Hi, Ma!

Following up on the previous post, here’s another example of the use of the particle ma.  In China there are two kinds of receipts.  There are the regular register receipts like you get in the US, and then there are “official” receipts.  The term for these official receipts is fā piào.  Register receipts are more or less worthless.  If took people out to dinner, for example, and wanted to get reimbursed as a business expense, I would have to get a fa piao.  Even at Carrefour, people who have bought things like appliances must, after checking out at the register, go to a second counter to get a fā piào.  If they buy a TV, for example, and two weeks from now it stops working, the register receipt will not permit them to get a replacement, they must have a fā piào.

In each taxi there is a little machine which prints fā piào at the end of every trip.  I never take them because I get $300 a month as a taxi allowance, and if I use half that on taxis I’d be astounded. Anyway, as I got out of the taxi just now the cabbie said “Fa piao ma?” In other words, “Do you want the official receipt?” I replied, “Bu yao, xie xie”—no thank you.

So if you ever hear Chinese and the sentence ends in ma, it’s a question.

Wow, this is EXACTLY the same in Japan. We have regular register receipts and official receipts called ryoushusho. Got to have the official for taxes and such--regular receipts wont cut it. But in Typical Japanese efficiency, in the past you had to go to the customer service counter to get the official receipt, now japanese cash registers will spit out an official one if you ask for it.