When being asked your age in Mandarin, what number do you give?
I ask because I noticed three things:
1) The actual question is Mandarin is "how old are you this year"?, which to me can either mean "what is your age right now?" or "when your birthday came/comes this year, how old will you be?"
2) In Wikipedia it says there are different ways to calculate your age in the Chinese culture, but nothing really conclusive.
3) I once asked this question to a Chinese person and instead of giving me a number she gave me the year of birth, so I guess she wanted to avoid the ambiguity.
So my question is: When asked this question by a Chinese person, what do you actually give as a reply?
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 8
3
well, in China,you can give the year of birth or the number,both okay.
usually,our age is 1 or 2 years oleder because we count our age according to lunar calendar。
when a baby is born,he or she is already 1 year old.and we add our years of ege every Spring Festival.
for axample, if you are born in December,then you are 1 year old right away. and if it is Spring Festival in 2 months, you will be 2 years old then.
1
There isn't any difference between the age in China and other countries. (You just say the number of years).
Instead in South Korea for example you are usually 1 year older, because they start counting your age during the 9 months that the mother is pregnant. When South Koreans talk to foreigners though, they use the "international age" in order not to create confusion.
0
1) it means "right now"
2) calculate it by your date in Chinese calendar
3) she just avoided answering properly, ask her exact date by Chinese calendar, year, month and day
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