I am in UK for more than a year now.
A lot of time when i'm walking down the street,
strangers who passed by me will say "你好吗?(NI HAO MA)”
the only thing that going through my head is "DID YOU JUST ASSUME MY RACE AND NATIONALITY?"
You might think I'm too sensitive about it but I definitely feel you are incredibly rude and culturally dumb when you just throwing "Ni Hao Ma?" to a complete stranger who looks like Chinese to you.
Dont get me wrong.
If you are my friend, and you trying to make fun with it or you trying to pick up a few words to greet people.
Thats totally fine.
And I still know the differences between HARASSMENT and being FRIENDLY.
Most of the time is annoying, harassment.
You definitely don't walk down the street greet random strangers with "their language" that you think it is.
You speak the mutual language of the area.
And you dont say "fuck off" if they dont give a respond.
Secondly, do we actually say "Ni Hao Ma?"
Yes, on the TEXT BOOK! I learnt "Ni Hao Ma?" in school
and NO because i never use it in my daily conversation to greet people or to start a conversation with someone
A simple "Hi" or "hello" will do among the strangers.
I usually greet my friends with "how ur day been", "you alright?"
My mom usually will start a conversation with "have you eaten?" and this question is quite generic for my mom's generation.
So throwing "Ni Hao Ma?" to stranger is not a good idea.
I might not have the position to say as I am a CHINESE and happen to know A FEW DIALECT IN CHINESE LANGUAGE.
Just incase you did not know, MANDARIN is a dialect in chinese language. Chinese language is not single language, it includes a lot of dialect. Mandarin is the "face", the "standard" of chinese language.
You have to understand there are a lot Chinese (as a race) around the world, and they might not know Mandarin. For instance, my parents didnt not know mandarin at all.
Like I say not all the Chinese from China, you don't just assume our nationality.
I don't mind if you asking where I'm from but NOT JUST ASSUME.
I came from Malaysia, is one of the country in South East Asia.
The distance between Malaysia and China is 3,512 KM which equivalent to 2,182 MILES.
DISCLAIMER:
I'm not trying to distance myself from the Chinese nationals,
I met and know a lot of them.
My great-great grandparents are from China and they migrated to Malaysia before the war.
I am the 4th generation that born and raised in Malaysia. I called myself a Malaysian.