# Interesting!



## Frenchman in Taipei

What is the Chinese word to say when I feel something looks/sounds interesting?

Can I say "有趣的!"?


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## OneStroke

Si vous voulez utiliser '有趣' comme interjection, je ne pense pas que 的 soit nécessaire parce qu'il ne modifie pas vraiment un nom. Je dirais 真有趣. C'est drôle mais je trouve qu'il est plus naturel d'ajouter un adverbe avant 有趣.


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## SuperXW

If you just say "有趣的！" People would think YOU are interesting because of your broken Chinese...  
You should say something like "有趣！" "有意思！"  instead.


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## yuechu

I think that in Chinese, it is less common to say that something is interesting than in English (or French, etc.).
Would you say so? (maybe just people's 习惯？）

I also wonder how to translate this sometimes...

Is there any difference between saying 有趣 and 有意思？I think 有趣 might have more of a positive connotation than 有意思, right?
Thanks!


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## Jack12345

yuechu said:


> 有趣 might have more of a positive connotation than 有意思, right?


Yes. 
有意思，可能是好的意思，可能是坏的。好的可能性大些。比如，
甲：对不起啊，把你的花盆打坏了。乙：你可真有意思，...
接下来的话才是“有意思”的真实含义，可能是原谅的，可能是指责的。
有趣也一样。比如：你可真有趣。如果没上下文，这个有趣并不好判断指好的还是坏的方面。
但总体来说，有趣指好的方面比有意思更多一些。


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## yuechu

Thanks for your explanations and example, Jack12345!


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## SimonTsai

我昨天在網路上看了一篇文章，還滿【有趣的】。那篇文章是有關數學的。它介紹了自古以來人們對質數的種種猜想。

有些人可能覺得統計很【好玩】，但我不覺得。也許是我只學過初統的關係，
對我而言，統計就是把一堆公式，在不知道它們怎麼來的的情況下統統記起來。


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## yuechu

Thanks for your examples, SimonTsai!


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## SimonTsai

Jack12345 said:


> 甲：对不起啊，把你的花盆打坏了。
> 乙：你可真有意思，......


I can imagine people in the mainland saying this, but wouldn't expect people around me, mostly Taiwanese, to use '有意思' this way.


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## albert_laosong

yuechu said:


> I think that in Chinese, it is less common to say that something is interesting than in English (or French, etc.).
> Would you say so? (maybe just people's 习惯？）


Yes, a little bit.  I think in English interesting is quite general and in most cases has positive meanings, for example you often use it as compliments. While in Chinese, you need to be careful when you say 有意思 as a compliment, because in many contexts it may not sound very respectful or very sincere, so even mean as a compliment it may offend people. 
For example only older or people in higher positions can say something like " 不错，你的这篇文章有点儿意思, it would be very offensive to do it the other way around.



yuechu said:


> Is there any difference between saying 有趣 and 有意思？I think 有趣 might have more of a positive connotation than 有意思, right?
> Thanks!


Both 有意思 and 有趣(儿） are common, but 有意思 is more often heard in conversations while 有趣 is more seen in writings, then有趣儿 is quite common in conversations. 
有意思 and 有趣 are very similar in meaning, but they also have many differences and so are not interchangeable in many contexts. But it's difficult to work out some rules here.

And another example where 有意思 is used in a negative way:
你这人真/挺有意思，你撞了我，我还没让你赔钱呢，你反倒让我赔你钱？
while 有趣 is normally positive.

In informal conversations, I think 好玩 is more common than有意思 which is in turn more common than 有趣(儿）.


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## yuechu

albert_laosong said:


> 你这人真/挺有意思，你撞了我，我还没让你赔钱呢，你反倒让我赔你钱？
> while 有趣 is normally positive.


I was about to write "That's so interesting" but then I realized that it might sound like a pun! You are right that "interesting" in English is usually positive.
Thanks for the examples you provided, Albert_laosong! It's quite different from how we use "interesting" in English.

谢谢！


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## Ghabi

In English "interesting" can be simply a vague, non-committal way to respond when someone tells you something. It doesn't mean you find the thing interesting. You may actually find it very boring or even objectionable. Translating that literally into Mandarin can sound weird.


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## yuechu

Ghabi said:


> In English "interesting" can be simply a vague, non-committal way to respond when someone tells you something. It doesn't mean you find the thing interesting. You may actually find it very boring or even objectionable.


Hi Ghabi!
You are right that this can be the case as well (if one is trying to be polite and doesn't know what to say, or does not want to offend). When I say something is "interesting" though, I usually mean it... but that may just be my usage! I think the intonation can change too, depending on the meaning.


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