What Do You Really Mean?

A lot of Chinese people think that the Americans like to speak straight, and some times we think we are not straight enough when we talking. However, according to my observation, the Americans are much more circumbendibus than we thought.
When Americans want to express something very good, they like to prove one more level than they really mean. For example, when an American says “that’s a fabulous show!” he or she does not mean that show is unbelievable good. At that time, they usually mean that’s a good show. Not only this, but also some other sentences: “it’s fantastic!” usually means “it’s good”; “it’s a good idea!” usually means “your idea is ok”. Therefore, when you hear Americans praise you, please think it twice, because the lower level is usually the real meaning. The same situation also happens in China, but the Chinese people would keep their praise words in mind rather than speak it out.
American usually do’s like to show disagree directly. For example there’s a classic sentence in American English “yeah! It’s a good idea, but…” So, when you hear this sentence, you can ignore the first part and ready to hear other’s advices. There are also some more examples: “this is ok, but…” means he or she doesn’t satisfy with it very much; “I don’t really think so” means “I don’t like it”; “this is wrong” means “change it, you are stupid!” If a Chinese want to express his or her disagree; we usually borrow other’s mouths like “my mother said her colleague’s son had made a big mistake because…” When you heard this in China, that’s usually means stop doing so.
Communication is not only talk with a different language freely. Most time, it requires people to understand the meaning behind language.