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What is the difference between 讲话 and 聊天？

#1

Can anyone explain the difference and give some examples?

#2

Hi there,

讲话 is just “to talk” and 聊天 is “to chat”. You can differentiate them in the following situations:

  • If you are in the haunting house alone and hear someone speaking:
    谁在讲话？

  • If you are a teacher finding your students talking during the class, you can either say
    谁在聊天？or 谁在讲话？

  • If you are the one who love speaking, no matter it’s on the stage, chatting or telling stories for kids. You can say
    我喜欢讲话

  • If you only enjoy talking with people, instead of just talking, you can say
    我喜欢聊天

#3

Thank you so much, this is so useful!!!

1 Like
#4

Hi, if i want to said I love to talk to you over the phone. Which one is the proper Chinese words to use? thanks

#5

What is the difference between these two and 说话？

#6

Hi @eddietiong,

In this case, since you are emphasizing “talking over the phone”, we would use 讲话 [jiǎng huà]. To make a more concise sentence, we can combine 讲话 [jiǎng huà] and 电话 [diàn huà] into 讲电话 [jiǎng diàn huà]. This implies “talking on the phone”

  • 我喜欢跟你讲电话 [wǒ xǐ huān gēn nǐ jiǎng diàn huà]
    I really like talking to you on the phone.

Cheers.

Hi @lallytina35,

When we use the phrase 说话, mostly we are talking about “this behavior”; therefore, 说话 and 讲话 are somehow interchangeable. For example,

  • 谁在讲话？＝谁在说话？
    我喜欢讲话＝我喜欢说话