A proper way to address a stranger 师傅 or 先生

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A proper way to address a stranger 师傅 or 先生
Aug 6, 2009 19:34
LILY521SMILE Points: 29 Join Date: Aug 3, 2009 Status: offline	It is always correct to address a man “先生 xiansheng (Sir)” and a girl “小姐 xiaojie (Miss)” all the time at different circumastances in China. But if you want to speak more specificly in a Chinese way, you should know the most common expression “师傅 shifu”. Just like “Sir/Madam”, 师傅 shīfu is a very common and polite Chinese term to call the skilled workers from working class , such as taxi-drivers, shop assistant, construction workers, repairmen, dustmen, doormen, cook, barbers, elderly workers, bakers, or anyone (elder people most of time) in the street when you want to ask for help but you don’t know their name. It can be used to address men as well as women, more likely to be male than female. If we know the skilled worker’s family name (Zhang, Wang or something), we address him/her 张师傅 Zhang Shifu or 王师傅 Wang Shifu. If you really want to match an equavalent English translation to “师傅 shīfu “, “Sir” is all right, they are still not the same in a formal way in terms of their social context. However, “Sir 先生 (xiansheng) /Madam 女士(nvshi) /Miss 小姐 (xiaojie)” is a borrowed term from English and French to formally and politely address a person who is somewhat from upper class. We often call a stranger at a meeting or other public gatherings “Sir 先生(xiansheng) /Madam女士(nvshi) /Miss 小姐(xiaojie)” to start a conversation, just because you know eaxactly they are not workers. For the staff in a restaurant, we call a waiter or waitress “服务员” (wufu yuan), which means a staff to serve (fuwu). At a hotel, we also call a roomkeeper “服务员” (wufu yuan) . Alternatively, you may call the female staff “小姐” (xiaojie, Miss) all the time for a polite manner. But we still call the taxi-drivers, doormen and the bellmen 师傅 (shifu) most of the time. UID9 Posts862 Digest0 Credits0 Permission30 Online128 hours Registered29-7-2008 Last login6-8-2009 Profile Quote Magic tool Report Reply TOP
	Last edited by LILY521SMILE: Aug 6, 2009 19:36

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