Funny Chinese Expression: 不好意思

不好意思 bù hǎo yìsi

My girlfriend and I have been staying with my parents here in San Fransico since the 4th of July. My family has been very generous and hospitable to her during that time. Naturally, her response was, “我觉得不好意思(wǒ juéde bù hǎo yìsi).” Then she asked me how to say 不好意思(bù hǎo yìsi) in English.

I usually find 不好意思(bù hǎo yìsi) pretty easy to translate, as it can often correspond to “sorry” or “excuse me” in English. When you’re a little late to a meeting, you can say 不好意思 (sorry). When you eat the last cookie and then somone else wants one, you can say 不好意思 (sorry). When you bump someone on the subway, you can say 不好意思 (sorry).

 But in this case, my girlfriend’s usage was meant to express something like, “your kindness is too much,” or “you’re being so nice that it makes me feel too indebted.” And she wanted me to come up with one easy word or phrase to translate. When I couldn’t, and I asked for help from my sister, and she couldn’t either, my girlfriend just laughed: “you Americans never feel 不好意思(bù hǎo yìsi)!”

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Actually 意思 (yìsi) has many different meandings as following I have listed. All of them have something to do with what you think. Have you noticed that the bottom parts of the two Chinese characters are 心 (xīn, heart)? Attention, the second character is a light tone. Read aloud after me “意思 yìsi” ，不好意思 (bù hǎo yìsi) !

>>> 意思 yìsi
1.〖meaning;i dea〗∶意义;道理。
  例如：不要误会我的意思 Please don’t misunderstand what I mean.
2.〖intention; wish; desire〗∶意图;用意。
  例如：文章的中心意思 the key intention of this article
3.〖a token of affection, appreciation, etc.〗∶略表心意。
  例如：这点东西送给您,小意思,别客气 This is a small token for you. I hope you like it.
4.〖suggestion; hint; trace〗∶某种趋势或迹象。
  例如：我发现她对你有的意思呢！ I find she has something special feeling to you.
5. 〖interest; fun〗∶情趣;趣味。
  例如：打乒乓球很有意思 It is very interesting to play table tennis.

6. 不好意思 (bù hǎo yìsi): excuse me; sorry; embarressed
  例如：不好意思，我的中文说得不好。 I am sorry, my Chinese is very bad.

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When you meet Chinese friends, you can say like this to express how your Chinese is going.

Wǒ zhōngwén shuō de bù hǎo,

 我   中    文       说     得   不 好，

Hěn bù hǎo  yìsi.

很    不   好   意思。

Dànshì,  xué zhōngwén  hěn yǒu  yìshí.

但  是，   学       中  文         很     有     意思。

>> I am sorry my Chinese is not good.

>> But, it is interesting to learn Chinese!