‘next time’) which the author explains is a refusal that is subtly declining all future invitations in addition to the one in a potential exchange. This sort of pragmatic information is critical when teaching a language, but is not always incorporated into the grammar and vocabulary of the classroom.
Title | How to Reject an Invitation KINDLY in Chinese | YouTube Video
This video by Chilling Chinese on how to refuse invitations is super useful for any level of learner. The curator of this project has been studying Chinese for almost four years now, and still has a lot to learn because even simple “how to” videos like this are still teaching them more and more all of the time. The video here includes multiple refusal phrases with the text on screen and the host saying them, in addition to the phrases being included in the description for easy access. The host, Karen, breaks down chunks and characters of each phrase in their specific meaning and how it relates to the refusal, because multiple specific situations such as refusing a service to refusing a request are described.
Chinese Refusals | Article
The CARLA website is an incredibly useful source for getting an easy-to-understand breakdown of pragmatic function, and this page on refusal strategies in Chinese is no different. The Chinese refusals page includes a description of refusal types based on the directness as well as additional pragmatic features. More specifically, refusal types are divided into two categories, substantive and ritual refusals. Ritual refusals are almost always obligatory in Chinese where speakers should refuse multiple times before accepting. Substantive refusals are the type where a speaker’s intention is to actually say “no” in a negative response. This page explains the refusal strategies much more in detail, as well as include many useful examples of their use in Chinese.
10 Ways to Say No in Chinese Nicely | YouTube Video
This short YouTube video offers ten ways to nicely reject a request in Chinese. The video includes the ten phrases, as well as a Chinese speaker repeating each refusal. The focus on a request is a useful aspect of this video because learners can use it to easily access a list catered to that exchange rather than having to skim through for request refusals amongst compliments, invites, offers, etc. study from or reference in the future for refusals.
Travel in Chinese Lesson 34 Peking University CCTV News CNTV English | DailyMotion Video
The Travel in Chinese lessons are part of a 15-minute broadcast that used to come on in the early 2000’s on China Central Television (CCTV). Although the lessons were broadcasted on CCTV-9 in China, the segments are widely used by Chinese instructors and learners. This particular video focuses on appointments, but includes an exchange between one of the main characters and her old classmate. In this exchange, two compliments and indirect refusals are given at timestamp 1:40-2:00. That segment of this clip is used in the activity provided under the “Activity” tab at the top of this website.
Chinese Words You Learn That We NEVER Actually Use | YouTube Video
Compared to the Chilling Chinese 2018 video (seen toward the top of this page), this video is a more informal one that breaks down certain misconceptions of phrases commonly taught in the classroom but are never truly used by L1 Chinese speakers. The video is entertaining while also informative as it covers quite a few pragmatic functions that instructors could discuss or use in their classroom. Specifically from timestamp 2:07-2:33 is the part of the video where the host discuss refusals, specifically 哪里哪里 (nǎlǐ nǎlǐ).
Don’t compliment a Chinese unless you want to get insulted | TikTok
The 20 second TikTok from @candiselin86 shows a comedic, yet accurate depiction of compliment refusals in Chinese. The video creator is a speaker of both Mandarin and Cantonese and offers many cultural tips on her account. This video in particular was chosen to be used in the assignment included in this curation project under the “Activity” tab. Although the video was initially made to show how Chinese speakers may seem “rude” by their persistence to refuse a compliment, it acts as a useful example of different refusal strategies. In the video, the “character” uses multiple refusal strategies, such as a direct “no,” giving an alternative reason to downplay the compliment, and finally the “you need glasses” refusal that the creator is implying could be offensive.
Common Refusal | Image
Dr. Jean Wu is an upper division Chinese instructor at the University of Oregon, who focuses on pragmatics and L2 curriculum development. 吴老师 (Dr. Jean Wu) is this curation project’s current Chinese instructor, so the two had a conversation in class on Chinese refusals. She explained that the sort of “catch all” refusal that is so commonly taught, 哪里哪里, actually is not appropriate to use with minus social distance situations, such as with a teacher or employer. A much more appropriate minus social distance refusal is 过奖过奖, which means “you overpraise me” and is a more humble response than the directness of “no way” (哪里哪里). Along with this, 吴老师 adds that responding with 过奖过奖 will be seen as more impressive than 哪里哪里 because it shows a deeper cultural and pragmatic understanding of Chinese.
How Chinese People Say “No” in Various Ways | Blog Post
This Dig Mandarin webpage explores “real” and “ritual” refusals, while also giving specific examples of types of refusals. In other words, the page breaks down refusal types into four specific categories based on what they are refusing: invitations, offers, unsolicited suggestions, or requests. Since many sources of refusals in Chinese focus on compliments, this page is really useful in learning additional refusal exchanges that occur and how to approach them. In addition, audio clips of each example are available alongside the written phrases for language listening skills and accessibility. The photo included shows examples of refusals that are “real” rather than “ritual” in which the speaker is truly giving a negative response rather than an intended “yes” with the culturally obligatory “no.”
Saying “No” in China | Blog Post
It comes as no surprise that an article from The China Culture Corner primarily discusses the cultural aspect of saying “no” in Chinese. More specifically, this article explains six refusal strategies from the perspective of culture. These six strategies are expressing embarrassment, being purposefully vague, making excuses, telling “white lies,” putting things off, and offering a positive before a negative. Although these are more methods of refusal than actual linguistic strategies, the theme of these methods of saying “no” continue to relate back to saving face and maintaining respect from others.
