Main Site Blog Help

Talking like a man

Lesson Suggestion
#1

Suggested Difficulty (Elementary etc): ____
Video or Audio: ____
Lesson Idea: Hi @Constance_Fang and Team,

Intermediate Qing Wen idea. I’ve been trying out the intensify phrases with my Beijing mates. Like 不要不要的 and 不得了， and 翻了。Well it’s true that these phrases generated some laughs, but seriously my 东北好朋友 asked me why I’m talking like a little girl. Only schoolgirls use those phases has been the grumbling from my male and female friends here. Maybe there’s a north / south cultural difference going on. But I think I’ve uttered my last 不要不要的 in Beijing for now.

I’d love to know what you think; are there more wild and manly phrases that I can use with my meat chomping mates from 黑龙江 here? I don’t want to be thrown out of our 白酒抽烟 club for girly talk. 谢谢你！

2 Likes
#2

This is an issue that concerns me.

#3

Agreed. It’s especially dangerous for some of us who interact with Chinese girls a lot…it’s sometimes hard to tell when a newly learned word is gendered trap

#4

It would be so interesting to see a few lessons or even just incorporate the differences in what females and males would say in all the lessons. I really love the current lessons because they really do emphasize how girls would talk to each other… but I really do believe there should be more male influence in the lessons. Perhaps you could bring on more men into the Chinesepod Team and they could interact with each other more? There used to be more of a balanced team before many of them left.

#5

哈哈Perhaps it’s time for Gwylim to jump on a plane for a visit to the North to pick up some 东北话. There was a pod ages ago by John P in the Shanghai days which gently discussed stereotypes of north and south. Can’t recall it exactly, but my takeaway which I still use every meeting in the north was - 东北人爱面子。南方人审慎。Seems to work a treat every time I trot it out, followed by a hearty round of 干了干了干了！The nice thing about that pod is it seems to be a culturally acceptable stereotype. No matter if I’m in the south, they like thinking of northerners as crude OK没问题人, and northern folk see that as a badge of honour compared to cautious southerners (more concerned about money than honoring deals made in smoke fillled rooms). That’s kind of what I was aiming for in looking for some more manly business phrases. Not exclusively male, but attuned to the world of mainland business men and officials aged 40 to 60 where 不要不要的，just don’t cut it. :smile:

#6

This is what you say to business people who like drinking hard liquor

“今天我們不醉不歸”
Today we are not leaving until we’re drunk.

In all honesty though it’s best to be your own man around men and not to say or do things just to fit in. If you are actually conducting business with these people I would refrain from using Chinese if you aren’t sure about what your saying. By attempting to gain face you may in fact lose face by as you said “speaking like a girl”.

2 Likes
#7

Hahaha!!! You’re the best!! :slight_smile:

#8

There seriously needs to be some manly conversation sessions on Chinesepod. They should seriously get into manly business talk or bar talk. That would be so amusing for all the women to watch!!!

#9

Well…I did some research about how men talks differently from women in Mandarin. I had help from Taiwanese men and men from mainland. It sounds not much different except they speak in shorter sentences and “the phrases they use to intensify” but @GwilymJames once told me I’m not allowed to use dirty words here so I can’t give any example about how to talk manly here.

Ladies：今天真是冷得不要不要的！
Men：今天真是XXX冷！

1 Like
#10

@YuQinCai you can use bad language as long as it’s got educational value :slight_smile:

If it’s written in English, just put some #@*& in-between the first and last letters. Today is so f^$&$**g hot!

1 Like
#11

Actually,
ladies to men : 今天真是冷得不要不要的！
men to ladies : 今天真是冷得不要不要的！
men to men: : 今天真是XXX冷！
ladies to ladies : 今天真是XXX冷！

1 Like
#12

Some of the comments above are concerned with specifics of the topic rather than addressing the matter of lesson suggestions. I think there are two aspects to this topic.
Firstly, it is important that ChinesePod users should hear as many male as female voices. Although there have been some excellent male speakers in the past, female voices have always predominated.
Secondly, it would be useful to vary the dialogues so that there is a good balance between female/female, female/male and male/male conversations and to vary the speech styles accordingly.