Does English sound ruder than Chinese?

[PJ]

OK, for example, I was just looking at a discussion on another forum, where poster #1 posted a statement, then poster #2 questioned the validity, and poster #1 replied saying:

"I would stay out of topics where you have no knowledge about the subject."

Does it sound harsh/unkind to you?

Now, if somebody said it in Chinese, it would be something like:

请不要对你不了解的subject发言!

If you are fluent in both Chinese and English, which statement do you find harsherer/unkinder?

[PJ]

Another thing that makes Chinese forums seem "nicer" than English ones, is that I often find "fluffy" posts on Chinese forums. What I mean is posts that are padded with "~~~~" and "lah". I see that more prevalent in Chinese communities.

[devilz91]

OK, for example, I was just looking at a discussion on another forum, where poster #1 posted a statement, then poster #2 questioned the validity, and poster #1 replied saying:

"I would stay out of topics where you have no knowledge about the subject."

Does it sound harsh/unkind to you?

Now, if somebody said it in Chinese, it would be something like:

請不要對你不瞭解的subject發言!

If you are fluent in both Chinese and English, which statement do you find harsherer/unkinder?

In the Chinese translation you make more of a request whereas the English version is more of a declarative statement, i.e. I'm telling you to do this. Which is ruder. To translate back to English your sentence would be "Please do not speak about subjects you don't know about." Which isn't as rude as the original.

But I do find English ruder in general and sometimes I come off rude when I don't even mean to.

[shortsight]

In terms of verbal, I actually find cantonese the rudest of all but the level of tolerance to cantonese-speaking people is also higher. A lot of foul words littered in better sentences but rarely people take offense to those as it has become part of the sentence strcuture.

[xJadedx]

Any language can be rude depending on how you word things. But just based on pure sound, Chinese sounds harsher than English, so I suppose more "rude."

[ByTmE]

I must agree with Jaded on this one. I don't speak Chinese and can't understand it, but I'm always under the impression that old Chinese people enjoy yelling while young Chinese people enjoy mumbling. I'm not really a fan of the way the Vietnamese language sounds, however, I once had a classmate that spoke it very beautifully and that left an impression on me.

Lots of people think my Cambodian sounds really "gentle" but someone who doesn't understand would never say I'm speaking the same language as the Cambodian lady who sells fish at the Central Market just based on "hearing" LOL My English is like my Cambodian; I am polite but not demure. I would definitely agree that it depends on the person's manner of speaking, volume, and voice.

[dictionary]

Lots of people think my Cambodian sounds really "gentle" but someone who doesn't understand would never say I'm speaking the same language as the Cambodian lady who sells fish at the Central Market just based on "hearing" LOL

Haha. So true. I used to live next to Cambodians and I thought the language sounded weird. But I think it's mostly due to my neighbor yelling and cussing all the time. I got to hear how the language properly sounds when I watched some of the Chinese series dubbed in Cambodian, and I actually like the way it sounds. I agree with you "that it depends on the person's manner of speaking, volume, and voice."

I can't answer the original question since my knowledge of Chinese is so limited. However, I can say that my native language sounds less rude than English. Even the cuss words are more tamed compared to the bad words in English.

[HuangYushi]

Sometimes, it's not about the sound, volume or tone of voice, but about the listener's comprehension and understanding of the language. Once, a friend got offended because I spoke to her with a sentence that started with these English words: "I hate it when .... " After a long long time, I finally understood the reason behind the offence. My friend simply did not understand the phrase that I used. She actually honestly thought that I was hating HER, instead of whatever situation that was annoying me at that time. I apologised to her (it made her feel better) and made a note to myself to keep things simple and avoid certain phrases when talking even to English-speaking friends.

[ByTmE]

^^LOL @Yushi!! Unfortunate but FUNNY! haha

[sniffles]

Sometimes, it's not about the sound, volume or tone of voice, but about the listener's comprehension and understanding of the language.

This is very true. I used to think Chinese sounded very harsh, and it seemed to me that Chinese speakers were always aggressive when they spoke. But now that I know some Mandarin, it sounds quite normal to me, with as much nuance as English.

The attitude of the listener is a great influence on the experience of hearing, as well. If a person has low self-esteem or is easily angered, they're more likely to perceive other people's speech as rude or offensive. You also need to have good empathy to avoid taking things as offensive. The ability to put yourself in the other person's place lets you better understand their intent.

[Ken Cheng]

This is very true. I used to think Chinese sounded very harsh, and it seemed to me that Chinese speakers were always aggressive when they spoke. But now that I know some Mandarin, it sounds quite normal to me, with as much nuance as English.

The attitude of the listener is a great influence on the experience of hearing, as well. If a person has low self-esteem or is easily angered, they're more likely to perceive other people's speech as rude or offensive. You also need to have good empathy to avoid taking things as offensive. The ability to put yourself in the other person's place lets you better understand their intent.

What about empathy on the part of the speaker? The speaker has just as much responsibility (if not more) to consider the sensibilities of the listener as the listener does the intent of the speaker.

[IPlayWow]

I haven't read anything except for the topic question so here is what I think....


What about the tone of voice? it doesn't matter what language you're speaking in....

lets say Pikachu speak

and obvious the only word is pikachu. but the tone of voice is like this, when pikachu is normal than it's just pikachu but when pikachu get angry and mad it's PiiiiKAAA CHUUUUUU <<<<< thundershock lol

[sniffles]

What about empathy on the part of the speaker? The speaker has just as much responsibility (if not more) to consider the sensibilities of the listener as the listener does the intent of the speaker.

Very true.