Responding to Compliments 哪裡哪裡！| YouTube Video
The short video discusses the use of 哪里哪里 (nǎlǐ nǎlǐ; ‘where where’) which has been a commonly taught phrase in many Chinese foreign language. classrooms. The video also offers a few other compliment refusal phrases, which are accompanied by the two hosts conversing with each. The audio and visual aspects to the phrases is a beneficial part of the video, however many note in the comments of the video and research will agree that the video’s lesson is outdated in promoting 哪里哪里 over more appropriate refusals. This video can still be used in varying ways though, such as acting as an example for learners to critique or compare to other sources.
5 Ways to Deflect a Compliment in Chinese | Blog Post
This Yoyo Chinese page discusses five strategies, to appropriately deflect a compliment in Chinese. The five described are feigning surprise, deflecting, sharing credit, returning the compliment, and disagreeing. Each of these strategies includes several examples of appropriate phrases to use in refusing a compliment. Along with the examples is a short video on the denial culture of “accepting” a compliment in Chinese. The video offers another approach at explaining the aspect of saving face in Chinese culture, and how it influences compliment refusals.
How Chinese People Actually Say "No" | Blog Post
Unlike the other Yoyo Chinese article written by Julie Tha Gyaw (see Gyaw 2014 under “Chinese” tab), this webpage explains Chinese refusal techniques in a way that is much more accessible to a lay reader. The page is written in a way that is describing what “you” as a non-Chinese speaker would receive as a refusal, rather than the webpage being written with the intent to teach the audience specific refusal phrases in Chinese. This difference is really useful for beginners, especially since each refusal situation presented is accompanied by a description of an example scenario, “what it actually means,” and a tidbit about the pragmatics of the refusal phrase.
Chinese Culture: Losing Face 中国文化；丢脸／有没有面子 | YouTube Video
This YouTube video on losing face in Chinese culture by user Lena Elsborg is great for Chinese learners to watch because it showcases real-world experiences of situations in which appropriate actions or phrases are not used. This video serves both as a learning opportunity from the creator’s mistakes, as well as a learning tool for explaining the important concept of maintaining 面子 (miànzi; ‘face’) in Chinese culture. Although no explicit pragmatic tools for refusals are explained in depth, the video can be used for adding a cultural aspect to instructing or learning Chinese.
ACADEMIC RESOURCES ON REFUSALS IN CHINESE
Resources in this section curated by: Jaidan McLean
Ma, R. (1996). Saying ”yes” for ”no” and ”no” for ”yes”: A Chinese rule. Journal of Pragmatics 25, 257-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(94)00098-0
The research done in this study focuses on the “contrary-to-face-value” or indirect messages pertaining to the pragmatics of refusal choices in Chinese. In other words, this article goes beyond a textually-based approach to refusing in Chinese that L2 learners are often taught to take, rather than a contextually-based approach. This article specifically discusses Chinese L2 pragmatics in the perspective of Anglo-American English speakers.
Based on the importance of saving face and keeping respect in Chinese culture, this article presents and identifies the “contrary-to-face-value communication” (CFVC) following two cultural motivators. The two cultural motivators are explained as the internal motivation of who the refusal will be serving, and the external speech of actually saying “yes” for “no” or “no” for “yes.” Four contexts with forms of CFVC are analyzed in this article, with explanations for the intended audience of Anglo-American English speakers on the Chinese culture of saving face.
Ren, W., Lin, C. Y., and Woodfield, H. (2016). Variational Pragmatics in Chinese: Some insights from an empirical study.
One takeaway from this article is that pragmatics on refusals vary on the Chinese spoken; whether Mainland Chinese, Taiwan Chinese, or Singapore Chinese. The study takes this Chinese variation and analyzes it using their refusal strategies as English L2 students. Although this study also involves students studying abroad and their English refusals, this study is not categorized under the “English” tab of this curation project, because the ultimate discussion of the study focuses on the socio-pragmatic variation of the Chinese-speaking regions.
In specifically discussing the Chinese variation, the authors compared the findings of direct and indirect responses given as well as the explicitness of the compliments used in the data collection. To summarize, the study found that Mainland and Taiwan Chinese speakers both preferred indirect refusals, as well as found that there actually was not a significant regional effect on the choice to refuse or not. And although this article did not present new information on Singapore Chinese with their study, the article does compare this finding of no significant effect to previous literature that found a significance in Singapore and Taiwan Chinese.
Yang, J. (2008). How to Say ‘No’ in Chinese: A Pragmatic Study of Refusal Strategies in Five TV Series. Proceedings of the 20th North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-20) 2, 1041-1058. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University.
This publication presents a study done in a more fun and unusual way than others included in this curation project. The study looks at 160 video clips from five Chinese television series, 青鳥的天空 ‘The Sky of the Green Bird,’ 青春不解風情 ‘Youth does not understand the amorous feelings,’ 慾望 ‘The Desire,’ 編輯部的故事 ‘Stories of the Editors’ office,’ and 一地雞毛 ‘Trifles over the ground.’ Using video clips of refusal situations, the authors were able to identify four main exchanges in which refusals were used: request, offer, invitation, and suggestion.
These four types are fairly salient, so they were easier for the authors to narrow down and focus on for their data collection. Due to the large pragmatic emphasis on direct vs. indirect refusals, each TV scene was analyzed for which strategies in what type of situations would be used. The results seemed to be a bit more complex than expected, but makes a useful point in that sometimes individual choices may override the usually expected response, even in the case of TV writing.
