Chinese Idioms and Colloquialisms (2)

Each country has colloquialism. After learning Chinese for quite some time and knowing a lot of characters, however, once immersed among local Chinese, you’ll still find yourself totally lost. Because you don’t understand the Chinese idioms and colloquialisms. This series of articles will help you learn these. Today we will learned five of them.

①不合算/划不来 bù hésuàn / huá bù lái
The meaning of the expression is “not worth it.” This expression means not worthwhile, either in terms of money, or the return one gets for the effort or time he spends.
For example:
甲：你做一天兼职有多少钱？
乙：才六十元。
甲：那么少？辛苦了一天，才那么一点，不合算。
乙：是啊，所以我打算不做了，划不来。

② 过奖过奖/哪里哪里 guò jiǎng guò jiǎng/nǎlǐ nǎlǐ
The meaning of the expression is “nothing”. This expression is used as a polite reply to a compliment.
For example:
甲：你的中文说得很不错。
乙：哪里哪里。

③ 何必呢 hébì ne
The meaning of the expression is ”It's not necessary at all.”. When expression in such a rhetorical question, the real meaning is stressed on.
For example:
甲：周五的课你没有去上吧。
乙：是啊，我去听演唱会了。
甲：为了听演唱会而逃课，何必呢？

④ 吃饭了吗 chī fàn le mā
The meaning of the expression is “Hello” or “Hi”. If people ask you whether you’ve had your meal, don’t mistake it as an invitation. For Chinese people, it’s only a way to greet each other.
For example:
（甲、乙住在同一座公寓，一天中午，甲下班回到公寓，刚好在电梯碰见乙）
甲：小明，吃饭了吗？
乙：吃过了，你刚下班回来吧？

⑤ 别看…… biékàn……
The meaning of the expression is “It’s only superficial that...”.
For example:
甲：别看小孩子整天在玩，其实他会偷偷观察，模仿大人的动作。
乙：是吗？真有意思。