# Well....



## Senordineroman

Can anyone tell me how to say _this _"well" in Chinese?

Let me think of a couple of examples: 

(A):  "Are you doing OK financially?"
(B):  "*Well....*I still have my job, but I have lost a lot of money on the stock market recently."  

(A):  "Can you go to the movies with me tonight?"
(B):  "*Well, *I already made plans with my friend, but I could meet with him another time."  

Thanks. Pinyin would be appreciated.


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## avlee

En...
Un...
Er...
Etc.
Anyting that indicates the interval of thinking will do.


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## fredisaking

這個嘛....
ㄜ(uh)....
恩(try saying 恨 with your mouth closed and lengthen it)....


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## Staarkali

You can't translate English *well *in Chinese for it is too English, it's a typical speaking habit, just like *那个 *in Chinese. You can't even translate *well *into French or other Western European languages.


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## Senordineroman

Staarkali - 

Oh, yes you _can _translate it into other Western languages.  That's why I was assuming that this is one of those conversation fillers which is universal. 

In Spanish, you have....

"*Pues, *yo creo que si."
"*Bueno, *para decir la verdad, no se."


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## Staarkali

I mean, we can say *bueno *in spanish or *bon *in French, but the feeling is not the same, therefore the usage is different. For example, you mention *pues* and *bueno* but the feeling is slightly different in each case.

At least, there is no one translation for that in other European languages. As for Chinese, I believe everyone will agree that 恩 is more like a long thinking in some case, a short answer in others, all tinged with a non negative feeling. For 那个嘛, you will never translate all the sentences with *well *with it, it's completely different.

You can't translate everything; at a lower level, try to find a unique translation for each of the fruits of the "berry family": *bilberry*, *huckleberry*, *whortleberry*, etc. The point is, if you can't translate such physical things as fruits in a language as rich a Mandarin, you probably won't be able to translate your *well*, which somehow lies at in a much higher level of communication (看起来很容易，可并不能翻译)

I've never said some languages have no conversation filters.


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## Senordineroman

Ok then, Staarkali!  We'll see if others respond.


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## IDK

Usually, a pause accompanied with some non-verbal communication is used. Perhaps a thoughtful look. If the "well" is uttered, it's usually the first word of the sentence.

你好嗎 _ni3 hao3 ma1_
我...很好。_wo3... hen3 hao3_

or even

啊...還好啦！_a... hai2 hao3 la1!_


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## Staarkali

yes, I guess the closest to the English *well* is the various 啊， 哦，嗯，么，etc. used at the beginning of the sentence.
A former boss of mine often used *么* (I'm not sure whether it is this character) when leading department meetings, it was used to introduced its thinking although the feeling was not the one of a *well*, it was closer to a but/actually thing, to counter some proposals from his 手下 that were not evidenced enough. He was using that 么 a lot.
I heard other people using it with a fewer rate (all in the Shanghai area).


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## IDK

Staarkali said:


> A former boss of mine often used *么*


 
How was 麼used? I'm curious to know, becuase I've never heard it used this way.


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## Staarkali

Actually, it's a typical speaking habit, I'm not even sure how to write it. For sure what I hear is "me" something, without any specific tone. The usage is just as mentionned above: if someone suggests something that was obviously not possible, he (my boss) would generally begin speaking by saying that (immediately followed by a short pause). It could have been a personal variation of French "mais" (he spent time in French speak african countries and could speak French a little) but since I have heard it from other people, I assume it does exist. Maybe also it's a typical Shanghainese habit;

Anyway I'm really not sure of this one..


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## CHinphilly

That's a fascinating discussion there.
I cannot speak for native English speakers, but in Chinese I think it is a bad habit to use "那个", "嗯". The analogy in English is some carry phrases such as "like", "you know"
One of my friends subconsciously says "like" a lot. I think it is bad. 
When native Spanish speakers speak English, they say "no?" a lot, like they do in Spanish, but obviously it doesn't exist in English to my best knowledge. (It's cute though)
My punch line is that you cannot literally translate everything from one language to another.
Anyone know "Allora" in Italian? I try not to use it when I speak Italian because I think it is bad habit.Is it?
Cheers


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## CHinphilly

Also I want to say that it is a waste of energy to learn something like this in Chinese. You won't miss anything without saying "well" equivalent in Chinese. 

Kristina-Maria


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## Senordineroman

CHinPhilly:  

Hola.  First of all, I'm a little curious as to how it is that those three languages listed are your _native _languages!  Whoa!  Daughter of a diplomat?  And what type of job do you have in academia?  Sounds interesting....

Umm, as a linguist, I disagree with what you're saying about not finding it worthwhile to learn words like, "Well", "like", etc.  I believe that it is perfectly natural for every language to have discourse markers and fillers, and it makes a non-native speaker sound more native-like to use them.  

If there isn't any equivalent in Chinese, that's OK.  I just thought that "Well..." was universal enough that it _would _have one.


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