Using maybe in almost every sentence is the quirk of Chinese behaviour which foreigners tend to find most irritating.
I assume it’s a product of the excessive – and rather fake – humility which dogs this culture. People litter their utterances in Chinese with similar markers of vacillation (可能, or 也许?) in order not to seem excessively confident in making a statement about something. But if this is something that is definitely within your knowledge – “What time does the train leave?”, “Do you like coffee?” – the ‘maybe’ tic is exasperating.
If you know, just say so. If you’re not sure, begin with I think.
If you’re having to make a complete guess, begin with a phrase like It’s probably… or It might be… If you’re really uncertain, you can sometimes say perhaps.
But never, never, NEVER say maybe.
1 comment:
One of the worst examples of this I encountered was a few years ago when a friend had been visiting from the UK.
She wasn't sure what time her return flight was - either 10am or 11am the next day, I think: that makes a hell of a difference as to what time you set out, since peak rush-hour traffic between 8am and 9am can sometimes add as much as an hour to the taxi ride to the airport.
I called Air China for her to confirm her seat and check the departure time. The girl I spoke to had pretty good English, but every time I asked her the time of the flight, she answered with a 'maybe'. I tried four or five times to get more convincing confirmation: "Are you sure about that? It's definitely at 10.30?" EVERY BLOODY TIME she slipped a hesitant-sounding 'maybe' into the end of her sentence.
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