The Six Stages of How a Husband Addresses His Partner in China

Today I will introduce to you one of my favorite lessons that I teach my foreign students. This topic is about how we address each other in China. It's quite different from how people in the west address each other. In particular, I will explain to you all of the different ways that a man might address his wife throughout their lifetime together.

Nǐ jiào shénme míngzi?
你 叫 什么 名字?
What is your name?

This question is fairly straightforward in western countries. In professional situations, you may include your job title. In educational situations, "Mr." and "Mrs." may be used. In friendly, social situations, when it comes to addressing one another, first names are generally used in western countries. However, in China, we will usually introduce ourselves with:

First: family name 姓 (xìng)
Second: given name 名 (míng)

We can look at this as a series of six stages:

From the first time that Mr. Zhang meets his future wife, he may call her "李丽红 (Lǐ Lìhóng)". In Chinese, 李 (Lǐ) is the family name, and 丽红(Lìhóng) is the given name of the woman. In China, when we meet or are introduced to strangers, we will address them by family name and then given name. This formality indicates that the relationship is not yet very close. If Mr. Zhang were to address his future wife as "丽红 (Lìhóng)" when they just met, he would be seen as overly bold and presumptuous.

As Mr. Zhang begins dating 李丽红 (Lǐ Lìhóng) 1-on-1, Mr. Zhang will begin to call her 丽红(Lìhóng), omitting the family name. This indicates a closer relationship between the two, as he now uses the first name to replace the full name that he used before.

Once Mr. Zhang becomes even closer with 李丽红 (Lǐ Lìhóng), to the point he considers her his girlfriend, Mr. Zhang will simply call his girlfriend...Read More

In case you've just started learning Chinese, "traditional Chinese" refers to the characters used before simplification reforms enacted during the second half of the 20th century in Mainland China. This means that traditional characters are still being used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and in many overseas Chinese communities. Simplified characters are then, as the name implies, simplifications of the traditional characters.

For most people, teaching simplified Chinese characters is the obvious choice, because most Chinese-speaking people in the world use them. People living in Taiwan or Hong Kong naturally learn the traditional character set. So perhaps it really comes down to where you're born or live.
The two character sets have their own pros and cons.

Traditional:
Provides more visual cues to support reading and helps facilitate learning and character recognition; Researchers have explained how this often helps young children recognize traditional characters more easily than simplified characters. Also, learning traditional characters first can present an easier transition to simplified later on. However, traditional characters can take longer to learn how to write and there are fewer resources in the US and it is sometimes harder to access materials unless you buy/ship from Taiwan/Hong Kong.

Simplified:
Strengthens visual and spatial relationship skills due to the way simplified characters are structured and formed. Simplified characters provide fewer visual cues so they require the student to ...Read More