Review One
This unit reviews both direct and indirect apology strategies that are commonly used in Chinese, and provides students with corresponding exercises/activities for practice.
1. Direct Apology Strategies
Direct apology strategies in Chinese are linguistic expressions that usually contain such verbs as 对不起, 不好意思, 抱歉, 道歉 and 原谅. These words explicitly indicate the function of apologizing in Chinese. Like the counterparts in American English, the direct apologetic expressions in Chinese are also sort of formulaic. If you have any questions about the use of direct apology strategies in Chinese, please review Unit 2.
2. Indirect Apology Strategies
Unit 3-Unit 4 introduce five types of indirect strategies that are commonly used to apologize in Chinese. The five indirect apology strategies include: explanation, taking on responsibility, offer of repair, promise of forbearance, and concern for hearers. Below are examples of these strategies in Chinese:
我今天太忙了。
你怎么样？没事吧？
都是我不对。
我赔钱给你吧。
以后不会了。
Please click on the link below to access the exercise.
