How to respond when grilled by prospective in-laws.

当你第一次见女朋友父母时

Learn while you laugh

This commercial (广告) makes light of a time when a Chinese daughter introduces her boyfriend to her parents for the first time.    It can certainly be a harrowing experience to get approval.

If you really want to learn Chinese, it not only involves picking up grammar and vocabulary, but it is important to see how Chinese people think about things.

So as you watch the video, try to watch it without the English subtitles to see how much you understand.  A first year student should be able to understand most, if not all of this commerical.

Some of the cues are certainly visual.   Can you figure out what that red document is?

Here’s the text of the meeting at the restaurant:

• 爸，妈， 这是小陈。
• 你是哪里毕业？
• 你住在哪里？
• 谁在小陈的旁边？
• 不错！不错！
• 不错的呀！
• 服务员！服务员！
• 点菜！点菜！

Some questions that any parent is going want to know about a prospective son-in-law are things such as profession and educational background.  After all, they want to make certain that their daughter is in good hands.   It seems like in Chinese culture, this sort of meeting is stepped up a few notches.

The voice over for the rest of the commercial is much faster, but the commercial is about DiDi Chuxing, China’s version of Uber.   Didi wants their customers to know that they are stricter at vetting their drivers than Chinese parents are at vetting prospective son-in-laws!   That’s some serious vetting!

From time to time I’ll post Chinese commercials that are either funny or touching, all with the goal of learning while having fun or even laughing.  For an example of another funny Chinese commercial, click here.

Have you been in this situation before?  If so, how did it go?  Please leave a comment in the comment section to share your experience with us.