# Long time no hear



## kevsgirlalways

Hi all, just wanna ask if "Long time no see" in Mandarin is "hao jiu bu jian", then how do we say "long time no hear" in Mandarin?

Thanks...


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## Spectre scolaire

That’s a good question! Basically the same thing, I would say:

好久不见 hăo jiǔ bù jiàn

I guess this must be idiomatic. Seeing and hearing from somebody both imply “to meet with, to be exposed to”, and that is precisely what 见 means.

Another question is whether our new mobile telephone communication age has imposed some new idiom to emerge. I am not aware of it, but I would definitely like to know.

In any case, Chinese of the younger generation seem to be using the mobile phone for writing more than for “hearing”.
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## demoore

Yes because 见 kan be applied to 看见 (see) or 听见 (hear), cf chinese dictionary.
A chinese friend of mine told me that the English "Long time no see" comes from the Chinese 好久不见. Is it true?


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## samanthalee

demoore said:


> A chinese friend of mine told me that the English "Long time no see" comes from the Chinese 好久不见. Is it true?



The origin is unknown. There are some who believe that it was brought back by sailors as a joke on the broken English used by wharve workers in the Far East.
However, it is so similar in form to "No pain no gain" that it could be an actual English saying which resembles the Chinese phrase purely by coincidence.


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## Staarkali

I believe this comes from Chinese, English is a very rich language that took from every other great languages of this planet (great as spoken by lot of people);

It simply doesnt sound like English, but like Chinese translation; _no see_? wouldn't it be _no seeing_ in a more classical English? no trepassing, no spitting... Finally, I believe we haven't equivalent in Dutch, German and French, as if English has borrowed this expression from outside Europe

On the other hand, No pain no gain really does sound like English ( No + noun, the 2 nouns sound and spell like each other); Here we have equivalent in other European languages


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## LikeBarleyBending

In Chinese, "long time no hear" might be “好久没有联系”or “好久没有你的消息”.


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## kevsgirlalways

LikeBarleyBending said:


> In Chinese, "long time no hear" might be “好久没有联系”or “好久没有你的消息”.



Hi, can you let me know in Pinyin? I don't know how to read Chinese..thanks..


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## LikeBarleyBending

好久没有联系 hao3 jiu3 mei2 you3 lian2 xi4
好久没有你的消息 hao3 jiu3 mei2 you3 ni3 de xiao1 xi

Regards


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## Claudia64

Can I say "好久不见了“？ What 's the difference with "好久不见”？
Thanks


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## jesse111111

we usually say 好久不见。 but you can also say 好久不见了, there is a slight difference, i just cant tell.


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## kenjoluma

Claudia64 said:


> Can I say "好久不见了“？ What 's the difference with "好久不见”？
> Thanks



-le in the end of the sentence indicates the change of situation.

下雨。 (It rains.) 
下雨了。(It starts to rain, it didn't rain before, but now it does.)

好久不见 
好久不见了 both of them basically indicate the same situation but the latter emphasizes on the fact that now you see someone you haven't seen.

Hope it helps.


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## Claudia64

Thanks!  It helps me a lot!! 


jesse111111 said:


> we usually say 好久不见。 but you can also say 好久不见了, there is a slight difference, i just cant tell.



Thanks for the answer !


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## Skatinginbc

It is OK to write something like:
好久不聞其音，甚為思念
好久未聞其訊，甚是掛念
I was curious if "好久不聞了" (literally "long time no hear") actually existed, so I searched that phrase and to my surprise I found someone has used it for greeting (to a radio personality).
Of course, the suggestions offered in #8 are more idiomatic.


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