How to make a courteous refusal

21 Oct 2008

Apparently, my chinese book will teach me how to do so. It’s as simple as:

A: Hey, do you want to goto the dance together?

B: 很抱歉，恐怕不行。

Why did I never learn this in English? Or C++? I’m shocked.

Maybe it’s a testament to my upbringing that I find it strange to have “courteous” and “refusal” juxtaposed. Not that I’m especially polite or anything. I can definitely refuse something, and I can definitely do things courteously; however, I thought refusals were always rude in some way. I think of a refusal as getting packed on the basketball court, or having your spike blocked at the net. Consider my mind expanded.

Posted by Edward Luong on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 11:58 PM | 0 TrackBacks

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