Appropriate Address 适当的称呼

It is vital to call people appropriately according to their culture, failing which, we may offend others unknowingly. I remember quite a number of years ago, I called a stewardess in an airport in China as “miss” (小姐), which is a polite address according to a Western culture. But, it seemed that the stewardess was not happy as expressed through her facial expression. Later, I came to know that calling a lady with a “miss” in China is like a form of verbal humiliation.

Recently, I was seated beside two young ladies from China inside my flight to China. This time I attempted to ask them the appropriate form of address for a lady. And I was told the appropriate address is “beautiful girl” (美女). And as for a young man, it is “handsome brother” (帥哥). Indeed, calling people this way is not common in Malaysia. If we call them as “beautiful girl” and “handsome brother”, we can be misunderstood as teasing them.

Nevertheless, no matter where we are, we have to be prepared meeting people of diverse cultures. Therefore, we have to learn interacting with people with the knowledge of their culture to enhance a friendly relationship.

懂得按照不同文化称呼人是相当重要的事；如果使用不适合的称呼，就可能会不知不觉地冒犯他人。我记得多年前，我在中国称呼一位服务员为”小姐”，根据西方文化这是一个礼貌的称呼。但是由她的面部表情，我感觉到她不高兴。后来我才知道在中国叫一位女士作“小姐”乃是如同用话语羞辱她。

我这次正好在飞往中国的航班里，傍边坐了两名来自中国的年轻女士。我试图问他们称呼女士的适当方式，我得到的答案是“美女”，而对年轻男士则是“帅哥”。事实上，在马来西亚很少会如此称呼人；如果我们称呼女士为”美女”，我们就可能会被误会轻浮。

无论身在何处，我们都会接触到不同文化的人。因此，我们要学习了解他们的文化作适当的交流，这样才能开启良好的关系。