On 5/13/08, Jinx <joecolquitt@clear.net.nz> wrote:
> > In everyday life, we do have some similar words. In Singapore,
> > and some Chinese provinces it is "lah". In the old style
> > speeches by the Chinese government officials, it was "this"
> > and "that". You can still occasionally hear "this" and "that"
> > from the government officials but now it can be deemed as
> > "low efficiency" and the new officials tend not to do that.
>
> Interesting. I did mean to make it clear that even in the man-on-
> the-street and informal interviews people spoke confidently
> without hesitation, and I deliberately listened out for it, just out
> of curiosity

I will say many fluent Chinese speaker tend not to hesitate
on the issues they are comfortable with. But when confronted
with some issues, there will be pause words like "how should
I put this". For non-native speakers, you can not differentiate
this kind of pause words with normal words.

Xiaofan
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